A second launching and planning meeting, for the Asia component, of the GSR project was held on March 23-24, 2009 in Sanya, China. The meeting was chaired by Dr Huqu Zhai, the CAAS president and attended by Dr David Bergvinson, the GSR Program Officer on behalf of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Dr. Abraham Blum, the project consultant and representatives from IRRI, Asian target countries, Chinese participating research institutions and private seed companies. The GSR project coordinator of Africa and coordinator of INGER-Africa also attended the meeting. The objectives, research strategy and work plan of the GSR project in Asia was presented and discussed. The meeting also included a brief presentation of the climate characteristics and current agricultural practices of the target Asian countries and the challenges faced by the local rice growers. The group also visited rice experiment stations and research facilities in the winter nurseries of the participating Chinese research institutions in the Lingshui and Sanya, Hainan Province.
