1. Introduction
As part of the third medium-term research plan, from 2011 to 2015, we decided to arrange an external evaluation of the specific programs of the National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO), from the international perspective of overseas reviewers.
The 2012 international peer review of the NARO research program, "Breeding of field crops, and development of basic production and utilization technologies", was conducted at Tsukuba on August 30, 2012. In this review, the program's research progress and direction were assessed by four outstanding reviewers from abroad. In addition, an on-site visit, including an experimental field tour, was carried out prior to the international peer review meeting.
 International peer review meeting |
 Evaluation of field research activity |
2. Date
August 30, 2012
10:00 - 16:30
3. Venue
Tsukuba Office, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Research Council Secretariat, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF)
4. Peer Reviewers
- Dr. Gurdev S. Khush, Adjunct Professor, Department of Plant Sciences, University of California, Davis, USA (Former Principal Plant Breeder and Head, Division of Plant Breeding, Genetics and Biochemistry, International Rice Research Institute)
- Dr. Russell Reinke, Temperate Rice Breeder, Country Representative for Korea, IRRI-Korea Office, Korea
- Dr. Larry C. Purcell, Professor, Department of Crop, Soil, and Environmental Sciences, University of Arkansas, USA
- Dr. Mark E. Sorrells, Professor, Chair, Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, Cornell University, USA
5. The Review Process
The review is an assessment of the scientific progress and direction of seven specific research projects, from an international perspective. The peer review format consists of an Action Class Assessment (S: high quality, no revision needed; A: good quality, minor revision needed; B: fair quality, minor revision needed; C: fair quality, major revision needed; D: poor quality; complete redesign needed), and the reviewers' comments or suggestions for each of the seven research projects, as well as the overall research program.
6. Research Projects
The research program consists of the following seven research projects (RPs) for the period 2011–2015.
- RP 1: Breeding and quality research to develop rice varieties suitable for the food industry
- RP 2: Physiological and genetic research of rice yield and temperature stress
- RP 3: Development and utilization of genetic technology for improving productivity of rice
- RP 4: Wheat breeding for high yield and quality, and development of utilization technology
- RP 5: Barley breeding for high yield and quality, and development of utilization technology
- RP 6: Soybean breeding for high yield and quality, and development of utilization technology
- RP 7: Molecular biological and genomic approaches for improvement of wheat and soybean traits
