Mutant Rice and Reflection of Agricultural Science

The use of nuclear technology in agriculture can be traced back to the 1920s. A process called mutation breeding (or radiation breeding) was used to create mutants with desirable traits of their parents. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) hailed mutation breeding as the solution to Asia’s food and population crisis. Research on mutation breeding grew with the establishment of the Joint FAO/IAEA Division of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture in 1964. 

In 1964, Japan successfully developed the first irradiated rice Reimei, which boosted IAEA’s confidence and reputation. In the following decade, Malaysia joined the international craze for mutation breeding. Major efforts were made to mutate the hybrid rice of the Japanese empire Mahsuri, culminating in the birth of the Mahsuri Mutant in 1979.  

Mahsuri Mutant became ‘the most significant’ mutant line Malaysia had produced. It had stronger resistance to blast and retained good eating quality. The rice was never released for public usage but was exclusively and extensively used to breed new generations of rice. Still, the original Mahsuri Mutant was too tall and thus susceptible to lodging. Efforts to dwarf it through crossbreeding while retaining blast resistance, eating quality, and linear elongation, continued. 

From the archival grains we have been picking in this research, we learned how our agriculture history has colonial roots, which used science and technological inventions as a form of extractivism. We further reflect:

• How can we start commoning our agriculture knowledges to move away from science and technological rationality, which tend to be very colonial?
• Is it possible to do so by emphasizing the practice of commoning knowledges, methods, and local practices? How do we act upon this?