Dr. Dharmawansa Senadhira: Rice breeder par Excellence

Appreciation

This is the 23rd anniversary of the shocking and tragic death of Dr. Dharmawansa Senadhira, Rice Breeder of excellence. The time was 5.15 p.m on that fateful day of 07th July, 1998. A group of around 40 scientists attending the Workshop on ” Evaluation and Dissemination of New Technologies for Increasing the production of Flood-prone Rice Lands of South of South and Southeast Asia”, on 8-9 July,1998, were returning to Dhaka in two buses, after a field trip to the research site at Kuliachan in Kishereganj district.

The two buses were swiftly plying on the Narsingdi-Dhaka Highway. Fatefully, one bus which was also carrying Dr. Dharmawansa Senadhira (Sena as we affectionately called him), who was the then leader of the International Rice Research Institute’s (IRRI’s) Flood-Prone Research Programme, was involved in an accident at Narsingdi about two hours from Dhaka. The bus driver had overtaken another vehicle, but had not completely returned to his lane, when he encountered a truck approaching from the opposite direction, reportedly driving on to the middle of the road. The bus driver tried to return to his lane, but did not completely clear out of the truck’s path.

The impact of the collision had loosened a long iron bar from the sidewall of the truck, which penetrated the bus at about the level of the headlight. It missed the driver but went in the path of the passengers seated behind him, near the window. The bar grazed past a scientist seated in the first row, slicing off flesh from his buttocks. The projectile then curved upwards and went past another scientist seated in the second row without hitting him directly. It bruised the shoulder of a third scientist, seated behind, but broke his legs as the seat in front of him collapsed. After doing all that damage and as fate would have its course, the projectile curved upward and hit Sena seated in the 4th row, just above his nose in between the eyes and crushed his forehead. After this deadly blow, the bar got deflected upward, sparing the other passengers seated behind.

Sena was pinned in between the seats and Dr. M.P. Dhanapala (Dhane – Sena’s colleague and Award-winning Rice Breeder) who was seated next to him had no injuries except the ensuing terrible shock, and he could not do much except feel Sena’s pulse and witness him pass away within a few minutes, seated next to him. Thus ended the life of a great human being and a world renowned scientist that shocked the whole rice world and the scientific community. Twenty three years have passed since this tragic event and memories about Sena linger on. I thought it is nothing but right to place on record an appreciation about Sena, who was a good friend of mine and many others, and had contributed so much toward rice research in Sri Lanka and the rice world.

Having entered the then University of Ceylon, Peradeniya, in 1963, Sena graduated in 1967 with a B.Sc (Agriculture), second upper degree. In 1968, he joined the Department of Agriculture for his chosen profession as a Research Officer and was attached to the then Central Rice Breeding Station (CRBS), Bathalagoda, as a Rice Breeder. Sena was a research scholar at IRRI in 1969 and during his stint there, the IRRI scientists reportedly had been impressed with his hard work, dedication and friendly personality, and had in fact identified him as a researcher with much potential, at that early stage in his career. In 1972, under a Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship arranged by late Mr. William Golden, an alumnus from IRRI, he proceeded to the University of California, where he earned his M.S.degree in Genetics (1974) and Ph.D degree in Genetics (1976) in record time. In 1976, Sena returned to the Department of Agriculture and served as Senior Plant Breeder at CRBS (1976-79), before being appointed as Deputy Director of Agriculture for Research (1980-84).

Dr. Senadhira was one of the most successful Rice Breeders in Sri Lanka, and his initial mentor was Dr. Hector Weeraratne, Senior Plant Breeder at the CRBS, of “H4” fame; and Sena took over the leadership of the rice breeding programme in Sri Lanka in 1976. Since then, several new improved high yielding rice varieties such as Bg 34-8, Bg 90-2 and Bg 94-2 among others were developed under his leadership. He accomplished this task through utilising plant breeding technology, and his inherent knack for rice plant selection from among the progenies that he generated, in association with his team of scientists at Bathalagoda. The rice varieties thus developed were widely adopted in Sri Lanka, and some of them spread across to several countries in Asia and Africa. The wide scale adoption of the new improved rice varieties in Sri Lanka was a very significant factor that contributed to phenomenal increases in rice production in the country, pushing up production of rice from 0.8 million tons in 1966 to 3.2 million tons in 1985, a four fold increase over a 20-year period. In recognition of Dr. Senadhira’s invaluable contributions to rice production in Sri Lanka, he was honoured with the President’s Award for Scientific Achievement in 1982 and the CERES Medal from the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation in 1983.

Dr. M.P. Dhanapala, another Award winning Rice Breeder, was there to take his place, when in 1985, IRRI, which had identified Sena’s potential when he was a research scholar there, way back in 1969, and followed up on his achievements in Sri Lanka, invited him to join (IRRI) as an Associate Plant Breeder in the Plant Breeding Department. In recognition of his work at IRRI, Sena was promoted as Plant Breeder in 1990 and was also appointed as Programme Leader of the Flood-Prone Rice Research Ecosystem in 1995, and he concurrently served as Liaison Scientist for Thailand. Sena also served as research adviser to 10 MS and 7 Ph.D scholars from various countries in Asia.

Dr. Senadhira’s achievements over the 13 years he served IRRI were remarkable. He spearheaded the institute’s rice breeding programme for less favourable lands with soil problems, flood prone environments, as well as for areas subject to low temperature conditions. He initiated a major effort to develop high yielding varieties for saline, acid sulphate and peaty soils. It is reported that using molecular marker aided selection, Sena combined different genes together and developed a germplasm with high level of salinity tolerance. He was also developing improved germplasm with flooding tolerance and had conceptualized a new plant type for deepwater conditions, and developed numerous breeding lines with this ideotype, by which time death snatched him away. In addition to breeding rice for unfavourable environments, another area of interest to Sena, which should be taken note of by researchers, was to increase the nutritive value of rice; as rice is the staple food of the major part of the population in Asia, contributing immensely to the nutrition requirements, especially those of the low income categories in the Asian region. In this endeavour, Dr. Senadhira had noted that many poor people who obtain most of their energy requirements from rice, suffer from micronutrient deficiencies such as those of iron and zinc, and in his quest for research he found that some primitive rice varieties have double the amount of iron and zinc. Accordingly, breeding programmes had been initiated using these varieties, and the breeding materials thus developed were being evaluated as varietal possibilities.

On a personal level, Sena was known to me from 1965 onwards as a senior colleague at the Faculty of Agriculture, of the then University of Ceylon, Peradeniya. He was a very simple and an unassuming person with humane qualities, and was a popular figure at the Faculty of Agriculture, as well as at Marrs Hall where we resided. He was kind hearted, very helpful and never in a mighty hurry, and always calm and quiet. Sena was also a man of a few words, which were made to the point and very specific, and he lent a quiet efficiency to whatever he did. He carried these inherent desirable qualities on to his working life as a great scientist.

It is hard to replace a man like Sena, who was humane to the core and his untimely and premature demise during the peak of his career as a truly international scientist was a big loss, not only to Sri Lanka, but also to all rice producing countries and the rice research community worldwide. He was known to all as a friend who was humane and down to earth, who were in constant touch with him, and his surviving brothers and sister.

Dear Sena, May God Bless you., and May you attain whatever eternal peace that you would have sought as a true Buddhist.

A. BEDGAR PERERA

Retd. Director/Agricultural Development

Ministry of Agriculture

bedgarperera@gmail.com