Manila - The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) said Tuesday it has received a donation of 500,000 dollars worth of materials that would boost research for cheaper and high-yielding rice varieties.

The Philippines-based institute said the donation pack from 5 PRIME, a Germany-based biotechnology company, includes technologies and reagents for DNA isolation, amplification and molecular analysis.

Hanoi - Vietnam waived an export tax on rice and ordered the state rice cartel to boost purchases in an effort to raise sales abroad and reduce a surplus that has hurt farmers' incomes, officials said Friday.

A decree issued Thursday by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung orders Vietnam's state-owned food companies, which control the country's rice exports, to buy between 400 and 500 thousand tons of rice in August, and "to make sure that farmers make profits of 40 per cent or more."