|
Monday, May 05, 2008
Rice institute calls for Green Revolution anew
MANILA -- International rice experts are calling for a second Green Revolution and proposed a nine-point program to deal with the rice problem and prevent future crisis from happening.
The second Green Revolution, the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) explained, "is needed now as much as the first Green Revolution was needed to avoid famine and mass starvation."
Arroyo Watch: Sun.Star blog on President Arroyo
Gordon Conway in his book, The Double Green Revolution: Food for all in the 21st century, calls for a second Green Revolution that stresses environmental protection as an integral part of crop management.
The first Green Revolution substantially increased rice production in many countries in Asia, using a package of new seeds, fertilizer and irrigation system.
The rice institute in its background paper on the crisis said National Governments and international agencies should increase rice yields through "technological opportunities" and implement policy reforms to improve poor people's food entitlements.
"Rice production can be revitalized, but there are no silver bullets. The world community must invest now and for a long time to come," it said.
The institute also said the best strategy to prevent shortages and keep rice prices low is to ensure that production rises faster than the demand, by expanding the area planted to rice and increasing the yield per unit area, or both.
"The problems related to rice production and supply in Asia over the past year or more are cause for serious concern, but not for panic," said Prof. Elizabeth Woods, the newly appointed chair of IRRI's Board of Trustees. "IRRI and its partners solved similar rice production problems in Asia in the 1960s and '70s and we can do it again - what we need is the committed support of donors and policymakers, as well as better awareness among the media and general public of the problems we face."
The rice institute in calling for a second Green Revolution proposed nine programs vital to increasing rice production in Asia.
* Bringing about an agronomic revolution in Asian rice production to reduce existing yield gaps;
* Accelerating the delivery of new post-harvest technologies to reduce losses;
* Fast-tracking the introduction and adoption of higher yielding rice varieties;
* Strengthening and upgrading the rice breeding and research pipelines;
* Accelerating research on rice varieties in order to tap the knowledge they contain;
* Developing a new generation of rice scientists and researchers for the public and private sectors;
* Increasing public investment in agricultural infrastructure;
* Reforming policy to improve the efficiency of marketing systems for both inputs and outputs; and
* Strengthening food safety nets for the poor.
Prof. Woods added, "The problems facing rice production in Asia are not unique to one country; they are shared by nearly all the rice-consuming nations of Asia. We need to work together to find the right solutions. We must also recognize the global scale of the problem, especially the fact that many African nations depend on Asian rice production for their food security."
The rice institute said the existing yield gap of one-two tons per hectare among rice farmers in Asia can be reduced through better crop management, land preparation, water and nutrient management, and control of pests and diseases.
It added that most rice farmers in Asia need new post-harvest facilities in order to cut down on losses in terms of quantity and quality of rice.
It also said the decline in terms of funding for the development of new rice varieties must be reversed to speed up the development of new varieties that are tolerant to drought, flooding and salinity, and resistant to insects and diseases.
The agency revealed that while its management and Asian nations have gathered more than 100,000 types of rice, scientists have studied only about 10 percent of them.
Researches have to learn more about the 90 percent so that new varieties could be developed, it said, adding that Asia needs to train a new generation of rice scientists and researchers before the present generation retires so that the rice industry could benefit from the advances in science.
For the rice institute, domestic and international marketing systems also need to be improved so that changes in consumer prices are reflected in producer or farm-gate prices.
The yield growth in Southeast Asia, according to it, has gone down with global yields rising only by one percent in recent years.
"Global average rice yields must continue to rise at an annual rate of at least 50 kilogram per hectare to keep pace with the expected demand, or by 0.5 tons per hectare over the next 10 years (about 12 percent above current levels)," it said.
Public investment in agriculture research and development was also at a low of 0.53 percent for developing countries as a whole.
The rice institute estimates that in Asia, there is a need to produce 38 million more tons of unmilled rice in 2015 than it produced in 2005. Since the global demand is increasing by 5 million tons per year, the world would need 50 million tons more in 10 years.
IRRI also said the rising rice prices are taking their toll on the world of international relief agencies, such as the "food-for-work" program of the United Nations Population Fund and the World Food Program.
Leaders attending the Southeast Asia nations trade meeting in Bali, Indonesia over the weekend agreed to cooperate over the rice problem. (JMR/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Pampanga. (May 5, 2008 issue)
Write letter to the editor. Click here. |
|
|
|
[return to top]
[home]
|
|
