RICE - TODAY AND TOMORROW

RICE FACTS
The average person in much of Asia eats rice two or three times a day. The average person in Sri Lanka eats 114 kg (2010) of rice each year; in Myanmar it is 195 kg of rice each year; in Lao PDR and Cambodia, it’s about 160 kg. Contrast this with the average European, who consumes 3 kg per year and the average American, who eats 7 kg.
Most rice is consumed in the country where it is produced. Only 5 percent of the world’s total is exported. Thailand ships the most: about 5 million tons a year. The United States is second with nearly 3 million tons, and Vietnam third, with 2 million tons.
Rice takes 5000 liters of water to produce one kilogram of rice. And more than 140,000 varieties of cultivated rice (the grass species Oryza sativa) are thought to exist, but no one really knows for sure. More than 90,000 samples of cultivated rice and wild species are stored in trust in the International Rice Genebank for use by researchers around the world. 
 IN ASIA

Today, most of us take rice for granted : it seems to miraculously rain from the sky into the markets and onto our tables. So far, thanks to the world’s dedicated rice researchers, farmers have succeeded in producing enough rice to outpace demand and keep the rice bowls full for most Asians. For more than half of humanity, rice is life. It is the grain that has shaped the cultures, diets, and economies of billions of people in Asia. For them, life without rice is simply unthinkable.
 Between now and 2020, 1.2 billion new rice consumers will be added in Asia. Feeding these people will require the greatest effort in the history of agriculture, rice production must be increased by one third from today’s 320 million tons to 420 million tons. Farmers will have to grow an extra 3.7 million tons every year, at the very time that rice land is decreasing and the remaining fields seem to be wearing out. 

Today, there is barely enough rice for everyone. And in some places, because of political and economic turmoil, there is not enough and people are going hungry. 

TODAY AND TOMORROW

Today, rice is the staple food for nearly 3 billion people more than 90 percent of whom are Asians. In much of Asia, rice provides 30-80 percent of the calories consumed by people. Today there is barely enough rice for everyone and in some places, not enough.
  By 2025, rice consumers will number a staggering 4.6 billion. In Asia, this translates into producing an extra 100 million tons of rice more than today’s 320 million tons to feed these people on less land and with less water. If rice supplies fail to keep pace with the growth in demand, prices will increase. Many will go hungry…or starve. 
HOW RICE RESEARCH CAN HELP
Rice researchers at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the Philippines and their partners around Asia are working overtime to create rice plants that can yield 20-25 percent more than today’s best high-yielding modern varieties. They have also developed hybrid rice for the tropics, which can produce 15-20 percent more rice. These new types of rice, combined with water-saving practices such as direct seeding, more efficient use of fertilizer, and other technologies, should enable rice production to outpace demand and keep Asians fed. 


thanks : asiarice.org