RICE: Scientists focus on varieties resistant to drought and flooding

Fears over food price increases
Alastair McIndoe, Philippines Correspondent Straits Times 17 Nov 09;

MANILA: The latest advances in rice research can, in the long term, lessen the threats to global food security posed by climate change and rising populations, scientists said yesterday.

Several hundred delegates gathered at the 6th International Rice Genetics Symposium in Manila yesterday to share the latest research on developing rice varieties resistant to drought, floods and other threats to global food security, some linked to climate change.

The meeting of scientists from all over the world comes amid fears that rice prices could rise further in the coming months amid supply strains caused by drought in India and cyclones in the Philippines, the world's biggest importer of the grain.

'There have been unprecedented scientific advances in this field since the last symposium was held four years ago,' said Mr Duncan Macintosh, development director for the Philippines-based International Rice Research Institute (IRRI).

The focus of the four-day event - attended by over 700 scientists working for governments, universities and corporations from 20 countries - is to share research on rice genetics. It will showcase, among other things, the latest developments on mapping and cloning of rice genes, said Dr Julia Bailey-Serres, a plant genetics expert at the University of California-Riverside.

Organisers stressed the hot-button issue of genetically modified rice, which uses genes from other species, is not a talking point at the conference.

Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn of Thailand, who opened the conference, expressed concerns that food production globally may not keep pace with population growth.

The IRRI estimates that by 2050, rice production must rise by 50 per cent in Asia, going by the region's current trend of population growth and rice output.

The topics at the symposium were densely scientific, but linked by a common thread: inside a grain of rice is the genetic potential to develop higher yields; and the capacity to grow rice in harsh conditions, including environments affected by climate change.

The next agricultural revolution will be driven by rice genetics to develop varieties resistant to drought, flooding, salinity and rice diseases, said Dr Robert Ziegler, director-general of the IRRI, which spurred the 1960s 'green revolution' in Asia.

Flood-tolerant rice that took the IRRI 15 years and millions of dollars to develop is now being used in the Philippines, Indonesia and Bangladesh. Still, not enough was planted in the Philippines to prevent severe flood damage to padi fields on the main island of Luzon from unusually heavy storms in September and last month.

Last week, the country put out a record tender for 600,000 tons of rice, and said yesterday that it would hold a tender next month for the same volume.

'Prices are at a nine-month high and seem to be climbing towards the levels of last year's rice crisis,' said Mr Macintosh. At that time, Thailand's export benchmark price hit a record high of US$1,083 (S$1,500) a ton in May last year; it is currently around half that level.

'There is a strong possibility we'll see a rice crisis next year as India faces drought, and Indonesia may feel the pinch of El Nino weather,' Mr Sarunyu Jeamsinkul, deputy managing director of Asia Golden Rice of Thailand - the world's biggest rice exporter - told Bloomberg.