Rice is the most important staple food in Asia. More than 90% of the world’s rice is grown and consumed in Asia, where 60% of the world’s population lives. Rice accounts for between 35-60% of the caloric intake of three billion Asians (Guyer et al., 1998). Over 150 million hectares of rice are planted annually, covering about 10% of the world’s arable land. In 1999/2000, this amounted to some 600 million tonnes of rice seed, equal to 386 million tonnes of milled rice. With the world population estimated to increase from 6.2 billion in the year 2000 to about 8.2 billion in the year 2030, the global rice demand will rise to about 765 million tonnes, or 533 million tonnes of milled rice (FAO, 2002). For almost three decades since the Green Revolution, the rice yield growth rate was approximately 2.5% per year. During the 1990s, however, this has decreased to only 1.1% (Riveros and Figures, 2000).
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Young Rice Paddy |
Mature Rice Panicle |
Dried Rice |