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Drought across Asia cuts rice production by 99%
By US News Agency / Asian
Drought across Asia this season, with Australia as a startling example, which, in recent years drought has cut rice production dramatically, including one season where it was reduced by 99 percent from previous averages.
Before the drought, Australia contributed 20 percent to 25 percent of the world medium-grain japonica rice trade and exported around 80 percent of its entire rice crop.
Rice Today 2010 reports on how the Australian rice industry is transforming in the face of water scarcity to maintain its global export role and its claim to the world’s highest average rice yields of 10 tons per hectare.
Although less japonica rice is coming out of Australia, more japonica rice is set to come out of the tropics, said Dr. Kyung-Ho Kang, of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) who reported on the development and release of two tropically adapted japonica varieties in the Philippines.
In Africa, scientists are making a concerted effort to characterize the genetic diversity of local African rice varieties to identify the source of their ability to grow in difficult conditions and resist local pests and diseases. This builds on the success of NERICA rice-a cross combining the best of African and Asian rice, Dr. Kyung-Ho said.
Rice Today, IRRI’s newsmagazine, also maps out the geographical source of rice genetic diversity preserved in selected rice gene banks-one of the first steps towards producing a global picture of rice biodiversity. This will help identify any gaps around the world where rice biodiversity has not been collected yet for conservation.
IRRI’s Dr. Samarendu Mohanty and others explore the impact of rising rice prices in India and Bangladesh. They report that rice consumption does not decrease as prices rise and that the small, marginal, and landless laborers with large families are worst hit.
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