Opportunities for New Green Revolutions through Rice Breeding.

Rice played an important part in the first green revolution, and as the major staple of the world’s poor it must play a major role in lifting them from poverty. In addition to being the most important crop in Asia the demand for rice is rapidly growing in Subsaharan Africa.  The high-yielding rice varieties developed in the 1970’s and 1980’s provided food security for rice-growing countries, but most rice producers and consumers still live in poverty. Increasing rice productivity, through improved varieties and management practices, is a necessary requirement for improving their livelihoods. This can be achieved through several approaches. One of the most promising is the development of varieties tolerant to abiotic stresses, mainly drought, submergence, and salinity, that are a constraint of both rainfed and irrigated rice farmers. Higher yields must also be sought for the favorable intensive systems that produce most of the rice consumed by the urban poor. These advances must be achieved with the constraints of limited water and nutrients, and with careful regard for the sustainability of future rice farming systems and adaptation to climate change. Advances in genetics and breeding methodology must be taken advantage of to achieve these objectives.