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With Asias stomach growling once again, rice is providing hope for dealing with the intertwined issues of poverty, hunger, soaring population, and environmental degradation.
poorand finding the land, water, and people to do this will most likely become hot political issues. We must ask ourselves two difficult questions: Can the world grow enough rice to feed Asia? And, do we have the means and determination to get this food to the people who need it and ensure that they have access to it? The fear of famine and penury in Asia in the 1950s propelled concerned people to create the International Rice Research Institute in 1960. The driving force was simple: making the biggest pile of rice possible, as quickly as possible, to feed the ever-multiplying number of hungry mouths. This massive effort gave the world something it desperately needed: time. Time to build national rice research institutions, curb population growth, build more schools, and establish good health programs. But have we used this time wisely to invest in a healthy world? IRRI and its partners are once again faced with the daunting challenge of producing more rice, but in a much more complicated and fragile world. With success in keeping Asia fed has come a complacency that is difficult to shake. The world simply assumes that Asias growling stomach can be quieted once again: Asian farmers can bring more land into cultivation, irrigate more fields, throw on more fertilizer, plant another crop, and, if more food is needed, it can be grown elsewhere and traded in the global economy. But the quick fixes for boosting production are long gone. In Asia, there is no more new land. Water is becoming scarce. Besides, who wants to be a poor rice farmer when the city at least offers hope for a better life for the next generation? And unlike maize and wheat, little of the rice crop (only 6.6 percent) is traded globally.
In the last century, some highly motivated people, driven by moral outrage, decided that slavery was monstrous, unconscionable, and must be abolished. They were called abolitionists. Today, widespread hunger in a world of plenty calls equally for moral outrage. The silent holocaust that causes some 40,000 hunger-related deaths every day is unconscionable and must be abolished. We must become the new abolitionists.
Ismail Serageldin Chairman, Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research
R. Cabrera
C. Dedolph
Each year, 50 million new peoplemostly rice eatersare added to Asia. To feed them, the world must increase its rice output between now and 2020 by one-third more than what is grown and eaten today. Unlike other industries, agriculture cannot simply build more rice factories and step up production. Never before has agriculture faced such a stern challenge. Feeding Asia and providing opportunities for people to free themselves from the shackles of poverty are not impossible. This task requires political will, commitment, and sheer determination among many diverse partners. Agriculturericemust be the cornerstone of dealing with the inseparable issues of poverty, hunger, population growth, and environmental degradation. Humanitys greatest challenge may soon be just making it to the next harvest, Lester Brown of the World Watch Institute warned in 1995. But even if the world can produce enough, getting the food to those who need it is a huge challenge. As Nobel laureate Amartya Sen asserts, An efficient food distribution system is as important as food self-sufficiency. We can keep Asiaand the worldfed if we can correctly set our priorities. We can grow enough food and generate productive employment for the landless so they can buy their food from the market, while maintaining our natural resource base and preserving biodiversity. We can control population growth. We can provide every child with the right to be free from hunger, to be healthy, to go to school, and to eventually earn a decent livingand hope for a better tomorrow. Human beings must have hope to survive. If people in food-deficit countries see no prospect for ever being free from poverty, they cannot help but lose all hope. And with hopelessness, society unravels. Hunger or hope? Our actions today will decide whether Asias tomorrow is filled with famine or food security, poverty or prosperity. Asiaand the worldcannot afford for IRRI and its partners to fail. The stakes are simply too high. s
OPINION
C. Dedolph
When scientists and the best of science are devoted to the problems of those who have less in life, that is equity and ethics at its best. For the millions of Asians for whom rice is life, science best serves its human purpose.
Gelia Castillo Emeritus Professor of Rural Sociology University of the Philippines
Combating hunger should be the topmost priority of the world community. As Nobel laureate in economics Amartya Sen says, Famines do not occur in stable democracies. An efficient food distribution system is as important as food self-sufficiency. Economic development leading to gainful employment is essential for combating hunger. Every night, 200 million Indians go to bed hungry, yet India exports 2-4 million tons of rice every year. If everyone had the purchasing power to buy sufficient food, there wouldnt be any surplus.
Gurdev S. Khush 1997 World Food Prize Laureate
R. Kendrick
C. Dedolph
Asia is a continent on the moveand its future will be a crowded one: by 2020 half its population will be urban. Is mass rural-urban migration good for the region?
espite all the social and environmental headaches it brings, urbanization has actually been good for rural Asia: landholdings have gotten bigger and labor shortages have forced farmers to mechanize, both of which contribute to increased efficiency in agriculture. Ruralurban migration has also eased the pressure on land in rural areas. In some places, urban slum dwellers are much better off than the rural landless and marginal landowners. Going urban requires a lot of planning for a smooth transition. Dr. Hossain says that some absolute musts involve decentralizing government to the local level and improving infrastructure, such as housing, communication systems, roads, electricity, water and sanitation, and education and health systemsand providing more access to capital and food.
oing urban brings good things to life. Just ask the hundreds of millions of Asians who have made the journey from the countryside to the city. Despite the pollution and slums, most say theyre better off. Asia is urbanand increasingly so, thanks to recent economic prosperity and industrial growth. Whether its hope for work and a better life, endemic poverty, natural disaster, or politics, migration has been the main reason for the swelling of the cities. But too many people crowding into too little space can spell environmental and social disaster. Today, the continent is home to nine of the worlds 14 megacities of more than 10 million people. And experts at the Asian Development Bank predict even more monster cities on the horizon: by 2015 Asia will have 17 of the worlds 27 megacities.
Bank. The key to preventing this, he believes, is to figure out why some people dont leave the farms and small cities, and learn from them about how to make life outside megacities more attractive. Theres no reason why one city should suck the entire country into it, says Professor Yunus. But what if everyone stayed put in the countryside? Then the situation of the poor would be much worse, says Dr. Rita Afsar, research fellow at the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies and IRRI collaborator. Migration is typically adapted as a strategy for self-help.
ing this challenge will require switching from a subsistence to commercial mentality, says Dr. Hossain. A smaller, more efficient rural population can support huge urban populations if the proper economic incentives exist and new technologies are widely adopted. The fragile flood-prone areas and the uplands will remain subsistence rice production areas and cannot be expected to help feed the cities. The greatest potential for increasing rice production lies in the rainfed lowlands, which may be able to contribute some extra rice to the cities. But production in these monsoon-dependent areas remains low. In eastern India, for example, yields are only about 2 tons per hectare compared with more than 5 tons in Punjab and Tamil Nadu, where all the rice land is irrigated. New technologies may help to boost production, but the outcome is uncertain. Keeping urban consumers fed will boil down to continued reliance on Asias traditional rice bowls: the highly productive, intensive irrigated rice-based systems. But these fields are already about as bountiful as they can be considering the rice plants genetics and current technologies and input levels. New technologies are needed to increase land productivity and input-use efficiency. Two of the most promising are a new plant type, which will have a yield advantage of about 20 percent over todays best varieties, and tropical hybrid rice, with a yield advantage of 15 percent over current varieties (see p. 32). Increased production from irrigated fields is an absolute must if rice prices are to remain affordable to the poor, says Gurdev Khush, IRRIs principal plant breeder. s
Urban Bloat
R. Cabrera
n 1965, Asia had a rural population of 1.5 billion and an urban population of 430 million. But today about one-third (1.2 billion) of the population is urban. By 2025, the rural population will not have changed from todays 2.3 billion, but the urban population will have soared to 2.5 billionabout half of Asias total. Urbanization is an inevitable element of the development process, says IRRI economist Mahabub Hossain. And in his opinion, rural to urban migration cannot be controlled as long as there are economic incentives for people to move. But a few monster cities arent desirable either, emphasizes the economist. Dhaka, for example, is a potential disaster in the making. In 1990, it was the 28th largest city in the world, with a population of 6.2 million and density of 5,050 persons per square kilometer. In 2015, it is projected to be the fifth largestand home to 19.5 million. We dont want to see Dhaka become a megacitya mega nightmare, says Muhammad Yunus of the Grameen
Cities and people are like sugar and ants. We shouldnt put all the sugar in the cities, because all the ants will go there. We need to sprinkle more sugar in other places.
Made Oka Economist, Center for Agro-Socioeconomic Research, Indonesia
ADB photo
A. Ammayao-Hettel
Maintaining low rice prices through technological innovation is critical to stabilizing the extremely precarious lives of people like Mr. Kholita and his family.
Exhausted, worriedbut not hopeless. Her face reveals troublesand those of thousands of her neighborsas she talks about her lifes struggle. At 72 years old, Ms. Ron depends on her children for her daily rice. But they have no incomes. The tough old woman says she will stay put in Klong Toey, and her children will keep looking for work. Returning to her past in Petchaboon, where she buried her husband and six other children, is out of the question: I wont go back there.
Jobless in Jakarta
(L-R) Ron Konthongkam in Bangkok, Bida Obeda in Manila, Kholita and Amena in Dhaka, Ratmah and her children in Jakarta
G. Hettel
o city in recent historylet alone one as big as Jakartahas suffered such a dramatic reversal of fortune. For more than two decades, millions of Indonesians streamed here from the countryside with dreams of bettering their lives, swelling the city and its suburbs to 20 million. But the 25-year run of growth, rising living standards, and prosperity came to a halt in 1997. The construction cranes have been hushed for some time now, and unfinished skyscrapers stand as mute reminders of more prosperous days. During the worst of the economic crisis, more than 15,000 workers lost their jobs every day in Jakarta. Islah is one of them. He lost his factory job almost a year ago. Now he hawks newspapers on a Bekasi street corner to earn enough rupiahs to buy his familys daily rice. Islah and his family mirror the plight of millions of others who are trapped in the suburbs, where they are coping until better times return (see p. 20). His wife Ratmah and daughters sell fruit at a local cooperative store set up by 30 jobless families. So far, the couple have kept their five children off the streets. About a decade ago, the couple escaped the uncertainty of farm life in Purwokerto on central Java to seek their fortunes in the big city. We came with hope of improving our lives, and we still do have hope, says Ms. Ratmah. Stranded between two worlds, the family plans to stay in Bekasi, a suburb that serves as a buffer between Jakarta and the countryside. Neither the
city nor the rice farms beyond can accommodate their needs. They visit their families in Purwokerto about once a year. Well never move back home, explains Ms. Ratmah. There arent any opportunities.
They can afford only two meals of rice each day, and typically theres not enough to go around. Some days, they eat only one meal. Usually they have some vegetables, but a little meat or fish is a luxury they get only once or twice a month. Were hungry every day, Mr. Kholita says. But we manage.
business, and her husband used to own a silkscreen printing business. Both went bankrupt a few years ago, forcing the family to move in with a brother-in-law. The industrious woman now earns money by taking in laundry, selling bread, and cooking food to sell to neighbors. We are used to the ups and downs of life, says Ms. Obeda. One day you have everything, and the next you have nothing. Although the impact of the financial crisis on the Philippines has not been as dramatic as in neighboring countries, the Obeda family feels the pain. They used to eat 6 kilograms of rice a day, but now they make do with 4. And when theres not enough money to buy 4 kilograms, the solution is simple: skip a meal, or the children who attend school dont eat lunch. Nine of the children are still at home, and all of them go to schoolwhen theres money. My dream is to see every one of my children finish school, but, her voice trails off. Still, life in a slum is better than in the province. I have no plan to go back homethere is nothing left for me there, she says. I was a self-supporting student when I came to Manila 30 years ago, and I will remain that way. s
ike millions of other Bangladeshis, Kholita left the countryside and headed for his dreamland: Dhaka. It was his only hope after a turbulent childhoodhis father died when Mr. Kholita was a little boy, and he grew up homeless. Life was hard then, he says. After spending years drifting from place to place in search of work, he ended up in the Agargaon slum, some time around 1960. Hes never left. For many years, he was a rickshaw puller but those days are over. Now Im old and cannot work, he says. So sometimes the 70-year-old begs. Like Mr. Kholita, most slum dwellers are migrants from the countryside. They typically do not have sufficient access to education, employment, and health facilities. Less than 20 percent of the eligible children attend schools, and infant mortality and maternal mortality are high. At least now he and his wife Amena, three children, a son-in-law, and a grandchild have a one-room hut, and public water pumps and latrines are close by. But they are desperately poor, and must rely on a nephew, who pulls a rickshaw, to help support them on the $10 or so he earns a week.
G. Hettel
We are used to the ups and downs of life. One day you have everything, and the next you have nothing.
Bida Obeda Manila
R. Cabrera
C. Dedolph
Governments in Asia go to great lengths to protect their rice. Why is this grain so politically sacredand powerful?
In many of the poorer Asian countries, economic development and industrial growth are closely linked to a reliable supply of cheap rice. If rice prices go up, workers will demand more pay, which in turn lowers the economys competitive strength in the world market. Whether rich or poor, most Asian countries follow the same food security strategy: they grow most of their own rice, maintain a public-sector monopoly in external trade, and hold rice stocks to dampen sharp price fluctuations. But countries do not necessarily require self-sufficiency in rice to achieve or sustain food security, explains Dr. Hossain. A few countries have proven this point. Malaysia imports 40 percent of its rice, and wealthy Singapore and Hong Kong (which doesnt produce any rice) have better records of food security than their major rice-growing neighbors. The critical factor for food security is self-reliance, the economist says, which requires favorable export growth so that those with a rice deficit can import food from those with surpluses who can produce it at a lower cost. Self-reliance also requires entitlement, as coined by Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, which is the assurance of productive employment so that people can buy food from the market.
Indonesia provides a sobering lesson about what could happen in the absence of any government intervention. The stunning plunge of the Indonesian rupiah during the financial crisisfrom Rp 2,500 to 15,000 to the dollarwould have triggered a sixfold increase in the domestic rice price within a few months, while consumer incomes remained stagnant. Rice prices did increase substantially, but, thanks to the governments stabilization policies, the increase was much less than a factor of six and was not abrupt. Without these policies, widespread famine might have occurred. In the name of stability, however, many governments have intervened excessively in domestic grain marketing, ignoring the crucial role of the private sector. Much research, at IRRI and elsewhere, has shown that private traders are more efficient at moving farm inputs and outputs. The challenge for economists and policymakers is to find cost-effective mechanisms that provide for adequate stability, yet still preserve as many of the benefits of free trade as possible and allow the private sector to have a dominant role, says Dr. Dawe.
ice rules in Asia. Alone, it provides 30-76 percent of peoples daily calories. No single food in the West comes close to matching rices dietary dominance in the East. A secure, bountiful supply of rice in Asia has typically ensured food securityand economic, political, and social stability. The first sign of civil unrest can often be traced to rising rice prices, says IRRI economist Mahabub Hossain. Poor distribution and lack of purchasing power are also often responsible for hardship, as experienced in the famines in Bengal in 1943-44 and in Bangladesh in 1974-75.
U
ADB photo
ADB photo
rban workers and the rural landless, who spend 5070 percent of their total income on rice, cannot tolerate drastic price increases. Poor rice farmers also have limited ability to tolerate sudden, sharp price declines. With the danger of disrupting political stability, its no wonder rice holds such a lofty position in Asian culture and is of such critical importance to government policymaking. The rule of rice and prosperity in Asia is simple: make sure the masses have enough rice to eat if the country wants to maintain social and political stability. But what is it about rice that makes it more sacred than other staples? And why is maintaining domestic rice security such a political issue?
For those of us on the food production front, let us all remember that world peace will not be built on empty stomachs and human misery. Deny the smallscale farmers of the developing world access to modern factors of production, and humankind will be doomed, not from poisoning and environmental meltdown, as some say, but from starvation and social and political chaos.
Norman Borlaug 1970 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate
P
G. Hettel
or most rural poor in Indonesia, life is much the same as always. Largely untouched by the recent boom years, and largely untouched by the economic crisis, their lives continue to be both impoverished and nourished by rice. Outside Bojong Jaya village in West Java, the husband-wife team of Sanaim and Aliah works in unison with 25 other laborers, all busy threshing and sacking rice. For every seven 50-kilogram sacks packed, they get to keep one. Their earnings will amount to about 15 sacks, and thats it until the next harvest. Like many of Indonesias landless rural poorsome 11 million households on Java alonethey are oblivious to the price of rice: whatever they earn, they eat.
At least we have rice to feed our family, says Ms. Aliah. If only the hundreds of thousands of jobless families in Jakarta could say the same thing. Their trouble has been double: little money and high rice prices.
the Indonesian Ministry of Social Affairs. Each of the participating familiesa thousand or so is given rice and vegetable seeds to plant on abandoned suburban land, and enough rice to eat until their first harvest. Then theyre on their own for deciding what to do with the produce: eat it, sell it, or replant it. Mr. Miat says his family is extremely grateful. The project has helped us to hold on until I can find a job again. And the children, Firman and Miasi, have been able to stay in grade school.
villages (and some have), Indonesias agricultural sector simply could not absorb them. The countryside is already oversaturated with millions of subsistence farmerswith tiny holdings of a third of a hectare or lesswho have no choice but to grow rice to survive.
Back to Rice
ore than 5 million new entrants including the Miat familyhave moved into the agricultural sector since August 1997, when the financial crisis hit Indonesia. Its not exactly traditional agriculture, nor is it by choice, but peri-urban agriculture is helping many jobless Indonesians cope with economic hardship. With most jobless persons being too embarrassed to go back home, the suburbs and small cities around Jakarta are becoming socioeconomic buffer zones. With their vast tracts of land once destined for urban development but now abandonedthese areas are helping the jobless scrape out a living until better times return. Even if millions did go back to their home
(L-R) Sanaim, Aliah, Nenti and Miat
G. Hettel
efore the crisis, Indonesia had made excellent progress in reducing poverty. Now, however, no work and high rice prices have temporarily thrown many people back into poverty. In less than two years from the start of the financial crisis, the cost of a kilogram of rice at Jakartas Cipinang rice market more than doubledfrom Rp 2,000 to Rp 5,000 ($0.23 to $0.58). With families reserving every rupiah possible to buy food, malnutrition has become widespread, and many children are dropping out of school. International organizations, such as the United Nations Childrens Fund (Unicef), fear malnutrition will cause the loss of an entire generation of Indonesians, with the Fund reporting more than half the children under two to be malnourished. Even in the Bekasi UNDP project, Mr. Miat says his family is down to two meals a day: cassava in the morning and rice in the evening. It makes for a long day, he sighs. Recently, however, a good harvest partly boosted by the governments 300 percent cropping intensity project and large imports have brought rice prices down. The government has also stepped in with a program to sell cheap rice to poor people for only Rp 1,000 ($0.12) per kilogram.
ince the early 1970s, rice production in the country has more than doubledone of the most dramatic jumps the world has ever seen. But, after having achieved rice selfsufficiency in 1984, Indonesia is once again the worlds largest importer of rice. The food insecurity of the past months can be mainly blamed on the vicious financial crisis in which the rupiah plummeted 80 percent against the dollar. Poor harvests, caused by the El Nioinflicted drought in late 1997 and early 1998, aggravated the situation. The economic cloud hanging gloomily over the country may still have a silver lining after all, as Indonesia realizes that agricultureand ricehas an important role to play in providing the initial impetus for economic recovery. Increased rice production can boost rural incomes and promote stability in urban markets. In so doing, it will create a stronger foundation for a robust national economy, and, at the same time, help to meet future increases in rice demand from the more than two million Indonesians being born annually. The government is allocating much of its social safety net funds to strengthen the rice sector, including making available good-quality seeds and subsidized credit, and restoring rural roads and irrigation. The poverty caused by unemployment and the general decline of the economy, however, cannot be overcome solely by increased rice production, says Sjarifudin Baharsjah, independent chairman of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Capital investment needs to return and macroeconomics needs to be managed better. Affordable rice can help too, by creating a climate conducive to investment, which will in turn foster jobs and employment. s
osters and billboards in central Bangkok picture His Majesty The King Bhumibol Adulyadej with a sickle in his right handreinforcing the importance of rice for Thailand. The strong rice sector has saved our country from real, real trouble, says Somporn Isvilanonda, associate professor of economics at Thailands Kasetsart University and a longtime IRRI collaborator. Rice remains one of Thailands most powerful tools for earning cash to pay back its debts. The rural poor have suffered less than the urban poor, many of whom have lost their jobs and must pay more for white rice, says Mr. Somporn. In Bangkok, even the price of low-quality rice has nearly doubled, from 10 to 17 baht ($0.26 to $0.44) per kilogram. Eating less rice is an absolute last resort for a Thai, so poor people are instead cutting down on vegetables, meat, and fish. Repairman Chatchai Meepohsom says the higher prices have not decreased his familys rice consumption: the seven still eat 60 kilograms a month. We just make do with less of other things, he explains. In an unusual situation of reverse migration, an estimated 12-18 percent of the urban people have actually been leaving Bangkok and returning to their home villages. How many of these people can be absorbed into the rural workforce depends on the rural community and whether some activities still require new labor. Perhaps it is the Thai farmer who is weathering the economic storm the best. The baht devaluation was good for rice farmers in terms of domestic price increases, says Mr. Somporn. Before devaluation, the farm price was 4,800 baht per ton and after, 7,600 baht. With good profits, farmers even expanded rice area during the wet season. But then the severe drought hit in late 1998, and the rice crop suffered from lack of water. In 1998, the country retained its position as the worlds largest rice exporter, shipping 5.5 million tons. In the coming years, rice will continue to play a crucial role in Thailands economic recovery and in helping to reduce poverty in rural areas. s
REVOLUTIONARY RICE:
Good nutrition is good health. Eating a balanced diet that includes rice and cereals energizes the body and produces strong minds.
Juan M. Flavier Senator, Philippines
With the world needing more nutritious foodnot just more foodscientists asked: If modern high-yielding varieties are part of the malnutrition problem, can they not also be part of the solution?
very night, this Bangladeshi girl joins at least two billion other people who go to sleep hungry. Their hunger, however, is not the growling, aching kind. Rather it is silent, insidiously stunting their bodies and brains, weakening their immune systems, and sapping their energy and prospects for living productive lives. Their hidden hunger is malnutrition, which contributes to killing an estimated 40,000 people each day. Most of the victims are impoverished women and children, and many are in Asia. Their limited diets primarily comprise one basic food: rice, rice, and more rice. Many eat as much as 214 kilograms of rice each year (more than half a kilogram a day), providing them with up to 76 percent of their daily calories, and half their iron and zinc. While rice and other starches fill the belly, they are rather empty nutritionally speaking. Even slightly more nutritious rice could mean healthier people. If the iron and zinc content could be doubledor tripledthe health of these at-risk people could be dramatically improved. In what appears to be a truly exciting breakthrough in human nutrition, IRRI and its partners have developed high-iron and -zinc rice varieties that can combat malnutrition.
says Dr. Howarth Bouis, a research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington, D.C., and coordinator of the CGIAR Micronutrient Project (see p. 25). Fortification and supplementation programs have proven too expensive and relatively ineffective in reaching the billions of malnourished people. Iron fortification costs just 10 cents a year per person. But for a country such as India, thats $93 million annually. And thats why packing more nutrients into grain is such a revolutionaryyet basicway to attack malnutrition. The cost of a plant breeding program to develop iron-rich varieties of a crop is peanuts compared with the benefits humanity could receive, says Robin Graham, a professor of plant science at the University of Adelaide. If we can just get modern varieties rich in iron and zinc into farmers fieldsand then the rice into peoplewe will make major progress in combating basic malnutrition in South and Southeast Asia. With three-fourths of Asias farmers already choosing to grow the high-yielding, short-duration modern varieties, this may just work.
ew have paid attention to improving the nutritional portfolio of starchy staples. In the 1960s and 70s, scientists at IRRI and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center tried, with varying success, to breed for improved protein content in high-yielding rice and maize. For a long time, researchers were discouraged from doing much of anything related to nutrition. Until 1992. Stimulated by the Philippine governments effort to combat iron malnutrition by artificially fortifying milled rice, IRRI plant breeders Dharmawansa Senadhira and Glenn Gregorio started studying the rice plants reaction to high iron content in the soil. At about the same time, the CGIAR Micronutrient Project started, and the scientists expanded the work to include zinc.
Help was sought from Dr. Graham and his team in Australia to precisely measure nutrient content in rice varieties, which they found to vary greatly in both iron and zinc. Of the first 1,000 samples analyzed, iron in brown rice ranged from 7.5 to 24.4 milligrams/kilogram (mg/kg), and zinc content from 15.9 to 58.4 mg/kg. Todays commonly grown varieties, such as IR64, contain about 12 mg/kg of iron and 25 mg/kg of zinc in brown rice. Not surprising, highest in these nutrients were old traditional varieties, mainly from eastern India where zinc- and iron-deficient soils are common. These harsh soils have definitely influenced the origin of rice with high mineral content in the grain, says Dr. Gregorio. Floating rice Jalmagna is a good example: grown on alkaline soils for centuries, it had almost twice as much iron as IR36 and nearly 40 percent more zinc than IR64. Madhukar, a popular variety in some rainfed and deepwater areas, showed moderately high iron content and very high zinc. And theres a bonus: if the rice smells good while its cooking, chances are its packed with iron and zinc too. Scientists believe that the traits of high iron and zinc are linked to the gene for aroma, making it easy for them to identify.
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C. Dedolph
ew inroads have been made in the battle against malnutrition among Asias poorest of the poor. According to the World Health Organization, more than 2 billion people worldwide are weakened by a lack of iron in their diets, 250 million are vitamin A deficient, and 1.5 billion are at risk for brain impairment because of iodine deficiency. Although the prevalence of zinc deficiency is unknown (no test exists), it is likely a problem wherever malnutrition occurs (see p. 25). Were still losing one generation after another to malnutrition and this just shouldnt be happening anymore,
n a dream come true, plant breeders discovered a high-iron and high-zinc, high-yielding conventionally bred rice line with excellent grain quality already on the shelf at IRRI. IR68144 has excellent grain type, is aromatic, yields about 4.2 tons per hectare, and has an iron content of 20 mg/kg. It produces not quite as much as popular variety IR72, which has an iron content of only 12 mg/kg when grown under the same conditions. It has grain quality like that of IR64 and is suitable for consumers in much of Asia, including countries starving for nutrition, such as Bangladesh, Cambodia, and the Philippines. Thanks to IRRI breeders skills, a little serendipity, and this good luck, the project is five years ahead of schedule. But this has also caused a problem. We didnt envisage being so far down the track so quickly, explains Dr. Bouis. Because no breeding was involved, we need funding sooner than anticipated to support the final step: long-term feeding trials.
he Green Revolutions impact on diet appears to be huge. While some diseases (such as pellagra and neurolathyrism in India) have been eliminated through the increased availability of rice and wheat, eating more of these grains may have actually increased micronutrient malnutrition. In the all-out effort to avert widespread famine and simply feed the ever-increasing number of mouths, scientists mostly ignored nutrition in the new rice and wheat varieties. Farmers also commonly abandoned planting nutrient-balancing crops, such as pulses, in favor of the high-yielding new cereal varieties. We have gone a long way toward solving one problem, dietary energy, says Dr. Bouis. We have, however, virtually ignored another that is just as important: dietary quality.
C. Dedolph
Hungers dictatorship does not respect nations or ideologies; it destroys men and women equally, destroys the projects of young people, and does not allow our older people to rest.
Ernesto Sbato Novelist and essayist, Argentina
Florentino S. Solon
lthough the science is new and risky, researchers are confident they can do more than just increase rice supplies as food. Were optimistic that were on to something big, says Dr. Graham. We are calling for a new paradigm for agriculture: sustainable, productive, nutritious food systems. To achieve our goals, we need a new alliance of agricultural and health professionals researching and defining those systems. If they succeed, the lives of the poorest of the poorespecially women and childrencan be drastically improved through more nutritious rice. s
ahernaz, who lives in the Agargaon slum in Dhaka, cannot make enough breast milk to satisfy her babys hunger. Its no wonder: she says she eats only one meal of rice a day. In Bangladesh, two out of every three children are malnourished, shorter and lighter than what they should be, anemic, and unable to ward off diseases. This comes as no surprise in a country where rice supplies 76 percent of all calories, and people are lucky if they eat two meals a day. The result is one generation of weak, malnourished people giving birth to another in a never-ending cycle that is simply alarming, says Khursheed Jahan, a nutrition professor at the Institute of Nutrition and Food Science, University of Dhaka. Cooking habits, polished rice, and the cultural tradition that men eat firstand more and better than the womencombined with poverty make a recipe for pervasive malnutrition. Children and women are hardest hit. Professor Jahans hope? Opportunities must be created for rural peopleboth women and mento become more active income generators through increased agricultural production and cottage industry, she stresses. Women will spend their money on their children. But if they arent the ones who earn it, they have no control. s
C. Dedolph
ood news comes again from the Interna-ional Rice Research Institute: more nutritious rice with high iron and zinc right in the grain. This is exciting for nutritionists and the entire worldbecause so much of humanity depends on this cereal. Rice competes closely with wheat as the worlds most important crop. It is grown in more than 100 countries and, when compared with other cereals, has the highest food yield. Together with wheat and maize, rice directly supplies more than half of all the calories humans consume. Increased iron and zinc content in rice will definitely be a boon to rice-consuming countries, many of which suffer from some form of hidden hunger. The most common are proteinenergy malnutrition and micronutrient malnutrition, primarily iron deficiency anemia, vitamin A deficiency, and iodine-deficiency disorders, in addition to deficiencies in thiamine, riboflavin, calcium, and zinc. Many of these populations show a high incidence of low birth weight, high infant mortality and high mortality for children under five years, and a high prevalence of moderately and severely underweight children. Increased iron in rice is highly significant because anemia is the most widespread micronutrient deficiency in the world today, despite it being preventable. Iron improves the cognitive performance of children, increases worker productivity, and reduces low birth weights and deaths caused by anemia. Zinc, on the other hand, is known for its potency in promoting the growth of children and is associated with decreased diarrhea incidence. A fundamental shortcoming of todays ordinary rice arises in its processing. Rice is milled because people like their rice to be very white, and because its easier to cook. However, the methods used to remove the hulls
J. Victolero
Experiments conducted in collaboration with Dr. Ross Welch and his team at the United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Services Plant, Soil, and Nutrition Laboratory at Cornell University verified that the extra iron and zinc are available to rats and human colon cell cultures (which simulate a human intestine). But the gut of a rat is different from that of a human, and colon cells in a petri dish are not the same as the real thing. And that is why human feeding trials must be done.
In collaboration with researchers at the Institute of Human Nutrition of the University of the Philippines Los Baos, a large-scale trial is under study to begin in mid-1999 at a convent in the Philippines. It could be the perfect place for a study, says Dr. Gregorio. The postulants and novitiates are all young women of about the same age who eat the same amount of the same food every day.
Next Steps
an mineral- and vitamin-dense varieties of staple foods be developed? Can farmers be convinced to grow them? And would human nutrition be significantly improved for less cost than nutrition interventions? A group of determined plant scientists, human nutritionists, and social scientists believe the answers are yes, yes, and yes! They have teamed up in a daring, long-shot project to try to improve human nutrition through staple foods: wheat, rice, maize, cassava, and beans. Their target is to naturally boost these foods iron, zinc, vitamin A, and iodine contentand, in the process, bring nutrition to the forefront of the CGIARs breeding priorities. So far, rice has been the star. If we want 8 billion healthy people on Earth, the agriculture and health sectors need to work together, says Howarth Bouis, an IFPRI research fellow and the projects leader. The CGIAR Micronutrient Project is a truly international effort, with CIAT, CIMMYT, and IRRI participating in partnership with the University of Adelaide, United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Services Plant, Soil, and Nutrition Laboratory, and the USDAARS Western Human Nutrition Research Center. The Danish International Development Agency has provided major funding for the project, with the United States Agency for International Development supplying startup money (and the challenge to begin the project) and the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research supporting activities at the University of Adelaide. While this project is using conventional breeding to increase nutrition, others are exploring the potential of biotechnology to increase the nutrition of rice. Groups in Japan and Switzerland have transformed rice with the phytoferritin gene from soybean. Although phytoferritins bioavailabilty has not yet been tested, this achievement may be useful in further boosting the iron content of rice. A Rockefeller-funded project is attempting to put vitamin A into rice, which in turn could increase the efficiency of absorption of iron by the human gut. s
from the grain and the subsequent polishing considerably reduce the cereals nutritional value. Likewise, milling removes not only the outer layers of the grain but also a significant amount of fat, protein, and other nutrients. The iron content of 100 grams of ordinary rice drops from 14 mg (when the bran and hulls are still attached) to 1 mg after milling, and then to 0.6 mg once this well-milled rice is cooked. Washing and cooking compound this severe loss of nutrients, with nearly all the B vitamins being thrown out with the wash water. In the Philippines, a laudable attempt was made to enrich rice by fortifying it with thiamine and other nutrients. The program faltered because millers balked at the extra expense of buying the nutrients for fortification. Dietary supplements often have a similar economic burden. The result? Unsustainable fortification and supplementation programs. This is why the genetic method of increasing nutrients in the grain is more advantageous to society: once the varieties are developed, the extra nutrition is free with every harvest. Iron and zinc combine to form a strong team in the fight against malnutrition, a scourge that cripples the body, mind, and spirit, mortgaging the futures of mostly young children and pregnant and lactating women. A formidable part of our defense can be this more nutritious rice, which can substantially nourish efforts to build strong and healthy Dr. Solon is the executive director of the Nutrition societies in the future. s Center of the Philippines. A medical doctor and public health and nutrition specialist, he pioneered vitamin A fortification and has been a longtime proponent of nutrition education. Dr. Solon is a member of the Nutrition Advisory Panel of the World Health Organization, a consultant for the Washington, D.C.-based International Life Sciences Institute, and a former presidential adviser on health and nutrition.
opment (AusAID), the Cambodia-IRRI-Australia Project (CIAP) was launched in 1987 with a dual agenda: increase rice production as quickly as possible to improve food security, and develop Cambodias agricultural research capacity. You cant have development without food. In Cambodia, rice is food and central to life, says Bill Costello, First Secretary of AusAID in Cambodia. Thats why Australia is assisting Cambodia through CIAP.
the technologies being developed are suitable for the poorest of the poor, says Dr. Nesbitt. But as they become better off, they will be able to use them. Some farmers say that CIAP technology is too costly, says Seung Keoviseth, CIAP socioeconomic assistant since 1995. We try to learn from these people by asking what would be useful and affordable. CIAP has been listening to what farmersand rural landless peoplehave to say through on-farm experiments, farmer participatory research, integrated pest management (IPM) experiments, and surveys. The key is flexibility. Different strategies are needed for different farmers, explains Mak Solieng, CIAP socioeconomic specialist. If they are very poor, we try to fit production strategies to their situations. Innovative, appropriate technologies, some of which are very low-cost, have been the result. Integrated pest management provides a good example. CIAP entomologists have developed appropriate IPM techniques, shared them with farmers through field schools, and encouraged them to do their own experiments. Pesticide use is still low in Cambodia, so the timing is perfect to implement IPM. Weeds cause yield losses of 20-30 percent, much of which could be recaptured if farmers level their fields and prepare them better. Farmers dont need big equipment to level their fields, they just need water and shovels, says agricultural engineer Joe Rickman. Seed quality could be improved through the widespread adoption of simple farmer practices, and massive waste stopped. Mr. Rickman estimates that only 20 percent of all
R. Cabrera
R. Cabrera
ambodia reached a milestone in 1995: self-sufficiency in rice for the first time in 25 years. Even more amazing, the country also produced a rice surplus of 139,000 tons of milled rice for export. Cambodian farmers have kept these production levels up ever since. In May 1997, Chann Saphan, the Undersecretary of State for Agriculture, unequivocally attributed Cambodias return to surplus rice production to research. More farmers planting higher-yielding varieties from IRRI and CIAP, expanded dryseason rice area, improved pest management, and increased distribution and use of fertilizer are the main reasons, says Harry Nesbitt, CIAP team leader and agronomist since 1988. When both the dry-season and wet-season crops are combined, 1.1 million tons more rice (worth $126 million) was eaten by Cambodians or sold in 1997 over 1992 amounts. If only 15 percent of this amount were attributed to rice research, the value would be $18.9 million, which exceeds the total funds invested in CIAP. Three-fourths of this additional rice is from the wetseason crop, which 80 percent of Cambodian farmers grow. Despite the national surplus, 40 percent of the population is still short of food, illustrating that food security involves more than just increasing rice production.
We dont want to beg for rice from other countries. Rice is the best way to improve food security, stimulate economic development, and help poor farmers.
Lim Kean Hor Secretary of State, Cambodia (Talking with farmers and extensionists at a CIAP field day) (
Released 34 varieties Developed recommendations for efficient fertilizer use Created new approach for identifying Cambodian soils Developed crop protection strategies using environment-sound integrated pest management practices Demonstrated value of land leveling and on-farm water conservation techniques Conducted quantitative socioeconomic surveys that have contributed to the understanding of Cambodian rice-farming households Introduced a farming systems approach to integrate other crops into the rice farm Furthered the professional development of women agricultural scientists and technicians Sponsored formal and informal training in-country and abroad Developed research infrastructure across 16 provinces
bodia-Australia Agricultural Extension Project. CIAP also works with NGOs in tackling issues such as banning hazardous pesticides and promoting IPM. These organizations are in a much better position to extend the results of research, says Dr. Nesbitt, who adds that CIAP also benefits from NGO experiences.
R. Cabrera
Source: AusAID
seed planted establishes, meaning that 160,000 tons of rice rots in the fieldrice that could be eaten.
and one kilometer of irrigation canals. To celebrate the achievement, a field day was held in October 1998 to inaugurate the training center and to provide an opportunity for more than 500 peoplefarmers, extensionists, NGO workers, donor representatives, and private agricultural entrepreneursto learn more about rice research. Im happy to visit here, said farmer Tol Kim, who owns one hectare of rice land near the station. I came to learn.
Partnerships in Development
or research to be useful, its results need to get to the people who can use them. CIAP freely shares its information, recommendations, and experiences with NGOs, semigovernment organizations, international organizations, and anyone else who needs ricerelated information. A recent partner in getting the information out has been the Department of Agricultural Extension, assisted by the new Cam-
C. Dedolph
he impact of a decades worth of rice research in Cambodia has been stunning: rice self-sufficiency, 34 varieties released, researchers and engineers trained, infrastructure rebuilt, national rice genetic resources restored, and an extensive network of government and nongovernment collaborators established. AusAIDs consistent funding commitment has been a key element in achieving the projects long-term goals, as has been IRRIs institutional support. These accomplishments can be attributed to the excellent spirit of partnership among CIAP team members, and are a good indication that Cambodia is recovering. With the birth of CARDI, CIAP will be phased out, and the Khmer staff will take complete responsibility for rice research. We have to work hard, says Dr. Mak. We are the fruit of CIAP, and Cambodia is depending on us. s
wild morning glory (a leafy green vegetable) to sell. Sometimes her children hire out as laborers, and her 14-year-old son (who is extremely small for his age) cuts rattan. He earns 15 cents a day. Ms. Sokha says her most serious problem is finding food for her family. Sometimes my money is gone, and I havent sold any mats. She spends most of their money on riceevery other bit goes to education. Three of the children are in school, but the money is just not enough to send the youngest. The school charges about $1 per semester, plus the additional expenses of chalk, pencils, books, school clothes, and 3 cents per day extra for the teacher. She says she cannot afford to buy her son a school shirt and trousers. Ms. Sokha says that if you cannot pay the extra daily fee, the teachers will erase the childs name from the roster. She recently sold five chickens, with all the money going to the school. I dont have property, so the only thing I can give my children is education, she says without bitterness. They need skills to support themselves. s
Eight in 6 Billion
A few among the many, these people are just a handful of Asias poor. Someday, they hope to have the right to be free from hunger, be healthy, go to school, and earn a decent livingand have hope for a better tomorrow.
Nine-year-old Ismail sells cigarettes, betel nut, and chewing gum outside Dhakas Farmgate Market. He earns less than $1 a day. Most of his money goes to buy rice for his familys two daily meals. He has never gone to school. Already grown-up, Ismail says he will do this for the rest of his life.
Wanrop Hirikul, a community leader in Bangkoks Klong Toey slum, came up with an innovative recycling idea where garbageglass, plastic, and old newspapersis collected by the slum dwellers and traded for eggs, rice, and other food. I believe a cooperative project like this can help the urban poor improve their standard of living and selfesteem and the communitys appearanceall at the same time, he says.
R. Cabrera
R. Cabrera
Unlike many Asians, farmer Tong Chan of Dongkalungnur village in Lao PDRs Champassak Province says she wants her son to be a rice farmer when he grows up.
G. Hettel
Juan Reyes (not his real name) used to be a security guard until he was shot on duty in 1990. Now he operates a food stall with his wife and three children in Mandaluyong in Metro Manila. The family earns about $8 daily, which barely meets their needs. We are scraping the bottom to get by.
R. Cabrera
C. Dedolph
Cambodian El Soey says she and her daughter are often hungry. They cannot afford to buy rice, so they pick wild vegetables, hunt for crabs and snails in the rice fields, and sometimes go to the Buddhist pagoda to get rice. She says she thinks about taking her daughter to an orphanage. At least people would take care of her, and shed have enough to eat.