ADB approves $1.1-million grant to rice research

ADB approves $1.1-million grant to rice research

MANILA (AFP): Research into boosting rice yields in low- producing lowlands of South and Southeast Asia was given a US$1- million boost yesterday by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

The bank has approved a $1.1 million technical assistance grant to consolidate research work in Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand.

Philippine-based International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) would be the executing agency.

The ADB said in a statement the research will focus on increasing yields in rainfed lowlands. Rice is the staple of Asia's more than three billion people.

Agronomists have warned that Asia is facing serious food shortages by the turn of the century as more agricultural land is consumed by residential and industrial development to meet the demands of a growing population.

The ADB estimated Asia's population increases by 80 million people a year.

High-yielding rice varieties in the region's irrigated lands have also reached their full potential of about seven tons per hectare (2.8 tons per acre) and are now leveling off.

IRRI agronomists are pinning hopes on developing high- yielding, yet pest-resistant, varieties to double the yield in South and Southeast Asia's rainfed lands -- which account for 25 percent of total world production -- to forestall food shortages.

The total cost of the research project was pegged at 4.32 million dollars.

The Netherlands has contributed $390,000, the U.S.-based Rockefeller Foundation $230,000, National Research Systems $1.15 million and IRRI $1.45 million.