World Food Day-rice-AFIC

World Food Day-rice-AFIC

JP/18/RICE

World Food Day on Oct. 16 celebrates rice

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation has
declared 2004 the International Year of Rice, with the slogan
"Rice is Life".

Rice is the most important staple crop for more than 50
percent of world's population and this year's World Food Day on
Oct. 16 will highlight how researchers are continuing to develop
new, more nutritious rice strains -- as does this article from
the Asian Food Information Centre.

The Japanese consider rice their "mother". The Chinese form
of the greeting "How are you?" is "Have you had your rice today?"
-- implying that a person who has eaten rice is well.

Vietnamese farmers consider themselves "not poor" if they can
have rice every day of the year.

Indeed, rice is at the foundation of cultures and
civilizations in many parts of Asia. The crop was first grown in
the river deltas of East and South Asia thousands of years ago
and it was the productivity of wetland rice that gave birth to
the first civilizations in India, China and along the Mekong
Delta.

Rice has evolved together with these communities and today,
comes in myriad colors that range from white to brown to red to
black; textures that may be grainy or sticky, and flavors, with
the highly priced Jasmine and Basmati varieties being the most
famous.

Rice still forms the cornerstone of the socioeconomic and
political landscape in many Asian countries in the 21st century.
Asia is still the most important continent where rice is grown,
consumed and exported.

Because of its role in food security, income generation and
political stability, rice production is subject to much
government intervention.

From Japan to India, Asian communities are strongly protective
of their rice fields and resist global pressures to liberalize
the rice trade. For developing countries and those still highly
dependent on agriculture, improving rice production reduces
poverty and hunger and promotes food security and economic
development.

Nutritionally, more than 2,000 million Asians derive more
about 60 percent to 70 percent of their daily caloric needs from
rice. Rice is so important to the Asian diet that it may be the
main component of almost all the meals Asians consume.

Yet, it is this dependence on rice that mires millions in
chronic micro-nutrient deficiency. While rice is able to provide
adequate energy, it has an incomplete amino acid profile and
contains limited amounts of micronutrients.

Milling, which produces white rice -- the most commonly eaten
form -- removes large amounts of protein, fiber, fat, iron and B
vitamins.

Therefore, the most common nutritional problems in poor rice-
eating communities are protein-energy malnutrition and iron,
iodine and vitamin A deficiencies.

About half of women in their reproductive ages in Asia suffer
from iron deficiency while vitamin A deficiency affects 10
percent to 25 percent of children and pregnant women.

In South Asia, the level of sub-clinical vitamin A deficiency
in pre-schoolers may be as high as 1 in 3.

Iron deficiency reduces a child's ability to learn and is a
leading cause for maternal deaths. Vitamin A deficiency may lead
to blindness, and is a major risk factor in infant and maternal
mortality even at low levels.

Hence, it is imperative to improve rice's nutritional profile
to ensure that communities most at risk and those most dependent
on rice as their staple food obtain adequate nutrition from
eating rice.

Research into improving the nutritional value of rice has been
progressing at an exciting and fruitful pace. Scientists use a
variety of tools at their disposal -- traditional breeding of
different rice strains, improving the genetic sequence of rice
strains and fortifying rice by adding nutrients during the
milling process to make rice more nutritious.

The discovery of the African rice species, Oryza glabberima,
has given scientists the raw ingredients to develop more
nutritious rice, especially in Africa. O. glabberima may range
from 1mg to 6mg of zinc and iron (two minerals not found in Oryza
sativa) and 5g to 14g of protein per 100g rice.

Incorporating these traits into commercial rice varieties
could substantially improve current levels of global
micronutrient deficiency.

Indeed, scientists have made significant headway with
traditional breeding. Plant breeders at IRRI (the International
Rice Research Institute), in collaboration with IFPRI (the
International Food Policy Research Institute) have developed a
new strain of rice that has 4 times to 5 times more iron than
normal rice.

Iron was selected as the target micronutrient as iron
deficiency is the most common and prevalent micronutrient
deficiency in the world.

A group of 300 Catholic nuns in the Philippines volunteered to
test out the high-iron rice and the preliminary results have been
promising.

The trial showed that nuns who consumed the high-iron rice had
a 10percent increase in their body iron while those who ate
normal rice actually lost 6 percent of their body iron.

The results of the trial shows that biofortification of rice
with iron is possible and effective and creates impetus for both
continuing efforts to improve iron content of rice, and to
improve micronutrient concentrations of other crops.

Another promising project is to fortify rice with vitamin A.
Since rice does not produce vitamin A naturally, scientists
resorted to genetic tools to introduce a gene that produces beta-
carotene, a substance that the human body converts to vitamin A.

The work, pioneered by Swiss scientist, Ingo Potrykus, has now
been passed to IRRI for further development.

While a lot of work still needs to be done before vitamin A-
enriched rice appears on consumer tables, the project showcases
the potential to use innovative tools in improving rice's
nutritional profile.

In addition to these methods now being pursued, rice
fortification -- a process of adding nutrients into rice during
milling -- is also being studied as a quick and inexpensive
method of improving rice's nutritional profile.

Studies have been carried out to fortify rice with iron, B
vitamins, Vitamin A and calcium, with varying degrees of success.

In Asia, the Philippines has been at the forefront of
fortifying rice, with experiments that began in the 1940s.

However, despite successful feeding trials and a law mandating
the enrichment of rice, progress to date has been limited. The
Philippines is trying to revive rice fortification with iron and
the preliminary results of the trials are promising.

But as illustrated by the earlier Philippines experience,
political will and governmental involvement is crucial in
ensuring the success of a rice fortification project.

Developing new rice varieties that are more nutritious is both
promising and challenging. As more of the earth's population
discover rice, it is imperative that new rice strains keep up
with the demand that rice provide adequate nutrition.

Indeed, the Food and Health Organization asserts that
nutritional considerations are essential to the International
Year of the Rice and to fulfill the concept that Rice is Life.

in box
For further information, visit International Rice Research
Institute and the FAO International Year of Rice website at
http://www.irri.org/events/IYR2004/index.asp

The Asian Food Information Centre website is at www.afic.org

The centre is a Singapore-registered not-for-profit society
whose mission is to provide science-based information.