Beijing, China
September 16, 2002

The international rice industry -- which helps feed almost half the world on a daily basis -- is holding its first-ever meeting in Beijing, the capital of the world's largest rice producer and consumer, China.

Rice production is one of the world's most important economic activities. It has an extraordinary impact for the following reasons*:

• Rice provides more calories to more people than any other food source and, for many of the world's poor, provides more calories and protein than all other foods combined.
• Rice is the main crop on 200 million small farms and the single most important source of income and employment for many hundreds of millions of rural residents in the developing world.
• Rice fields cover about 10 percent of the planet's arable area, so their sustainable management is key to protecting the environment.
• Rice is the basis of food security and social stability in such large and pivotal nations such as China, India and Indonesia.

While the rice industry can boast of major successes in recent decades -- such as famine-eradicating rice-production increases in China, India, Vietnam and Bangladesh -- it is also struggling with such big challenges as how to grow the extra rice the planet is predicted to need to feed a growing population, while using less land, labor and water.
 
Delegates to the International Rice Congress, on 16-20 September, will be grappling with these and a host of other issues as they meet at the two main events: The International Rice Research Conference (IRRC) and the World Rice Commerce Conference (WRCC). Ministers from eight of the world's major rice-producing nations -- representing about half the planet's population -- kicked off the congress with a special ministerial roundtable on rice on 15 September.
 
"It would be wrong to sound too ambitious, but in some ways the roundtable will prove to be a historic event," said Dr. Ronald P. Cantrell, director general of the Philippines-based International Rice Research Institute. "Bringing together for the first time some of the world's largest rice producers -- notably China, India and Indonesia -- it comes at a crucial time in the history of rice improvement, with the sequencing of the rice genome under the leadership of the rice-growing countries themselves."
 
The 1,000-plus delegates attending the congress are mostly from Asia, but there are also representatives from Africa -- where rice production is growing rapidly -- North America, Australia, Europe, and Central and South America. "Profitable, sustainable rice production is essential to stability not just in Asia, but in much of the rest of the world as well," Dr. Cantrell said.

Among the host of issues the congress faces are the impact of liberalization on the international rice trade -- with the possibility that some national rice industries could be wiped out -- and the terrible poverty trap that ensnares millions of rice farmers. "The delegates are coming here expecting to work," Dr. Cantrell said, "because we've got a comprehensive research program to report on and share, as well as important trade information to analyze and dissect."
 
As this is the first-ever meeting of the industry, a draft industry agenda was expected to be discussed and developed at the International Roundtable on Rice. "China is very pleased to be able to host such an historic event as the roundtable, especially because it brings together a family of nations that share one of the most important things of all -- the food that we eat," said a spokesperson for the congress.
 
"Rice is an essential part of Chinese history, culture and national identity," the spokesperson added. "And it plays a key role in cultures of many other influential countries, such as India, Japan and Indonesia. We hope the congress will mark the start of all these nations working together to help resolve the many rice production problems we all share and, in the process, help develop our rural areas into vibrant, thriving economies."
 
Noting that this was the first such event in the history of the rice industry, the spokesperson pointed out that plans were already being developed for future congresses. Because most international industries organize regular annual meetings, there is strong support for the rice industry to do the same, especially in the context of bringing together the world's rice-producing countries, who share many of the same problems.
 
Among these problems, illiteracy and malnutrition are particularly cruel, as they prevent children from achieving their full potential and hobble countries' efforts to develop into prosperous societies. Improving rice productivity addresses both problems by keeping rice prices low for consumers, while improving profits for rice farmers, leaving both groups with more money to invest in their children's nutrition and schooling.
 
"We need to work together to find ways to turn the millions of rice-farming communities around the world into thriving, profitable rural economies with access to the latest technologies, infrastructure and information services," Dr. Cantrell said. "For too long, rice farmers have been the most deprived and forgotten of all our food producers.
 
"It is our hope," he added, "that by bringing the rice industry together at the congress we will get all those involved to focus on these problems and finally resolve them to the benefit of everyone -- especially poor rice farmers and consumers."
 
IRRI is the world's leading international rice research and training center. Based in the Philippines and with offices in 11 other countries, it is an autonomous, nonprofit institution focused on improving the well-being of present and future generations of rice farmers and consumers, particularly those with low incomes, while preserving natural resources. IRRI is one of 16 Future Harvest centers funded the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), an association of public and private donor agencies.
 
For more information, visit the websites of the CGIAR or Future Harvest. Future Harvest is a nonprofit organization that builds awareness and supports food and environmental  research for a world with less poverty, a healthier human family, well-nourished children, and a better environment. Future Harvest  supports research, promotes partnerships, and sponsors projects that bring the results of agricultural research to rural communities, farmers and families in Africa, Latin America and Asia.
 
Web (IRRI): http://www.irri.org
Web (Library): http://ricelib.irri.cgiar.org
Web (Riceweb): http://www.riceweb.org
Web (Riceworld): http://www.riceworld.org

* Rice Almanac (Third Edition). 2002. The International Rice Research Institute. For copies please contact Mr. Gene Hettel, e-mail e.hettel@cgiar.org.