Just this past week China’s government issued safety certificates to domestically developed strains of biotech rice and maize after years of review and testing. This decision is significant as China is the world’s top producer of rice, yielding about 30% of the world’s rice, and the second largest maize producer after the US.
China’s signal of support for agricultural biotechnology has the potential to lead to greater adoption and acceptance of biotech crops globally.
The Wall Street Journal reported on China’s decision. You can read the article here.
The latest issue of Rice Today focuses on climate change, and the potential impact extreme weather conditions in Southeast Asia will have on rice production. The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) is studying ways to better adapt rice crops to monsoons, floods and droughts, and has sent submergence-tolerant and salt-tolerant rice varieties to Myanmar for testing. The IRRI is also hosting an international conference about the future of rice production and climate change in November, 2009.
The issue also plays tributes to the late Nobel Laureate, Dr. Norman Borlaug, and his success in bringing the “Green Revolution” to India through developing high-yielding crops that help combat hunger and poverty.
You can read more about the latest issue of Rice Today here
