The United Nations Millennium Development Goals will not be achieved without recognition of the essential role of rice in reaching these targets. The warning comes just a few months before the launch of the UN-declared International Year of Rice 2004.

Ronald P. Cantrell, director general of the Philippines-based International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), said that achieving at least two of the eight millennium goals depends heavily on continued and strengthened research efforts to help farmers grow rice more efficiently, profitably and sustainably. These two goals are

• eradicating extreme poverty and hunger and

• ensuring environmental sustainability.

Improved rice farming can contribute directly to four other goals, according to Dr. Cantrell, who was speaking on the eve of the 27-31 October annual general meeting in Nairobi of IRRI's parent organization, the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). In the same week, on 31 December at the UN in New York, the International Year of Rice will be launched at a special event keynoted by the director general of the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), Jacques Diouf.

The FAO is the implementing agency for the special year and will follow-up the 31 October event with a major conference on rice at its headquarters in Rome on 12-13 February. These events will highlight  the vital role of rice in maintaining international food security and alleviating poverty.

"The first and most important millennium goal of halving the number of  poor and hungry by 2015 concerns rice consumers and producers more than any other group in the developing world," Dr. Cantrell said.  "That's because they are among the poorest and the most deprived of access to food."

Confirming the central role rice plays in determining the well-being of the poor, World Bank figures indicate that poverty has declined significantly in Indonesia since early 1999, as rice prices have  fallen and real wages have started to recover from the Asian economic collapse of 1997. Earlier figures from the heyday of the Green  Revolution in Asia show how effectively improvements to rice farming fight poverty. With modern varieties allowing large increases in rice production, the incidence of hunger fell from 33 percent in most Asian developing countries to 18 percent, while poverty was halved.

"Obviously another key factor is the research and policies needed to help farmers diversify out of rice," Dr. Cantrell added. "Many rice farmers will remain poor if they have to keep growing only the one crop."  

For achieving the millennium development goal of ensuring environmental sustainability, research to improve rice farming represents both an acute need and a great opportunity. Because rice occupies more farmland in Asia than any other food crop -- 60% or more of total cropped area in the poorest countries -- even limited progress toward cleaner and greener rice farming can bring significant benefits.

"For many years now we have been breeding improved rice varieties with natural resistance to pests and diseases," Dr. Cantrell explained. "This reduces the need for farmers to spray their crops with pesticides. We are also studying a range of options in integrated pest management that further reduce farmers' need to spray potentially dangerous chemicals. At the same time, we're testing simple but reliable techniques farmers can employ to optimize their fertilizer use. Ensuring a crop's maximum uptake of fertilizer by applying just enough of it at just the right time means less fertilizer runoff polluting rivers and streams. The added benefit -- and the immediate incentive for farmers -- is lower input cost and so improved income."

Making rice fields as productive as possible also protects forests, wetlands and other natural areas by reducing or eliminating farmers' need to clear marginal lands to create new fields. "Rice research that improves the productivity of existing fields boosts harvests in line with the number of mouths to feed without encroaching on natural areas," explained Dr. Cantrell. "This has been true since the beginning of the Green Revolution."

Recent research has determined that, without the productivity improvements in rice and other crops brought by the Green Revolution, the world's agricultural land would be 3 to 5 percent more extensive than it is today --  covering an additional area roughly the size of France. Almost all of this expansion of crop land would have taken place on such marginal and environmentally sensitive areas as sloping highlands, whose deforestation and subsequent erosion can have devastating environmental consequences hundreds of kilometers downstream.

Dr. Cantrell said the other four millennium goals that could be directly advanced through continued rice resea rch are

• achieving universal primary education,

• promoting gender equality and empowering women,

• reducing child mortality, and

• improving maternal health.

Perhaps the greatest obstacle to achieving universal primary education is the inability of poor parents to put food on the table every day and still save enough money to pay their children's school fees.

"Although rice prices have dropped to historic lows in recent years, Asia's poorest still spend 20-40% of their income on rice," noted Dr. Cantrell. "Helping farmers grow rice more efficiently means cheaper rice for consumers, higher income for producers and more money for both to invest in their children's education. More efficient rice  farming also lightens the labor burden on farm households, leaving children more time for their studies."

Dr. Cantrell noted that the same principle applies to promoting gender equality and empowering women, particularly those on the farm.

"Women traditionally shoulder many of the chores of rice farming," he said. "These days, they are assuming additional responsibilities as their menfolk go off looking for employment off the farm. Research that makes rice farming more efficient frees women to grow cash crops and independently pursue other paid activities. Thismeans they can earn money to cover school fees for all of their children, boys and girls alike. And maybe they even have a little money left over for their own personal fulfillment."

Dr. Cantrell explained how one revolutionary strategy can help achieve the twin millennium goals of reducing child mortality and improving maternal health.

"Because Asia's poorest depend on rice for most of their calories and protein, many suffer dietary deficiencies," he explained. "Globally, deficiency in micronutrients -- or hidden hunger -- afflicts more than half of humanity. The most vulnerable are women, especially when they are pregnant or lactating, and young children."

Public health programs have enjoyed considerable impact over the years by distributing vitamin supplements to the poor. Conventional food fortification with additives has been successful in alleviating some forms of micronutrient deficiency in some places; iodized salt, for example, has reduced the incidence of goiter and cretinism. Until the last several years, almost nobody saw any potential in rice research for alleviating micronutrient deficiency. But thanks to new tools being developed in pioneering areas of research, including  biotechnology, some exciting and unprecedented opportunities are starting to emerge.

Recent research at IRRI has advanced the new concept of biofortification, or breeding rice varieties that  have a higher nutrient content in the endosperm of the grain, the part left after milling. The institute is focusing on three essential micronutrients: iron, zinc and vitamin A.

"We are excited about this new research and its potential to significantly contribute to these two millennium development goals," Dr. Cantrell said. "Because rice reaches most of the world's poor, even in the most isolated villages, on a daily basis, so will these micronutrients. And, because iron- and zinc-rich rice does not entail genetic modification, there have been no political hurdles to clear. It's already in feeding trials in the Philippines, and we hope to announce some results soon."

The IRRI director general added that he was confident that International Year of Rice would lend the institute's efforts a major boost.

"Obviously, 2004 will achieve a lot in terms of public awareness of the importance of rice," he observed. "But we want to try to go further than that by placing rice and rice research back at the heart of the international development agenda. It has spent too long on the sidelines."

The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) is the world's leading rice research and training center. Based in the Philippines and with offices in 10 other Asian 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 centers funded through the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), an association of public and private donor agencies. Please visit the Web sites of the CGIAR (www.cgiar.org) or Future Harvest Foundation (www.futureharvest.org), a nonprofit organization that builds awareness and supports food and environmental research.

Library (http://ricelib.irri.cgiar.org), Rice Knowledge Bank (www.knowledgebank.irri.org), Riceworld Museum and Learning Center (www.riceworld.org)