Essay on “International Year of Rice” Complete Essay, Paragraph, Speech for Class 10, Class 12 and Graduation and other classes.

International Year of Rice

The United Nations has launched a major international drive to increase the production of rice—the staple food for more than half the world’s population. Under the motto “Rice is Life”, the United Nations is sponsoring an international drive in 2004 to increase the production of rice, the staple food for about half the world’s people. Today, rice feeds nearly three billion people, or almost half the world’s population.

Declaring 2004 as the International Year of Rice, Director-General of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), Dr. Jacques Diouf, said that the world population is continuing to grow, but land and water resources for rice production are diminishing.

Almost a billion (1,000 million) households in Asia, Africa and the Americas depend on rice systems as their main source of employment and livelihood. According to FAO, figures show that, by 2030, total demand for rice will be 3 per cent higher than the annual amounts produced between 1997 and 1999. Since the early 1990s, scientists have warned that growth in rice yields has been falling to rates below population growth. Rice provides 20 per ,tent of the world’s dietary supply in comparison to 19 per cent from wheat and 5 per cent from maize. Production is being threatened as the commodity competes with urban development for land and water.

Devoting a year to a commodity is an unprecedented step in United Nations history. Compelling factors lie under this decision: the spectre of increased hunger, malnutrition, poverty and conflict in the coming decades. In 2002, these factors moved the Government of the Philippines, along with 43 other countries, to formally request that the UN General Assembly to declare 2004 as the International Year of Rice. But the idea had been circulating among major agricultural organisations since 1999 due to growing concern that fundamental issues needed to be tackled on a global level.

It is noticeable that 90 per cent of the world’s rice is grown and consumed in Asia, but rice is the most rapidly growing food source in Africa and has a major influence on human nutrition and food security all over the world.

The world population was continuing to grow, but land and water resources for rice production are diminishing. While the Green Revolution of the 1970s greatly alleviated the global burden of hunger in some parts of the world, these benefits have been leveling off.

Rice is the most rapidly growing food source in Africa and has a major influence on human nutrition and food security all over the world. Sustainable rice-based production systems can help the eradication of world hunger and achieving the UN Millennium goals.

About four-fifths of the world’s rice is produced by small-scale farmers and is consumed locally. Rice systems support a wide variety of plants and animals, which also help supplement rural diets and incomes. Rice is, therefore, on the frontline in the fight against world hunger and poverty.

Rice production and consumption is a pivot of many cultures around the world. Calling rice “a symbol of cultural identity and global unity”, the UN said that it shapes religious observances, festivals, customs, cuisine and celebrations. Hence the UN decision to take a unique step in its history and dedicate a year to this single crop—rice.

Rapid acceleration of rice production in the last three decades had been a primary contributor to improvements in world food security. But of the 840-million people still suffering from chronic hunger, over 50 per cent lived in areas dependent on rice production for food, income and employment. Global initiatives aimed at promoting sustainable agricultural development have been established over the years by many countries.

Rice production in India was up by 14 per cent in 2003, and rice production in Thailand increased by 4 per cent to a new record. But some of Asia’s other monsoon countries suffered from typhoons and flooding. In rice dependent China, rice production fell by one per cent. Cold, overcast weather in Japan resulted in a poor growing season in that country.

FAO figures show that by 2030 total demand for rice will be 3 per cent higher than the annual amounts produced between 1997 and 1999.

The International Year of Rice will act as a catalyst for country-driven programmes throughout the world. The aim is to engage the entire community of stakeholders, from rural farmers to the scientific institutions that mapped the rice genome, in the mission to increase rice production in a manner that promotes sustainability and equity. Many member-countries have already formed National Committees for the International Year of Rice and they will serve as the dynamic link between the UN vision and the practical realities in local people’s lives.

This strategy has been successful in the past, according to FAO. Just after World War II, rapid population growth coupled with slow rice production had led experts to predict starvation in Asia. On its own, FAO had declared 1966 the Year of Rice. Numerous countries took measures to improve production, marketing, milling and nutrition. Conferences were organised and scientific research stimulated.

The 2004 campaign will similarly seek to propel increased research and application of improved methodologies. A scientific contest will be held, along with regional and international conferences.

A proposal sponsored by the Philippines and signed by 43 other UN member-countries, citing a “pending crisis” in rice production, has prompted the UN for the first time to set aside an entire year for a focus on one crop.

Many UN member-countries have already formed national committees for the International Year of Rice to manifest the international vision of more rice filling now empty bowls. The strategy of concentrating on rice for a year has been successful in the past. Just after World War II, rapid population growth coupled with slow rice production led experts to predict starvation in Asia.

The 2004 UN International Year of Rice is seen as a crucial effort to feed a burgeoning world population.