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10Rice TodayApril 2003

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outh Korea has become the

latest country to endorse theBeijing Declara tion on Rice, oneof the key outcomes of the first-everInternational Rice Congress, whichtook place in the Chinese capital inSeptember 2002. Chinese PresidentJiang Zemin opened the congress on16 September with a speechemphasizing the importance ofinternational collaboration inagricultural research and committingChina to a leading role.

China has managed to feed 22

percent of the worlds population withless than 10 percent of the worldsarable land, President Jiang said atthe opening ceremony. At present,the 1.2 billion and more Chinese havesufficient food and clothing and, byand large, lead a well-to-do life.China has [therefore] made itscontribution to world grainproduction and security.

More than 1,000 delegates from atleast 20 countries attended the four-day event, which marked the first-ever

meeting of all sectors of the inter-national rice industry, includingresearchers, traders, governmentofficials, private-sector representa-tives, farmers and NGO officers.

While the industry can boast ofmajor successes in recent decades such as famine-eradicatingproduction increases in China,India, Vietnam and Bangladesh it continues to struggle withmajor challenges such aspoverty eradication,household food security andimproving farmersincome.

Delegates to thecongress grappled withthese and a host of otherissues as they met attwo main events. Some800 delegates attendedthe 24th InternationalRice Research

Conference, and another 200

attended the World Rice CommerceConference. Meanwhile, theInternational Rice Technology andCultural Exhibition attracted 40exhibitors.

Perhaps most significantly,ministers from eight of the worldsmajor rice-producing nations representing about half the planetspopulation kicked off the congresswith a special ministerial roundtableon rice on 15 September (see page 12).It was here that theBeijing

Decla ra tion on Rice was firstproposed, with a recommendationfrom Thailand and several othercountries that it should be more fullydeveloped before being circulatedfor final

endorsement. By February, the

Philippines, Laos, Indonesia andSouth Korea had endorsed thedeclaration.

Historic eventI believe the roundtable has alreadyproven itself to have been a historicevent, said Dr. Ronald P. Cantrell,director general of IRRI. Not onlydid it bring together some of theworlds most populous nations suchas China, India and Indonesia totalk, for the first time, about rice. It

also came at a crucial time in thehistory of rice with the recentsequencing of the rice genome, amonumental achievement thatpaves the way for researchersto decode the function ofeach and every ricegene.

Special section: INTERNATIONAL RICE CONGRESS

Beijing puts rice on the table

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11Rice Today

April 2003

The congress delegates weremostly from Asia, but there were alsorepresentatives from Africa (whererice production is growing rapidly),North America, Australia, Europe,and Central and South America.Among the host of other issues thecongress faced were the impact of

liberalization on the international ricetrade (some rice cultures could bewiped out) and the terrible povertytrap that continues to ensnaremillions of rice farmers.

Profitable, sustainable riceproduction is essential to national andregional stability not just in Asia, butin much of the rest of the world aswell, commented Dr. Cantrell. Thedelegates went to Beijing expecting towork, because we had a compre-hensive research program to report on

and share, as well as important tradeinformation to analyze and dissect.

With the United Nations decisionlast December to declare 2004 theInternational Year of Rice, plans arenow under development for futurecongresses.

All rice-producing nations facethe same problems, Dr. Cantrell said.For too long, rice farmers have beenthe most deprived and forgotten of all

our foodproducers.

It is ourhope

that, by bringing the rice industrytogether at such congresses, we willget all those involved to focus onthese problems and finally resolvethem to the benefit of everyone especially poor rice farmers and

consumers.

Prime economic activityRice farming is one of the worldsprime economic activities because itprovides more sustenance to morepeople than any other food source andis the single largest food source forthe worlds poor. As the main cropgrown on more than 200 millionfarms, it is the single largest sourceof income and employment forhundreds of millions of rural

residents in the developing world.Because rice fields cover 11 percent ofthe planets arable area, or more than500 million ha, rice farmers also havea key role to play in environmentalprotection. Finally, rice is thefoundation of social stability and foodsecurity for some of the worlds mostpopulous nations, including China,India, Indonesia and Nigeria.

Chinese President Jiang Zemin (clockwise

from left) greets IRRI Board Chair Angeline

Saziso Kamba, speaks at the opening

ceremony of the congress, and shares a

light moment with hybrid rice pioneer

Prof. Yuan Longping and IRRI Director

General Ronald Cantrell. Gina Zarsadias

explains IRRI Training Center materials

to exhibition attendees. Thai Trade

Representative Prachuab Chaiyasan and

IRRI Consultant Gelia Castillo check out

farmers hats at the Asia Rice Foundation

display.

CHINESEACADEMYOFENG

INEERING

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