The world's most basic commodity is Rice. Now the headlines are everywhere...Global Rice Shortage, the cost of rice has doubled in the past five weeks. This problem is due to rice shortages in Thailand Vietnam and other Southern Asian Countries. There were so many causes; previous calamity which damaged some of the rice fields, High prices on Insecticides, fertilizer, another cause is the inflation of US dollars and Bio-fuel crops.
The crisis has its roots in four interlinked trends. The first is the chronically low productivity of farmers in the poorest countries, caused by their inability to pay for seeds, fertilizers and irrigation. The second is the misguided policy in the U.S. and Europe of subsidizing the diversion of food crops to produce bio fuels like corn-based ethanol. The third is climate change; take the recent droughts in Australia and Europe, which cut the global production of grain. The fourth is the growing global demand for food and feed grains brought on by swelling populations and incomes.
Modern agriculture techniques are required to overcome rice crisis. Water is the key for rice production, the scientists shall try to create new breed of rice that require less water, and resist disease and insects, that have plentiful harvests. Farmers also think about new improved irrigation and storage methods.
