Climate change threatens rice production

Science Daily: Once-in-a-lifetime floods in the Philippines, India’s delayed monsoon, and extensive drought in Australia are taking their toll on this year’s rice crops, demonstrating the vulnerability of rice to extreme weather. Rice Today’s October-December 2009 edition focuses on climate change and its potential impact on rice. It reveals that it is difficult to prove climate change is responsible for current weather events.

However, by using advanced modeling techniques, the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) has mapped rice-growing regions in the Philippines that are most likely to experience the negative effects of climate change, showing the extent to which climate change threatens rice production.

Solutions to help farmers adapt are nevertheless available. Cyclone Nargis wreaked havoc on the rice crops and communities of Myanmar in 2008. Since then, IRRI has sent submergence-tolerant and salt-tolerant rice varieties for testing there as more resilient options for farmers.

Massive rat infestations in Myanmar followed cyclone Nargis. Horrific rat infestations also occurred recently in Laos and Bangladesh, where the rodents ate up to 100% of rice crops, invaded house stores of food, bit sleeping people, and likely propagated disease. IRRI is hosting an international conference on rodents in rice to help find solutions….

An aerial view of damage from 2008's Cyclone Nargis, which disrupted rice production all over Asia.