I wouldn’t normally consider myself a revolutionary, but after reading a recent Economist article on the subway my mind was changed. Apparently, next time you or I eat rice we may be taking part in a global movement to end hunger in the developing world.

An experimental rice seed recently developed by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the Philippines now has the ability to not drown in a flood. You read that correctly, researchers taught rice not to drown. If this innovation catches you by surprise, it should. Already 5 million farmers across the world have planted this new rice seedling in over a dozen different varieties. It appears you and I are late to the game.

As crazy as it may seem the discovery has the ability to drastically change agriculture across the globe. The rice seed is encoded with a genetic sequence to force the plant into a limbo state during poor conditions. Instead of drowning in a flood, the rice simply begins growing again once the environment becomes more hospitable. According to research the new varieties “are proliferating even faster than new rice varieties during the heady early days of the first green revolution in the 1960’s.”

This is huge news for the more than 3.5 billion people worldwide who depend on rice for a fifth of their diet. A third of Africa depends on the crop for consumption and demand is rising 20% per year on the continent. A majority of Asia’s poor depend on rice for survival as it is one of the only crops which grows prolifically in Southeast Asia’s climate.

Earth:100

Okay great but it’s rice, who cares? Well, we all should. For every extra 1 billion people the population grows an additional 100 million tons of rice is required to feed them. The problem is the growth rate of rice is increasing at half the pace as that of the world’s population.

Rice is extremely susceptible to the effects of global warming: higher temperatures, increased flooding, erratic and severe weather. Most of the world’s rice is grown in the deltas of Asia’s mighty rivers; the region most at risk from the effects of global warming. To say nothing of the effects poised by extreme drought in many parts of Africa. I presume this would decrease the rick of rice drowning but would increase the risk of the plant dying of thirst, but I digress. Without new seeds to increase yields, the rice supply is destined to collapse.

Before the original green revolution Asia was characterized by intense famine and its subsequent misery. Recall the 20 to 43 million Chinese who perished during the Great Chinese Famine from 1958 to 1961. Global warming is shaping up to unravel the great strides the region has made since those tempestuous times.

The recent discoveries in rice will help both Asia and Africa combat growing populations and increased vulnerabilities to climate changes. For the developing world, rice appears to offer the most hope in the dim arena of climate change. And for the dissenters, as they say - the proof is in the (rice) pudding.

The Economist | A bigger rice bowl

Editorial

Defeat Poverty

The rice revolution will not be televised

By Ryan Bacci