Gene Technology for Increased Rice Production in Developing Countries

Together with two other cereals, wheat and maize, rice belongs to the three most important food crops Worldwide. Rice occupies one tenth of all the arable land. In humid and subhumid Asia, more than 90% of the world’s rice is grown and provides the major energy source for more than two billion people from Pakistan to Japan and is also an important crop in several countries of Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East. Rice provides 20% of global human per capita energy and 15% of per capita protein (IRRI, 1993).