The world's favourite food
Rice is the main source of food for more than 3 billion people - almost half the world's population. So over the past century scientists have been searching for ways to boost harvests of our favourite cereal crop.
There have been some big advances. Using selective breeding rice researchers have improved disease resistance and hardiness.
'These developments have had astounding results: rice production has doubled over the past 40 years.' Takuji Sasaki, National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences, Japan
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There are over 120,000 different varieties of rice worldwide.
Image: United States Department of Agriculture |
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