Scientists Develop Green Super Rice
Baku, January 31 (AZERTAC). Researchers are working to develop rice varieties which require much less water, fertilizer and pesticide than modern types of rice demand.
Rice feeds roughly three billion people in Asia alone, and is a staple food around the world. Modern rice plant varieties yield double or triple the amount of grain possible before the 1960s.
When the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) first introduced these varieties, they were called "miracle rice" because they helped ward off famine is Asia. But they have some major shortcomings.
"When farmers don`t have these fertilizers, they fail them miserably," says Jauhar Ali, an IRRI senior scientist.
Petrochemical-based fertilizers are costly and becoming more so. The same is true of the pesticides farmers use to control insects and weeds. Also, the pollution they cause is ruining aquatic ecosystems in many parts of the world.
In addition, they need to be irrigated. But experts say water supplies are increasingly challenged by urbanization and climate change.
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