UN okays 2004 as International Year of Rice

LOS BAÑOS, Laguna – Upon the proposal of the Philippine government and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) here, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) has declared 2004 as International Year of Rice (IYR).

The IYR will be the most important event in Asia in 2004, said Duncan Macintosh, head of IRRI’s Visitors and Information Services.

IYR, he added, will bring nations together to focus attention on the role that rice plays in providing food security and in eradicating poverty.

IRRI, headed by Director General Ronald Cantrell, first proposed the event in 1999.

Subsequently, the Philippine government introduced a resolution at the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) conference in November 2001 proposing that 2004 be declared as International Year of Rice.

Following the FAO conference’s adoption of the resolution, the 57th session of the UN General Assembly declared 2004 as the IYR.

The UNGA also requested FAO to facilitate the implementation of the IYR in collaboration with the centers of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) and other international agencies concerned.

Last Jan. 23, the steering committee of the International Rice Commission met to share ideas on how to proceed with the implementation of the IYR.

The committee, among other things, agreed to call for an International Coordination Meeting (ICM) to create an international organizing committee for the implementation of the IYR at the international level.

The ICM was subsequently held at the FAO headquarters in Rome last March 6-7. IRRI was represented in the meeting by Dr. Michael Jackson.

The International Year of Rice is expected to heighten awareness of rice’s role in lessening poverty and malnutrition, particularly in rice-producing countries.

As the provisional program of the ICM for the IYR pointed out, rice is the staple of almost half of the world’s population, employs tens of millions of people, and has an enormous impact on the environment.

"Rice production is one of the world’s most important economic activities simply because more than two billion of the world’s poorest depend on it," it stressed. "Almost 90 percent of the world’s rice is produced by small-scale farmers in low-income developing countries and is consumed locally."

The ICM further asserted that rice has become an important element of national food security in an increasing number of developing countries and is the most rapidly growing food source in Africa.