Now a Climate Ready Rice to avoid starvation in Asia!

In our archive posting, Increasing temperatures will take a toll on rice production in Asia: Rogue “Peer Review” Study,  with dateline 13th August 2010, we critiqued the claim of a rogue peer reviewed study that claimed that increasing temperatures will take a toll on rice production in Asia. Read more here.

Our critique should make this clear that behind the headlines of global warmist claims is often statistical jugglery and cherry picking data. We got more than 1,500 page-load hits for this post with many reputed Agricultural Universities around the world and scientists among the visitors.

At the timing of writing the post, we wondered, “What’s the agenda behind such rogue studies?” We now discovered it was designed to lay the justification of a $600 million research study to evolve “climate ready rice”! This is how the study defines its mission: 

“Cutting-edge research aimed at discovering new rice genes and deciphering their functions will feed into accelerated efforts to break the yield barrier in rice and to breed new generations of “climate-ready” rice with flooding tolerance and other traits that are essential for adapting production in the face of climate change. The initiative is expected to boost supplies enough to reduce anticipated increases in rice prices by an average of at least 6.5% by 2020, and at least 13% by 2035.” 

An initiative of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) and led by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and its partners, GRiSP was launched in Hanoi today at the 3rd International Rice Congress. The new global initiative will lead scientists to embark on the most comprehensive attempt ever to deploy rice’s genetic diversity.

Cutting-edge research aimed at discovering new rice genes and deciphering their functions will feed into accelerated efforts to break the yield barrier in rice and to breed new generations of “climate-ready” rice with flooding tolerance and other traits that are essential for adapting production in the face of climate change. The initiative is expected to boost supplies enough to reduce anticipated increases in rice prices by an average of at least 6.5% by 2020, and at least 13% by 2035.

Those who are in the field will well remember all the hullabaloo with the launch of Roundup Wheat and the subsequent damage such a package caused round the world. Now we have to face the consequence of a “Climate Ready Rice”. Among its features is increased vulnerability to flooding. What happens if Asia faces drought? Starvation if such a magic bullet replaces local strains fails and producing Frankenstein food, if it succeeds. And they have the gumption to call this circus (research) preserving bio-diversity! What can we say but God help us!