(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-04-11 14:43

PRODUCTION IS EXPECTED TO RISE

One of the few good news was Wednesday's statement by the Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organization, which said the world rice production was expected to rise this year in all the major producing countries in Asia, including China, India, Indonesia and Thailand.

Rice production will increase by 1.8 percent, or 12 million tons, assuming normal weather conditions, easing a tight supply situation in key producing countries, the agency said.

It also said the rocketing international rice price may ease in the next few months, with new rice harvests in Latin America and Asia.

Meanwhile, experts are calling for reconsideration of biofuel from crops like corn.

"We should be very, very careful about coming up with biofuel solutions that have major impact on production of food grains and may have an implication for overall food security," Nobel Peace Prize winner and climate change scientist Rajendra Pachauri told a news conference in Brussels on March 26.

"As citizens of the world, we ought to be concerned about the foolishness of growing food and diverting it into fuel," said Indian Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on the same day in Singapore.

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