SUPPORT TO THE SPECIAL PROGRAMME FOR FOOD SECURITY  

Rice production systems provide not only food, but also main source of incomes and employment opportunities for about a billion poor people in rural areas of Asia and, to a lesser extent, in Africa and Latin America. In Asia, the wet land rice production systems are dominant, whereas in Sub-Sahara Africa and in Brazil the upland rice production systems are dominant. The upland rice production systems, however, are not stable and the populations in Sub-Sahara Africa and in Brazil are increasingly developing wetland rice production systems.

More than four-fifths of the world rice is produced and consumed by small farmers in low-incomes and developing countries. In 1996, nearly 3 billion people depended on rice as their major source of daily calories and protein. (Table 1)

Table 1. Some characteristics of the top 27 rice-consuming countries in 1996

Country

Per caput rice consumption in 1996 kg/year)a

Population in 1996 ('000)b

Gross domestic product in 1995 (US$/caput)c

Myanmar

320.4

45 922

2 399

Laos

265.2

5 035

359

Viet Nam

245.5

75 181

270

Cambodia

238.3

10 273

130

Bangladesh

232.7

120 073

280

Indonesia

219.5

200 453

1 019

Guinea-Bissau

171.4

1 091

131

Thailand

166.2

58 703

2 896

Suriname

155.1

432

967

Philippines

143.8

69 282

1 093

Nepal

142.6

22 021

203

Madagascar

142.1

15 353

215

Korea Rep.

140.9

45 314

9 736

China

138.5

1 232 083

582

Sri Lanka

134.1

18 100

716

Korea DPR

130.5

22 466

271

Sierra Leone

129.2

4 297

293

Malaysia

127.5

20 581

4 313

Guyana

119.1

838

726

India

118.1

944 580

365

Gambia

115.7

1 141

321

Mauritius

113.6

1 129

3 580

Guinea

111.0

7 518

442

Senegal

108.7

8 532

572

Macau

106.6

440

na

Comoros

104.0

632

367

Cape Verde

103.7

396

994

TOTAL

-

2 931 866

-
a Adapted from FAO Food Balance Sheet, Jan. 1999.
b Adapted from FAOSTAT, Jan. 1999.
c Adapted from UN Statistical Yearbook (42nd Issue) 1995, 30 June 1997.

Attaining sustainable rice production for food security in Member Countries is of great importance to the International Rice Commission. Therefore, in addition to the earlier-mentioned activities, the Rice Development Programme (RDP) has also actively provided technical support and service to Member Countries, especially countries which participated in the Special Programme for Food Security. During the initial phase, a Special Programme for Food Security has four main components, which are the following:

Intensification of rice production is a major activity in the Crop Intensification component of the Special Programmes for Food Security in a large number of countries; even in countries where traditionally rice is not a staple food crop (Table 2).

Table 2. Characteristics of countries, where rice production is a major activity of the Crop Intensification component the National Special Programme for Food Security, although rice is not a staple food.

Country

Per caput rice consumption in 1996 (kg/year)a

Population in 1997 ('000)b

Gross domestic product (US$/caput)c

Africa

Rwanda

2.5

5 397

238

Niger

14.9

9 465

207

Ghana

15.3

17 832

397

Burkina Faso

16.4

10 780

165

Tanzania

24.5

30 799

139

Nigeria

25.8

115 020

587

Mali

37.2

11 134

223

Mauritania

70.7

2 333

401

America

Bolivia

42.6

7 593

909

Haiti

50.0

7 259

386
a Adapted from FAO Food Balance Sheet, Jan. 1999.
b Adapted from FAOSTAT, Jan. 1998.
c Adapted from UN Statistical Yearbook (42nd Issue) 1995, 30 June 1997.

Detailed information on the activities and results of the Special Programmes for Food Security in different countries are available at the Internet site: http://www.fao.org/spfs/