Leaders | Green revolution 2.0

How to fix the global rice crisis

The world’s most important crop is fuelling climate change and diabetes

Women plant rice saplings at a paddy field  in Nagaon District of Assam ,India on February 28,2022. (Photo by Anuwar Hazarika/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Image: Getty Images

The green revolution was one of the greatest feats of human ingenuity. By promoting higher-yielding varieties of wheat and, especially, rice, plant-breeders in India, Mexico and the Philippines helped China emerge from a famine and India avoid one. From 1965 to 1995 Asia’s rice yields doubled and its poverty almost halved, even as its population soared.

This article appeared in the Leaders section of the print edition under the headline “How to fix the global rice crisis”

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