One Degree Temperature Rise Causes 10-Percent Drop in Rice Output

A one degree Celsius rise in temperature at night may cause a 10-percent drop in rice output, an expert warns, calling on scientists to find drought-resistent rice seeds right now to deal with the impact of global warming in the future.

"In the past 20 years, temperature in Indonesia rose 0.3 degree Celsius, that`s why we need to anticipate possibilities in the future," Inez Loedin, chief of the molecular biology section of the biotechnology research and development center at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), said at a national meeting on food and nutrition here on Tuesday.

Global warming would make water sources increasingly scarce, she said adding that to produce 1 kg of rice needed 2,000 to 3,000 liters of water.

She said global warming would also give rise to a more extreme and irregular season in which unpredictable floods and droughts would be on the increase.

"Farmers will no longer be able to make a prediction when they will grow rice so that they will suffer losses when the dry season comes earlier than harvest time. The dry season which comes one month earlier than usual will lead to harvest failures," she said.

She said El Nino which affected Indonesia in the 1997-1998 planting season led to widespread harvest failures, prompting the country to import up to 5.8 million tons of rice.

"In fact, the rice imports account for 20 percent of the total global rice trade," she said adding that in the past 10 years Australia faced frequent droughts.

The results of many surveys suggested that El Nino would affect Indonesia more frequently in the future, she said.

Earlier, LIPI Chief Umar A Jenie said Indonesia would face formidable challenges to meet rising food demands from its population of 247 million in 2015 and 261 million in 2020.

"Therefore, efforts must constantly be made to ensure food availability through various ways," he said.

The meeting was attended by Minister of Research and Technology Kusmayanto Kadiman and Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari who became keynote speakers.(*)

***Source: antara-lipi