This annual report provides basic information on the global agricultural situation. A review of developments in food security opens this year's report, with new estimates on the proportion & number of undernourished people in the developing world. Also included is an analysis of the Asian financial crisis & its likely effects on agricultural production, trade, & food security. Special features include: an examination of the potential of rice fish farming; a chapter on rural non-farm income & employment; & a diskette housing time series data for nearly 150 countries, country groups, & regions in English, French, & Spanish. Recommended in: ALA's Guide to Reference Books.

This books uses primary data of rural households collected in eight countries in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa to shed new light on increased farm income, increased investment in schooling of children, poverty reduction and the development of non-farm economies.

Rice is the food crop the world depends on most. In Feeding a Hungry Planet, James Lang demonstrates how research has benefited rice growers and increased production. He describes the life cycle of a rice crop and explains how research is conducted and how the results end up growing in a farmer's field. Focusing on Asia and Latin America, Lang explores lowland and upland rice systems, genetics, sustainable agriculture, and efforts to narrow the gap between yields at research stations and those on working farms. Ultimately, says Lang, the ability to feed growing populations and protect fragile ecologies depends as much on the sustainable on-site farm technologies as on high-yielding crop varieties. Lang views agriculture as a chain of events linking the farmer's field with the scientist's laboratory, and he argues that rice cultivation is shaped by different social systems, cultures, and environments. Describing research conducted by the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines and by the International Center for Tropical Agriculture in Colombia, he shows how national programs tailor research to their own production problems. According to Lang, the interaction of research programs, practical problem solving, and local extension efforts suggests a new model for international development.

The purpose of this book is to present a comprehensive picture of the role of rice in the food and agricultural sectors of Asian nations.