SINGAPORE, Oct. 30, 2012 /PRNewswire/—Over
90% of the world’s rice is produced and consumed in the
Asia-Pacific region where more than three billion people live. A
population projection made for 2025 by FAO
shows an average increase of 51% based on the year 1995; therefore,
the amount of rice produced at 524 million tonnes annually to serve
current consumers has to be increased to 700 million tonnes by
2025. The task of increasing the rice supply is facing difficulties
due to climate change and the lack of new generation farmers. While
the number of consumers in each mega city is growing, the number of
producers is reducing dramatically.
(Photo: http://www.prnasia.com/sa/2012/10/29/2012102918…
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(Photo: http://www.prnasia.com/sa/2012/10/29/2012102918…
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(Photo: http://www.prnasia.com/sa/2012/10/29/2012102918…
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(Photo: http://www.prnasia.com/sa/2012/10/29/2012102918…
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(Photo: http://www.prnasia.com/sa/2012/10/29/2012102918…
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(Photo: http://www.prnasia.com/sa/2012/10/29/2012102918…
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Realizing the problems, Thailand’s Rice Department in
cooperation with Naresuan University (NU) is trying to replace
human labor by utilizing agricultural machinery to produce enough
supply for national consumption and for export. NU has conducted
several research studies to increase yield and reduce the cost of
rice production whereas the Rice Department is transferring its
knowledge to farmers nationwide through 27 rice research centers
and 23 rice seed centers. However, Thailand and other ASEAN countries also lack high-tech innovation in
agricultural machinery. Hence, the two organizations agreed to host
an international conference on Agricultural Machinery in Rice
production: A Challenge for ASEAN from 26-28
November 2012 at the Empress Convention Centre in Chiang Mai,
Thailand, where rice production issues such as sustainability,
mechanization, and competitiveness will be widely discussed. The
conference includes country reports on the present status of
agricultural machinery for rice production from member countries of
AEC plus Japan, Korea, and China.
Professor Dr. Sujin Jinahyon, president of NU, says it is time
for ASEAN to cooperate in rice production to
cope with the world’s increasing demand. Major rice-exporting
countries must begin the mechanization era and the conference
offers a big leap forward to bring in this agricultural
technology.
Distinguished guest speakers include Mr. Hiroyuki Konuma of the
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nation (FAO), Mr.
Payungsak Chartsutipol, Chairman of The Federation of Thai
Industries and many more: http://www.iamrice.com/?page=speakers
Reference: RICE PRODUCTION IN THE
ASIA-PACIFIC REGION: ISSUES
AND PERSPECTIVES-M.K. Papademetriou,
FAO Corporate Document Repository, http://www.fao.org/docrep/003/x6905e/x6905e04.htm
Naresuan University
+66-5596-8641
[email protected]
www.iamrice.com
SOURCE Naresuan University