Asia and Pacific Countries Finalize Regional Rice Strategy

Some 40 delegates from 17 countries from Asia and the Pacific region gathered on 28 January 2014 in Pattaya, Thailand for the Consultative Meeting on Rice Strategy for Asia and the Pacific. The objective of the meeting was to finalize a regional strategy for rice with the prospect of improving rice security for future generations.

In 2012, the FAO's member states called upon the Organization to help them draft a regional strategy that would benefit both net exporters and importers of rice, a staple food crop in the Asia-Pacific region. "Having such a strategy in place will considerably facilitate the formulation of national rice strategies, policies and investment plans to address emerging challenges and benefit from new opportunities," said Hiroyuki Konuma, FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Asia and the Pacific. "Thus, the formulation of an Asia-Pacific regional rice strategy is (our) direct response to the call by the member states."

The regional rice strategy will be presented for consideration in March at the FAO's 32nd Regional Conference for Asia and the Pacific in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.

Read the media release at http://www.fao.org/archive/from-the-field/detail/en/c/213436/.