A recent article published in the name of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) is suggesting that the impact of the COVID-19 virus could cause rice to be a critical factor in the food security of as much as 30 per cent of the world’s population.
The article, authored by IRRI’S Research Director Jean Balié, Senior Scientist and Agriculturalist Valerien O. Pede and Harold A. Glen, an economic modeler with the entity’s Agri-Food Policy Platform asserts that the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on rice-based agri-food systems could be much more serious than that which occurred during the 2008-2009 global food crisis. And according to the authors of the article, the die may have already been cast since containment efforts to address the pandemic have already severely undermined the efficiency of the rice sector by disrupting farm supplies such as seed, fertiliser, and other agro-inputs.