By some estimates the world will need to produce 30% more rice by 2050 to feed its growing population
Yet, this is becoming increasingly difficult with yields growing less than 1% per year over the last decade. In Japan, rice shortages have seen prices soar and consumer discontent rise, with the government forced to release emergency stockpiles in the hope of bringing down prices. Yet amidst the crisis, emerging innovations in science and technology are offering hope. Discoveries from the applications of genomics and AI, trained on the growing wealth of rice data being collected and preserved in gene banks, for instance, are creating new rice variants that are both more productive and resilient to our changing climate.
Advances in science and technology alone, however, will not be a silver bullet – there is an urgent need to ensure discoveries made in the lab are affordable and accessible to farmers and have real world impacts on food security and enhancing livelihoods. Technology challenges will also need to be addressed. The growing use of AI will require a commitment of open data access, training of a scientific workforce with expertise in bioinformatics and analytics, as well as the development of guardrails to ensure the responsible use of AI and gene editing in agricultural research. Increasing public and private investment in agriculture R&D, particularly in low-income countries, will also be crucial. Rewards are significant, with studies revealing economic returns of investment in agriculture R&D, on a cost-to-benefit ratio, of 1:10.
Hosted in Japan – a major development partner to the global south – this event will focus on the innovations from the spheres of genomics, advanced biology and AI with the potential to transform global food systems, and explore what is possible when cutting-edge science, smart technologies and investment come together, highlighting the opportunities, wider benefits and return from investments.
