Nearly fifty percent of the world’s population eats rice on a daily basis. And soon enough, we will be able to forget any worries about running out of this dietary staple.
The International Rice Research Institute, which holds the largest collection in the world of samples of different types of rice in Los Banos, Phillipines at a gene bank has recently secured us all for life. They were given 1.4 million of funding annually, which is more than enough to maintain the rice facility for an eternity.
The purpose of the gene bank is to make sure that society is never left without rice, and without a sufficient supply of diverse food. The IRRI gene bank has over 135,000 varieties of rice that are accessible to researchers for their studies.
The Crop Trust, an organization dedicated to supporting global food security and crop diversity has agreed to fund the gene bank.
The two organizations are set to sign an agreement, which will guarantee that the funding will be given on October 16. This date is not random, and is actually high appropriate – World Food Day, and will take place at the Fifth International Rice Congress in Singapore.
Permanent, of course is rather hard to promise as an absolute fact , and it will actually only begin with a five year long phase, ending in 2023. Once we reach that point, the organizations will have to renew the agreement for another five years.
Nonetheless, the Crop Trust seems to be dedicated to the cause, and that it will keep researchers rolling in rice.