The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has announced plans for a major investment to increase low-carbon-emission rice production in Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Pakistan and the Philippines.

ADB gave the information in a press release on Monday (9 June). It said that ADB and CGIAR, with support from the Gates Foundation, had launched a new initiative that day to help boost investment in sustainable, low-carbon rice production. It will also help improve the lives of millions of vulnerable smallholder farming families in Asia and the Pacific.

Describing rice as the region's lifeline, the release said it feeds more than half of the region's population every day and is the basis of the livelihoods of millions of rural poor people. But rice farming faces growing pressure, with challenges ranging from falling production and water resources to greenhouse gas emissions. If these challenges are not addressed, food security and the development of the poorest and most vulnerable communities will be at risk.

The release said rice is essential to food security in Asia, meeting more than a quarter of the region's calories and half of the calories needed in South-East Asia. For hundreds of millions of small farmers, rice is not just food but their source of livelihood.

ADB vice-president Fatima Yasmin said that livelihood was increasingly threatened by extreme weather and environmental degradation. Through the newly created ADB–CGIAR Clearing House Facility, co-financed with the Gates Foundation, the initiative will promote resilient, high-yielding, low-emission farming practices together with sustainable water use, inclusive value chains and better nutrition for the region's poorest people, she said.

According to the release, ADB plans to invest more than $1.5 billion through the project from 2025 to 2030 to help raise productivity sustainably, adapt to harsh climate conditions and reduce water use and carbon. This is part of ADB's larger commitment of $40 billion for food systems transformation by 2030, announced in May.

Yvonne Pinto, director general of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), said the joint initiative would further strengthen CGIAR's strategic partnership with ADB.

"With partners including ADB and the Gates Foundation, we can make a sustainable and resilient transformation of Asia's rice sector and change the lives of millions of smallholder farmers now and in the future," she said.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.