Rural Asia-Pacific: Inter-Disciplinary Strategies to Combat Hunger and Poverty. Rice-Based Livelihood-Support Systems







FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS
Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific
Bangkok, Thailand


Table of Contents


 

RAP publication 2002/12

Terence Woodhead
FAO Consultant Strategic Aspects of Rice-Based Systems

R.B. Singh
Assistant Director-General
and FAO Regional Representative for Asia and the Pacific

FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS
Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific
Bangkok, Thailand


The designations employed and the presentation of material in this report do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country territory, city, or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.

© FAO 2002

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Table of Contents


Preface

Executive summary

Acronyms and abbreviations

1. Purpose, background, vision, and goals; FAO's interventions and mission

1.1 Rice systems and the lessening of poverty and undernourishment

1.1.1 The rice systems
1.1.2 Undernourishment and poverty
1.1.3 Interventions and resources
1.1.4 Rural-urban contrasts and migration - woman-headed households
1.1.5 Social and agroclimatic influences

1.2 Forecasts: Food requirements and production (including genetic) resources

1.2.1 Food production: Achievements and forecasts
1.2.2 Future production: Driving forces and sources of growth
1.2.3 Yield trends and yield-potential increases
1.2.4 Applications of biotechnology

1.3 Natural-resource endowments and pressures

1.3.1 Land endowments and pressures
1.3.2 Livestock aspects
1.3.3 Land-use, agrochemical and global climate aspects

1.4 Smallholder contributions to food security

1.4.1 Farm-size dynamics
1.4.2 Smallholdings and national food security

1.5 Management of nutrients, tilth, water and pests

1.5.1 Nutrients management
1.5.2 Tillage and non-tillage
1.5.3 Rice-systems water
1.5.4 Pest and soil constraints

1.6 Vision, goals and prospective interventions

1.6.1 Vision and goals
1.6.2 Objectives, interventions and procedures

2. Regional situations, trends and projections

2.1 Riceland areas and cropping systems

2.1.1 Rice area and water regime
2.1.2 Rice-based cropping systems
2.1.3 Cropping systems: Locations and areal extents
2.1.4 Fish and livestock components
2.1.5 Implications for interventions

2.2 Human populations, food security, employment and undernourishment

2.2.1 Nourished and undernourished populations
2.2.2 Creating rural employment
2.2.3 Effects of 1997-98 economic crises
2.2.4 Forecasts for food requirements
2.2.5 Indications of food supply from rice systems

2.3 Economic growth and rural wellbeing

2.3.1 Economic growth: Influences and forecasts

3. Country-specific trends and projections

3.1 The major rice-growing nations

3.1.1 Food deficit and depth of hunger
3.1.2 Statistical considerations

3.2 Demography, poverty and hunger

3.2.1 Demography and food production
3.2.2 Undernourishment and poverty: Country-specific features

3.3 Agricultural production

3.3.1 Cereals
3.3.2 Edible-oil crops
3.3.3 Fruits and vegetables
3.3.4 Livestock products

3.4 Human and physical resources

3.4.1 Human resources
3.4.2 Land and water resources
3.4.3 Mechanization
3.4.4 Nutrient management
3.4.5 Livestock resources

3.5 Economics and trade

3.5.1 Rural and national economies
3.5.2 Rural taxation
3.5.3 Agricultural imports and exports
3.5.4 Global trade implications
3.5.5 Global trade: "The level playing field"
3.5.6 Global trade: Industrialized countries and aid for developing-world agriculture

4. Strategic considerations

4.1 Remoteness

4.1.1 Remoteness and persistent poverty
4.1.2 Investment for remote areas

4.2 Water and irrigation

4.2.1 Effective use of water
4.2.2 Field-level and water-catchment aspects
4.2.3 Irrigation-system modernization
4.2.4 Irrigation-system maintenance and irrigation-user groups
4.2.5 Irrigation: Policy aspects

4.3 Crop nutrition and fertilizer management

4.3.1 Crop nutrition and soil health
4.3.2 Fertilizer-use efficiency
4.3.3 Environmental concerns
4.3.4 Emerging technologies

4.4 Yield-gap approaches

4.4.1 Yield-gap methodology
4.4.2 Yield-gap approaches: Rainfed-rice-system concerns
4.4.3 Yield-gap approaches: Rice-seed aspects

4.5 Forecasts for ricelands' natural (and climate) resources

4.5.1 Gaseous emissions
4.5.2 Sea-level and air-temperature changes
4.5.3 Technologies and policies
4.5.4 Carbon-sequestration and bio-fuel options

4.6 Socio-Economics, policies and wellbeing

4.6.1 Micro-finance aspects
4.6.2 Essential endowments: Institutional, physical and human
4.6.3 Gender aspects
4.6.4 Policy aspects

5. Options for FAO-assisted interventions; outputs and monitoring

5.1 Interventions: Methodology and procedure
5.2 Interventions: Technological

5.2.1 All rice-based systems: Non-irrigated or irrigated
5.2.2 Non-irrigated rice-based systems
5.2.3 Irrigated rice-based systems

5.3 Interventions: Economic, social and wellbeing
5.4 Interventions: Institutions, policies and infrastructures
5.5 Outputs and monitoring
5.6 Conclusion and follow-through

6. Epilogue

7. References