Rice is the dominant staple crop in Asia, accounting for
more than 70% of caloric intake in some developing
countries (Dawe, 2000). Advent of IR8 with an intensive
cultivation system made it possible to nearly double Asia’s
rice production in the two decades from the mid 1960s to
mid 1980s. Nevertheless, the demand of rice production is
still rising due to the continuous increase of population.
Increase of rice production through expansion of cultivated
rice area is not promising since arable land is diminishing as
a result of urbanization and industrialization. According to
the econometric model IMPACT, a 43% increase in rice production has to be achieved without a net expansion of
cultivated area during the next 30 years from 2000 to meet
the demands by predicted population growth (Cassman,
1999).