Agricultural News Food and Agriculture in Twenty-five Years According to the International Food Policy Research Institute, there is enough food to feed everyone in the world, if the food were given out evenly. But, it is not. As a result, more than 700 million people in developing countries do not get enough food to eat. IFPRI officials say that in the next 25 years the world population will increase by about 100 million people each year. They say that unless something is done soon, the situation will become much more serious. There are different opinions about the problem of feeding the growing population. Some experts say an intense use of chemicals and the loss of soil from wind and rain have damaged some farmland beyond repair. Other experts believe that recent discoveries in bio-technology will help increase production. They say farm land has not been damaged as much as some people have reported. In an effort to better understand the problem and ways to solve it, IFPRI has developed a three-part international program. Part one began in 1994. It continued through June of 1995. It involved research a bout the world food situation, poverty and the environment. The research results are being published and sent to experts for their comments. The second part involves an international conference to discuss way to meet the world' s food needs by the year 2200 and beyond. Government officials from developed and developing countries, experts on agriculture and environment, and leaders of international organizations will attend. IFPRI officials hope the conference to be held in Washington DC will lead to a program of action that both sides can agree to support. Part three of the program will inform. people about results of the conference and plans developed to deal with the situation. That effort began in June of 1995 and continue through 1996. The International Food Policy Research Institute says steps must be taken before a worldwide shortage of food develops and all natural resources are destroyed. New Super Rice Scientists with the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines have developed what they call a super rice. They say it could increase world production of rice by as much as 25 percent. Last year, farmers are expected to produce about 350 million tons of rice. But more rice than that will be eaten. The extra rice will come from supplies saved during years when production was greater than demand. Today, there are about 4.5 billion people in the world. But the World Bank says that in 30 years there will be more than eight billion. The huge increase in population will greatly increase the demand for rice. Researchers say the new rice could produce 100 million tons more of rice each year. That amount could feed almost 500 million people. More rice plants grown today have about 25 stems on each plant. Only about 15 of these stems pro duce flowers. The flowers produce the rice. Each flower usually contains about 100 grains of rice. The researchers used computers to design a new plant. They decided that to produce more rice they needed to reduce the number of stems on each plant. Then more of the plant' s energy would go to producing grains of rice. So they mixed existing rice plants until they grew a plant that looked like their design. The new rice contains only eight stems. But each stem contains a flower. And each flower produced as many as 250 grains of rice. Lester Brown, president of World watch Institute, says the demand for rice in Asia will be two times greater 35 years from now. But as the population increases, less land will be available for growing rice. He says this is why the announcement of the new more productive rice is so exciting. Researchers plan to begin to test the