ABSTRACT
The early 1960s witnessed a dramatic increase in the global population and a mood of despair regarding the world’s ability to cope with the food-population balance. Concerned about this impending crisis, several organizations sought to promote rice cultivation in the developing, rice-growing regions of the world. High-yielding, fertilizer-responsive cultivars like IR-8, which could be grown throughout the year, were therefore introduced for cultivation in several parts of Asia, where 92% of the world’s rice is grown. Today, 23 countries contribute more than 1 million tons of rice in the global scenario.
