Low glycemic index rice: a healthier diet for countering diabetes epidemic in Asia.

The prevalence of type 2 diabetes is rising worldwide, particularly in Asia, where rice is a dietary staple. Hence, it is essential to consume low glycemic index (GI) food. Here, we review the potential of low GI and high resistant starch (RS) of rice to mitigate diabetes risk.

Market intelligence for guiding crop improvement: A systematic review of stakeholder preference studies in the rice sector in the Global South and beyond.

Improvement of crop varieties can be a powerful strategy for addressing food, nutrition, and climate challenges in the Global South if it is guided by market intelligence. We conducted a systematic literature review of stakeholder preference studies that aim at guiding crop improvement in rice, the Global South's most important staple food. We review behavioral indicators such as purchase intention, willingness to pay, acceptance, probability of adoption, and preference.

Food security and the cultural heritage missing link.

Though enormous strides have been achieved in recent decades towards reducing food insecurity in the Global South, continued efforts are imperative in light of rapidly expanding populations and threats posed by climate change. A relatively unexplored area in this arena is the nexus between cultural heritage and food security. Cultural heritage embodies indigenous culture, values, and traditions inherited from previous generations.

Revisiting multi-stage models for upstream technology adoption: Evidence from rapid generation advance in rice breeding.

Adoption of new plant varieties has played a significant role in eradicating global hunger. Previous research has mainly focused on farmer adoption and impact of new crop varieties, although upstream adoption of technologies in plant breeding can generate substantial multiplier effects on downstream impacts. This study moves upstream in the innovation system to generate policy advice on adoption and transfer of accelerated rice breeding technologies.

From Golden Rice to Golden Diets: How to turn its recent approval into practice.

Following its approval in the Philippines in July 2021, provitamin A-rich "Golden Rice" is set to become the worlds' first commercialized genetically modified crop with direct consumer benefits. Despite supplementation and fortification programs, the burden of micronutrient deficiencies remains high. For Golden Rice to be successful in reducing vitamin A deficiency, it needs to be taken up by food systems and integrated into consumer diets.

Tailoring rice varieties to consumer preferences induced by cultural and colonial heritage: Lessons from New Rice for Africa (NERICA) in The Gambia.

Rice breeding priorities in Africa often focus on agronomic gains. However, being a net importer of rice, the continent's varietal replacement success also crucially hinges on new varieties' market competitiveness vis-à-vis imports. Markets have been profoundly shaped by cultural and colonial heritage.

Survey data on heterogeneity in consumers' food choice in eastern India.

A consumer survey was conducted in eastern India in 2017 to understand the heterogeneity of consumers' food choice. Face-to-face interviews were conducted among urban and rural consumers from low- and middle-income households in Odisha and West Bengal, eastern India, using a structured questionnaire. A multi-stage sampling procedure was implemented with stratified random sampling as the first stage and systematic sampling as the second stage.

Data on consumers' purchase behavior towards certified rice in Vietnam.

The data presented in this article capture purchase behavior of certified rice of 199 urban Vietnamese consumers, surveyed in August 2016. The dataset captures behavioral outcomes in terms of rice purchase as well as factors that affect purchase behavior such as psychological and socio-economic determinants. The data not only contribute to generating a better understanding of the drivers of purchase behavior towards certified rice, but also provide insights into the inclusiveness of consumer access to food safety for staple crops such as rice in Vietnam.

Unraveling heterogeneity of consumers' food choice: Implications for nutrition interventions in eastern India.

Understanding heterogeneity of consumers' food choice is critical in formulating tailored nutrition interventions. To illustrate this, we survey urban and rural consumers from low- and middle-income households in eastern India to unravel five sources of heterogeneity (5 Ws) in gastronomic systems that affect diets: (i) socioeconomic characteristics of the target population (); (ii) food environments (); (iii) eating occasions (); (iv) consumed dishes (); and (v) ingredient attributes and consumer attitudes towards food (). Diets in eastern India are predominantly starch-based featuring infrequent intake of fruits and vegetables.

The global burden of chronic and hidden hunger revisited: New panel data evidence spanning 1990-2017.

Gödecke, Stein and Qaim (2018) (GSQ) recently analysed the 1990-2010 trend and determinants of the global burden of chronic and hidden hunger. We reanalyse and extend GSQ's study and demonstrate that after 2010, significant reductions in the burden of hunger were achieved. In contrast with GSQ, we find that (i) hidden hunger is more prevalent than chronic hunger; (ii) cereal availability and the supply of vegetables and fruits matter; and (iii) gender equality only affects hidden hunger.

Preserving cultural heritage through the valorization of Cordillera heirloom rice in the Philippines.

For centuries, heirloom rice varieties have been grown on the terraces of the Cordillera Mountains of Luzon, Philippines, known for their significant historical, cultural, and aesthetic values. However, heritage heirloom rice farming is gradually being abandoned, mainly because of its lower productivity and the struggle of the sector to create a sustainable niche market for heirloom rice by branding its cultural, social, and nutritional values. We propose several demand-side intervention strategies for the valorization of heirloom rice.

Understanding Filipino Rice Farmer Preference Heterogeneity for Varietal Trait Improvements: A Latent Class Analysis.

Using an experimental methodology based on investment games, we examine whether smallholder rice farmers from Nueva Ecija, Philippines have heterogeneous preferences for improvements in 10 rice varietal traits. We use a latent class cluster approach to identify different segments of rice producing households and their distinct preferences for trait improvements. These clusters were characterised using household, farm, and marketing characteristics.

Capturing diversity and cultural drivers of food choice in eastern India.

The EAT-Lancet Commission urgently called for "planetary health diets". The success of encouraging dietary shifts, however, crucially hinges on people, and more specifically on consumers' culture, context, socioeconomic status, food environment, attitudes, perceptions, beliefs, and behavior towards food choice. In India, enhanced food availability and accessibility do not readily lead to improved nutritional status.

Confronting genetic gains with markets: Retrospective lessons from New Rice for Africa (NERICA) in Uganda.

Breeders have two non-exclusive strategic investment options for increasing smallholder farmers' and consumers' livelihoods through genetic improvement of crop varieties: (i) enhancing productivity; and (ii) enhancing value and market access. New Rice for Africa (NERICA) varieties with superior agronomic characteristics were bred and introduced in various African countries in the early 2000s. Two decades later, drought tolerant NERICA4 is among the popular upland rice varieties grown across Africa.

Expert elicitation database capturing diversity and cultural drivers of food choice and nutritional implications in eastern India.

Two expert elicitation workshops were conducted in 2017 to capture the diversity and cultural drivers of food choice of low- and middle- income households in the states of West Bengal and Odisha in eastern India. Experts representing the fields of nutrition, home science, food technology, and food service industry were invited to participate. Following the "gastronomic systems research" framework, the food experts determined the eating occasions, dishes and ingredients that would culturally define the target population in their respective states.

Policy options for mitigating impacts of COVID-19 on domestic rice value chains and food security in West Africa.

Rice plays a strategic role in food security in West Africa. However, the region increasingly relies on rice imports due to a growing and structural deficit, and domestic value chains face constraints in technology, finance and coordination. As a result, West Africa is very vulnerable to international and local trade disruptions, such as the ones currently inflicted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The state of rice value chain upgrading in West Africa.

Following the food price crisis in 2008, African governments implemented policies aiming at crowding in investment in rice value chain upgrading to help domestic rice compete with imports. We assess the state of rice value chain upgrading in West Africa by reviewing evidence on rice millers' investment in semi-industrial and industrial milling technologies, contract farming and vertical integration during the post-crisis period 2009-2019. We find that upgrading is more dynamic in countries with high rice production and import bills and limited comparative advantage in demand.

Rice quality: How is it defined by consumers, industry, food scientists, and geneticists?

Background: Quality is a powerful engine in rice value chain upgrading. However, there is no consensus on how "rice quality" should be defined and measured in the rice sector.

Scope And Approach: We adopt a Lancasterian definition of rice quality as a bundle of intrinsic and extrinsic attributes.

Off-farm employment increases women's empowerment: Evidence from rice farms in the Philippines.

We examined intrahousehold decision making with respect to household investment in portfolios of future rice varietal trait improvements (VTIs) to increase farm households' livelihoods in Nueva Ecija, Philippines. Investment decisions were elicited using an experimental methodology based on investment games. In the investment game, couples from rice farming households were given the opportunity to invest in public rice breeding.

Review: Improving global food security through accelerated plant breeding.

With an expected 9 billion people by 2050 and average income on the rise in the developing world, meeting future food demand will be a challenge. Climate change, urbanisation and land degradation are putting further pressure on the food supply. The multifaceted and self-reinforcing nature of these challenges calls for a fundamental transformation of the food system.

Global survey data on rice breeders' characteristics and willingness to adopt alternative breeding methods.

The data presented in this article contains information on 189 rice breeders from 51 rice-growing countries around the world. Firstly, this unique dataset permits to lay down a baseline of currently used breeding methods. Secondly, the data allow to make an assessment of the adoption behavior of rice breeders towards alternative breeding methods, and in specific rapid generation advance.

Dissecting the genome-wide genetic variants of milling and appearance quality traits in rice.

Higher head rice yield (HRY), which represents the proportion of intact grains that survive milling, and lower grain chalkiness (opacity) are key quality traits. We investigated the genetic basis of HRY and chalkiness in 320 diverse resequenced accessions of indica rice with integrated single- and multi-locus genome-wide association studies using 2.26 million single-nucleotide polymorphisms.

Global impact of accelerated plant breeding: Evidence from a meta-analysis on rice breeding.

Rice breeders in Asia and elsewhere in the world have long overlooked trying to shorten the time it takes to develop new varieties. Plant breeders have proposed a technique called Rapid Generation Advance (RGA) as a way to accelerate the results of public rice breeding programs. However, little is known about RGA's potential impact.

Global survey of rice breeders to investigate characteristics and willingness to adopt alternative breeding methods.

Background: Despite the critical role rice breeders play to ensure food security, there is a lack of information regarding their current socio-economic characteristics, constraints and attitudes towards technology adoption. Some key concepts like budget, experience, local ecosystems, level of education and even main breeding method have hardly been surveyed in the past. This not only clouds any policy making regarding scientists in national agricultural research programmes, it also makes it difficult to assess the needs and problems local rice breeders face around the world.

Developing a framework of gastronomic systems research to unravel drivers of food choice.

Nutritional and dietary interventions and the introduction of novel food products and ingredients require a thorough understanding of the drivers of food choice, which are embedded in local context and culture. We developed a framework of "gastronomic systems research" (GSR) to understand culture-specific consumer food choice, and contextualise it to a target population of urban, middle- to high-income Filipino consumers to assess the domestic niche market potential of traditional rice varieties in the Philippines. The GSR framework was contextualised through expert elicitation involving chefs and nutritionists, and validated through a consumer survey conducted during a food exposition.