On 16 December 2002, the United Nations General Assembly declared 2004 the International Year of Rice, recognizing that rice feeds more than half of the world’s population. Observance of the International Year of Rice is important to raise awareness of the role of rice in alleviating poverty and in providing food security and environmental conservation.
This article describes how the themeof the International Year of Rice - 'Rice is life' - is not only essential to highly productive lowland and river delta areas but is also important to mountain regions, especially in east and southeast Asia.