The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) has presented new biotechnological breakthroughs in rice research that may help answer growing global demand for the commodity.

New rice varieties that can withstand droughts and soils with high salinity - producing even higher yields due to its disease-and pest-resistant genes - may ease the effects of a worldwide rice shortfall expected in 2010.

"There are some of the new breakthroughs, especially the completion of the rice genome, that spell the solution to fragile economies that have rice as their major staple," said IRRI information officer Duncan Macintosh, at the sidelines of a gathering of rice genetic engineers and scientists from more than 20 countries in Manila.

Based on the study of IRRI Dr. Mahabub Hossain, the area cultivated with rice all over the world barely expanded in the last 33 years to 149 million hectares. Thus, world rice production only grew by 14 percent to 589 million metric tons the last 13 years.

"The decline in global rice stocks has reached alarming levels," Dr. Hossain said in his study. "Water is getting scarce and land has been diverted to alternative uses, narrowing down chances of increasing rice production. The adoption of new plant type and hybrid rice for the tropics is crucial."

The five-day rice genetics conference seeks to find a solution to the tightening world rice production supply as large economies like China have become net rice importers themselves, thus, affecting the international price of the commodity in the last five years.

"Rice importing countries like the Philippines and Indonesia strongly felt China's presence in the world market this year because rice process suddenly shot up by 40 percent to as much as $320 per metric ton," Macintosh said.

China's progress is coupled with the increase of its rice imports. The growing demand in china has put additional pressure on the Philippines and other countries to acquire self-sufficiency in rice production," Macintosh said.

He said the small countries could no longer rely on international rice trade to stabilize their supplies, he added.

At present, the Philippines is now racing against China in coming up with commercially viable, genetically modified rice seeds over the next five years, said Philippine Rice Research Institute director Leocadio Sebastian.

According to a report, China is applying the brakes to its plan to produce the world's first genetically modified rice for human consumption as concerns mount over safety, especially with reports that illegal transgenic rice is already being sold in some provinces.

Scientists and activists say that China's Biosafety committee is unlikely to reach a consensus this week.

The government has added more food and environment safety experts to the committee, which would examine and make recommendation to Beijing on four varieties of insect or disease resistant GMO rice varieties.

"I don't think they'll come to a consensus," said Angus Lam, a campaigner from Greenpeace in China. "There will be different opinions. There has been some setback for GMO rice. It's not moving as fast as we expected."

Early this year China, already the leading producer of GMO cotton, looked set to approve commercialization of a GMO rice, which would lead to the release of the world's first major transgenic crop for direct human consumption.

Yet so far, Beijing has not given the green light to the disease resistant Xa21 rice, recommended by the committee last December.

Scientist and activists said Bejiing was caught off guard in April when Greenpeace announced that the unapproved GMO rice was on sale in the markets in the central province province of Hubei, one of China's major rice producers.

Greenpeace also found illegal sale of the rice in the southern province of Guangdong in June, which it said showed the transgenic rice was spreading across China and could enter markets overseas.

Some of China's top trading partners, including the European Union, Japan and South Korea, expressed concern about the reports and they asked Beijing for clarification. With a report from Reuters