PRICEY RICE

India is the second biggest producer of rice and where rice is a staple for more than 65 percent of the population.

"Poverty remains the single biggest factor contributing to food insecurity in Asia. Two-thirds of the world's 1.4 billion poor people surviving on less than 1.25 dollars per day live in Asia. They spend half of their income on purchasing food, mainly rice. For the extreme poor, having access to adequate food is often too costly," said Prof. M. S. Swaminathan, who co-chaired a international task force of prominent global thinkers that prepared the report "Never an empty bowl" by The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and the Asia Society