New crops needed to avoid famines

BBC online: Sunday, 3 December 2006, 21:27 GMT - By Richard Black

Experimental biotech rice strains can survive prolonged submergence

The global network of agricultural research centres warns that famines lie ahead unless new crop strains adapted to a warmer future are developed.

The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) says yields of existing varieties will fall.

New forecasts say warming will shrink South Asia's wheat area by half.

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