A senior official of a United Nations agency for rural development hopes Japan will play an active role in helping to increase rice production in developing countries as a way to address worldwide poverty.
In a recent interview, Dat Van Tran, senior rice agronomist for the Food and Agricultural Organization, also urged the Japanese government to make efforts to raise international awareness about the rice output shortfall in poor nations.
"We hope the Japanese government provides some support to (raise) global awareness of the issue of rice production . . . and for research and development (in) developing countries," Tran said.