Extreme Floods are Slashing Global Rice Yields Faster than Expected

WMO Report Highlights Increasingly Erratic Water Cycle

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Extreme floods are cutting global rice yields faster than expected, with a week of full submergence enough to kill most rice plants. Stanford researchers found flooding has caused rising losses since 2000, worsened by climate change. The study identifies high-risk regions and stresses the need for flood-resistant varieties as intense rainfall and combined climate stresses threaten future rice production.

Scientists have discovered that a week of full submergence is enough to kill most rice plants, making flooding a far greater threat than previously understood. Intensifying extreme rainfall events may amplify these losses unless vulnerable regions adopt more resilient rice varieties.

Intense flooding has significantly reduced rice harvests around the world in recent decades, putting at risk the food supply of billions of people who rely on the grain as a dietary staple. Between 1980 and 2015, annual losses averaged about 4.3 per cent, or roughly 18 million tonnes of rice each year, according to Stanford University research published recently in Science Advances.

The researchers found that the damage has grown worse since 2000 as extreme floods have become more common in many of the planet's main rice-growing regions. They report that climate change is likely to further increase the frequency and severity of these destructive floods in the coming decades.

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