A discovery the size of a tiny grain has the potential to save millions of every year. After 10 years of research, Dr. Pamela Ronald of the University of California-Davis and her colleagues have come up with a flood-resistant strain of rice, a food staple consumed by half the world’s population. When one considers the fact that two-thirds of the diet of subsistence farmers in India and Bangladesh alone is made up entirely of rice, it becomes clear that when the rice crops suffers, it can mean starvation for millions. “People [in the United States] think, well, if I don’t have enough rice, I’ll go to the store,” Ronald, a professor of plant pathology, told CNN. “That’s not the situation in these villages. They’re mostly subsistence farmers. They don’t have cars.” As sea levels rise and world weather patterns worsen, reports CNN, flooding has become a major cause of rice crop loss. Scientists estimate 4 million tons of rice are lost every year because of flooding. That’s enough rice to feed 30 million people. Although rice plants are grown in flooded fields, known as patties, they do not do well when submerged in water for long periods of time, Ronald said. “They don’t get enough carbon dioxide; they don’t get enough light; and their entire metabolic processes are thrown off. The rice plant tries to grow out of the flood, but when it does, it depletes its sugar reserves. It starts to break down its chlorophyll, important for photosynthesis. It grows really quickly, and then when the flood recedes, it just dies. It’s out of gas.” It took 10 years of work, but the UC-Davis researchers came up with a flood-resistant gene, whose breeding method was acceptable to farmers, CNN reports. “The results were really terrific,” said Ronald. “The farmers found three- to five-fold increases in yield due to flood tolerance. They can plant the normal way. They can harvest the normal way, and it tastes the same. Farmers had more food for their families and they also had additional rice they could sell to bring a little bit of money into the household.” The flood-tolerant rice plants will be available to farmers in Bangladesh and India within two years.

Drought Pushes Kenya to Declare Emergency
A widespread drought in Kenya is causing the nation to declare a food emergency, reports the BBC. Almost 10 million people are in danger of going hungry, according to the Kenya government. “President Kibaki told the food security committee that the entire government must focus on the urgency of providing food to all Kenyans after the failed rains in the last two seasons and reduced production due to last year’s post-election challenges,” said a government statement. The government is planning to bring in 5 million bags of maize, cut the price of seeds (to encourage farming) and buy livestock in areas hit hard by the drought to help ease the crisis. Last year’s post-election violence is also playing a role in the country’s growing hunger problem. Many of the 300,000 people displaced by the violence were farmers, who have since been too scared to come back home and plant crops, reports CNN.
Cubans Can Now Operate Private Taxis
After an almost 10-year ban, Cuba is now allowing new licenses for private taxis. Under the new rules private cabs will also be allowed in rural areas, although they’ll have tighter restrictions than city cabs, reports the BBC. Many Cubans have been operating their own taxi services for years illegally but could have had their cars taken away if they were caught. Officials had originally banned the taxis because they believed they were operating a black market for fuel. Restrictions in the Communist country have lessened in the past months. Just last year the Cuban government loosened restrictions on cell phones and the Internet.