Tough times for rice farmers

Precious grains: Rice is a staple food for millions of people in South-East Asia. — Bloomberg

SOARING fertiliser costs have rice farmers across Asia scaling back their use, a move that threatens harvests of a staple that feeds half of humanity and could lead to a full-blown food crisis if prices aren’t curbed.

From India to Vietnam and the Philippines, prices of crop nutrients crucial to boosting food production have doubled or tripled in the past year alone.