A global symposium on hybrid rice, its development and applications will begin in Hyderabad today. A senior official said, the 6th International Hybrid Rice Symposium, IHRS, held once in four years, is being jointly organised by the Philippines-based International Rice Research Institute, Indian Council of Agricultural Research, ICAR and Hyderabad based Directorate of Rice Research, DRR.

DRR Project Director B C Viraktamath said, around 400 delegates comprising agricultural scientists and researchers among others from 30 countries will participate in the three-day event.

He said, the conference offers a common platform for all stake-holders to deliberate on various areas of research like production of seeds pertaining to hybrid rice.

Rice is the staple food crop grown in 115 countries across the globe and more than 90 per cent of it is being produced and consumed in Asia. India has the largest area that is 44 million hectares under rice cultivation and stands second in production with 103 million tonne per annum after China.