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This next report may make you better appreciate locally-grown rice on your dinner table. A new study shows... with climate change accelerating, Korea′s staple food may be in short supply in a few decades Connie Kim tells us why that could be a big problem. The Korea Rural Economic Institute is predicting that global warming will reduce the country′s rice production by about one million tons...by 2050. That drop means Korea′s rice self-sufficiency ratio would take a hit. Five years ago, 83-percent of the rice in Korea was grown in the country. In a few decades it could be less than 50-percent. The institute says the reduction is alarming...as it raises food security risks and increases Korea′s dependency on foreign rice. ″The amount of land available to rice farmers has been decreasing, but it will shrink even faster with climate change. Korea will be importing more rice, but we have a problem... if the supplying country suspends its shipments. Then, securing rice for consumers in Korea will become a serious issue.″ The Korea Meteorological Administration forecasts that,... between 2071 to 2100,... the climate on the peninsula will have risen by five-point-seven degrees Celsius. That temperature hike will dry up the wet, fertile land required for rice farming. To combat the shift, the institute recommends a long term management strategy that would include investing in agricultural infrastructure and developing rice varieties resistant to climate change. But experts also point out that educating farmers to adopt and utilize new technologies is as important as making them available. Connie Kim, Arirang News.