Improving food security in Asia through consumer-focused rice breeding

• We assess geographic heterogeneity and trends of consumer preferences for rice.
• Urban consumers in Southeast Asia prefer fragrant rice with soft texture.
• South Asian urban consumers prefer slender grains but prefer different grain sizes.
• Rice breeding programs should incorporate both local & widely preferred attributes.
• Better links between rice farmers and consumers improve rice value chain efficiency.

Public rice breeding plays a crucial role in food security in Asia, but it is often supply-focused. Consumer-focused rice breeding incorporates consumer preferences in varietal development and benefits (i) consumers by fostering availability of affordable rice with characteristics that meet their food preferences, and (ii) farmers by facilitating market access and enabling them to capture consumer surplus. We review historical evidence and survey urban consumers across 24 cities in seven Asian countries to assess heterogeneity and trends of consumer preferences for intrinsic attributes of rice. We conclude that to improve food security in Asia, public rice breeding programs should incorporate widely preferred attributes such as softness in Southeast Asia and slenderness in South Asia, while considering geographic heterogeneity and specificity of preferences.