China may approve genetically modified organism rice within two years, opening the door for the first commercial production of biotech crops to enter the food stream across Asia, a group called International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA) said. China, the world's top producer and consumer of rice, is viewed as the pioneer in GMO rice. The mainland's 2005 rice harvest is expected to rise to about 180m tons from 161m last year, the lowest yield since 1994. China faces a rice deficit of about 10m tons, increasing pressures to approve GMO rice.
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