Soft rice for the elderly

Researchers on the island of Taiwan yesterday announced they have created a soft rice for the elderly.

>>>New rice varieties improve productivity for Asia

The birth of soft rice is good news for the elderly.

The new rice was created by the Miao-feng District Agricultural Research Station in central Taiwan. To find it, the station's scientists have been studying for the past decade. As planned, soft rice will appear on the market next year, AFP reported.

'This is the kind of rice that we bred to serve the needs of the elderly. This type of rice is soft when cooked and slightly sweet. It brings stable productivity and consumers can store it for a long time , 'said Chang Su-jeing, a member of the research team.

Chang and colleagues believe that soft rice will become a sustainable crop for farmers in the context of an increasing proportion of elderly people in Asian countries. The number of elderly people over the age of 65 accounts for 10.7% of the total population of Taiwan's 23 million people.