A report on rural Asia by the Asian Development Bank says Asian policy makers' complacency threatens to wipe out the agricultural gains of the green revolution.  Agriculture is being treated as a "sunset industry" that no longer needs investment. according to the report.

Unequal distribution of benefits among rural dwellers and an ever-growing rural population could create "a new crisis," the report says.  Agricultural yields are declining, despite the fact that agriculture must expand to feed larger populations and fuel economic development.

The report, "Rural Asia: Beyond the Green Revolution," warns that many resource-poor areas and disadvantaged groups, especially women, have been excluded from the benefits of the revolution.  In addition, continuing high population growth "is placing enormous pressure on natural resources, degrading them to the point of declining productivity," says the ADB report.

"Agricultural growth must continue, but strategies to promote it should be more oriented to benefit the poor, should be more environmentally sustainable and should look beyond income to improving the quality of life of rural Asians, the report notes.

"Unless something is done to relieve the pressure in rural areas, conditions will worsen further as more natural resources become scarce and/or are degraded, and as discontent grows about widening differentials between rural and urban income and quality of life.

"In some cases, there is even growing danger of social conflict and violence over the use of remaining resources, forces that could tear at the social fabric of many Asian societies.  These problems will be particularly severe in South Asia," according to the report.

Emerging new challenges also complicate the situation.  The legacy of the current economic crisis in Southeast Asia has reduced the availability of funds for agriculture and rural areas and for social safety nets, spurred reverse migration to rural areas, paralyzed financial markets and challenged accepted Asian thinking about governing structures.

Also, "a rapidly unfolding and, for many, a rather frightening biotechnology revolution" is underway in agriculture.