Reading 20-2.indd

Rice has fed more people than any other crop has for thousands of years. The ancient Indian name for rice, Dhanya, means “sustenance for the human race.” Especially in much of Asia, life without rice has been unthinkable. Rice feeds more than half of the world population, but most rice is consumed within 10 miles of where it is produced. Rice is the 2nd largest crop in planting acreage after wheat. Global rice production was 596.5 million tons from 155 million hectares (ha) in 1999. The major rice growing regions are found in more than a hundred countries in Asia, Latin America, and Africa (Table 1). But major rice exporting countries only include Thailand, the United States, Vietnam, Pakistan, and India. About 85% of the total rice production is for human consumption. Rice provides 23% of the global human per capita energy and 16% of the per capita protein (IRRI, 1997). In Asia, where people typically eat rice 2 or 3 times a day, 250 million rice farms (the average rice land per farm is less than 1 ha) produce more than 90% of the world’s rice. For example, Myanmar consumes 195 kg of rice per capita per year, whereas the average annual rice consumptions in Europe and America are 3 kg and 7 kg, respectively. The 3 most populous nations, including China, India, and Indonesia, are rice-based countries, which together have 2.5 billion people (about half of the current world population). Rice can be processed into rice bran oil, wine, rice cakes, and other foods. Rice fl our can be used as the main component of face powders and infant formula or for polishing expensive jewelry. Rice bran oil can be used in cooking, making soap, and as an ingredient in insecticides. Silicarich rice husks can be used as raw materials for construction materials such as like insulation, as a conditioner for commercial fertilizers, as an ingredient in hand soaps and furfural (a chemical used in synthetic resin manufacture), as mulch, as an abrasives, as a fuel, or as an ingredient to make thermoplastics (Yekani Amonollah: United States Patent: 6,172,144). Rice straw has been used for livestock feed, bedding for livestock, straw mushroom production (in China and Thailand), and in industries for arts and crafts. In the early times, rice straw was also used for thatching roofs in Asia, and to make ropes, mats, paper, baskets, and bags. Now rice straw is mostly used for animal feed or as fi eld manure.