Maclean et al. - 2002 - Rice almanac source book for the most important e

The facts of rice
Production
Rice farming is the largest single use of land for
producing food.
Rice is nearly all (90%) produced in Asia.
Rice production totaled 600 million tons in 2000.
Rice is the most important economic activity on
Earth.
Thousands of varieties of rice are farmed.
Only 6–7% of all rice production is
exported from its country of origin.
Rice fields cover 9% of Earth’s entire
arable land, or more than 125 million hectares.
Employment
Rice eaters and growers form the bulk of the
world’s poor.
Rice is the single most important source of
employment and income for rural people.
Rice is grown on 250 million Asian farms,
mostly smaller than one hectare.
Significance in human culture
Rice farming is about 10,000 years old.
Rice cultivation was once the basis of the social
order and occupied a major place in Asia’s
religions and customs.
Rice is still sometimes used to pay debts,
wages, and rent in some Asian rural areas.
Significance as food
Rice is the staple food for the largest number of
people on Earth.
Rice is eaten by nearly half the world’s
population.
Rice is the single largest food source for the
poor.
Rice is the source of one quarter of global per
capita energy.
Rice is synonymous with food throughout Asia.
Rice is the most important food grain in most of
the tropical areas of Latin America and the
Caribbean, where it supplies more calories in
people’s diets than wheat, maize, cassava, or
potatoes.
Toyota means bountiful rice field.
Honda means the main rice field.
Benefits of rice research
Research has provided 75% of the rice varieties
now grown.
Research has increased potential yields from 4
to more than 10 tonnes per hectare per crop.
Research has been a major factor in more than
doubling world rice production from 260 to
600 million tonnes over the past 40 years.
Research has provided rice plants that grow
faster, enabling 2 or even 3 crops per year;
plants that resist various pests and diseases,
need less fertilizer, or thrive in saline water;
and plants with enhanced levels of
micronutrients.
Many more facts on rice production are contained in the
Rice Facts on page 249.
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