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Rice Production: More Knowledge
Essential
Khilendra
Basnyat
Except for Antarctica,
every continent produces rice. Its importance as a food crop expands as man's
numbers increase.
So dependent on rice are the Asian
countries that throughout history a failure of this crop has caused widespread
famine and death. Further more, rice is far more important in the less
developed countries of Asia, where half of the
population lives.
Asia
produces over 90% of all the rice grown. This is why the average rice productions
for the world and for Asia are essentially the
same as are the percentage in rice area and production. The average percentage
of increase in rice production in Asia during
the ten year period was about double that of the increase in land area.
In all Asian countries, from India and Bangladesh
eastward and from Japan and South Korea
southward, rice is by far the most important food crop. In India, millions of people consume
more than twice much rice as wheat.
The apparent average annual consumption of
rice for the principal rice-consuming countries of Asia
is mostly over 100 Kilograms a person.
In the United States, by way of contrast,
the average per capita consumption of rice is only 6 kilograms a year. That
level is typical on the whole for most Europeans as well significant regional
variations.
Although the Chinese have diversified
diet, the consumption of rice is 2.5 times that of wheat, the second most
important crop of that country. FAO’ figures for the food consumption of
Chinese indicate that rice furnishes 698 calories per day; wheat, 267 calories;
maize, 208 calories and millet and sorghum combined, 145 calories.
In most Asian countries, a large
proportion of the land suitable for rice cultivation is already being used for
that purpose. In contrast, in Africa and South America
where vast tracts of arable land still remain uncultivated, there has been
little change in rice production. Production increase has been mainly due to
expansion in the area planted to rice.
In fact, irrigation and fertilizer use
are not the only the influences on paddy production. War conditions and
political disturbances also hinder progress in such production.
Today, there is an imbalance between rice
production and population growth. The need therefore intensifies for maximum
knowledge about paddy production.