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Rice, then & now

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"Rice: Then and Now," by Robert E. Huke and Eleanor H. Huke, International Rice Research Institute, Manila, Philippines, 1990. This 44 page, 8-1/2 x 11 paperback tells the story of rice as a crop throughout the world. It provides a crisp overview with full color photographs and illustrations. In reality this is the story of the green revolution, i.e. the improved crops that could be raised in less favorable conditions helping developing countries feed their own populations.

Rice is the basic food in much of southeastern Asia. Although modern cultivars tolerate an array of conditions, rice is best suited to the Monsoon region-eastern India, Bangladesh, Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Malasia. There it is raised in flooded rice paddies where rice plants are transplanted after one to six weeks. Irrigation allows a wider area including Japan, the rest of China and India, the Philippines, Borneo, and west to Egypt and Turkey.

Rice has been documented in archeological digs as early as 4000 BC in the region. It is very much a part of the culture. Both Hindu and Buddhist scriptures make frequent reference to rice. Both regard rice as a major offering to the gods. In Japan, the Shinto religion teaches the Emperor is the living embodiment of the ripened rice plant. Rice gradually moved westward, but in 16th century Europe, mal-air, associated with the marsh-like conditions used to grow rice, was thought to cause malaria. Hence, rice growing was resisted as unhealthy. (The same thinking applied to prairie grass lands when the US was settled.)

Tables list the major rice producing countries in 1987. China and India lead the list with 37% and 19% respectively, of world production, but only 33% and 25% of arable land is used to raise rice. The US ranks 12th with 1.3% of production. Per capita consumption runs as high as 157 kg/capita per year in countries like Thailand, but tends to fall as the economy of a region develops. As they become more prosperous, people eat more meat and tend to adopt more Western diets. US consumption is 8.9, Japan has fallen from 105 to 68, India is steady at 65, China, Indonesia, and the Philippines are rising.

The Green Revolution came about after World War II with the support of the Rockefeller Foundation and the Ford Foundation. Improvement began with the first seeds brought back to the US from Japan by S.C. Salmon, Gen. MacArthur's agricultural advisor. That wheat was crossbred with tall North American wheat. A series of improved varieties followed. In 1970, Norman Borlaug received the Nobel Peace Prize for this work which resulted in a semidwarf, rust resistant wheat. The International Rice Research Institute was founded in 1962, to promote planting of improved rice throughout Asia. Adoption grew steadily through the '70s. By 1987, world production had nearly doubled on about 20% more land. The improved cultivars responded better to nitrogen fertilizer giving much higher yield than traditional rice. As a result food production in developing countries increased.

Nearly 50% of the world's rice continues to be raised in small fields, largely by hand labor. Mechanization is gradually being adopted.

The booklet does a good job with the story of rice. It provides an interesting contrast with the cereal grains raised in Europe and most of the rest of the world. Bibliography.