4 - Rice

Abstract

Rice is one of the most important foods in the human diet and one of the most extended cereal crops. Rice has probably fed more people in history than any other crop. Even today, rice grains sustain two thirds of the world's population, approximately 2.5 billion people. Around the world, the contribution that rice makes to diet differs and the types of processing involved are also quite different. Rice is mainly consumed as white grain, but in the last decade dozens of products containing rice as an ingredient have appeared on the food market. Two different species of rice are cultivated: Oryza sativa and Oryza glaberrima, and there are around 22 wild species. Oryza sativa originated in the wet tropic of Asia, but is now cultivated around the world, whereas Oryza glaberrima has been cultivated in West Africa for the last 3500 years. Rice accounts for 29% of the world's total cereal production, and is comparable to the production of wheat and corn. Cultivation is concentrated in the developing countries, mainly around East and Middle Asia, where 91% of the total world production is located. China is the world's largest rice producer (30%), followed by India (21%), Indonesia (9%), and Bangladesh (6%). The rest of Asia, America, and Africa produce 37%, 5%, and 3%, respectively of the total world rice production. The amount of rice and rice-based products available for human consumption in the different countries is almost parallel to the rice production. With minor exceptions, practically all the rice production is consumed within the producers' countries.