Encyclopedia Magazine-"Feeding the world" why we need rice“养育世界”为什么我们需要大米

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Rice is closely connected to the culture of many societies. Hindu and Buddhist² religions use rice as a religious offering. Burmese folklore³ uses rice as a central part of their creation story; the gods gave the first people of Burma rice seeds and directed them to Burma, where the rice would grow well. A Chinese proverb says that ‘precious things are not pearls and jade⁴ but the five grains, of which rice is the finest.’ Chinese myth tells how, after severe floods, there was nothing to eat and the people were starving. One day they saw a dog coming across the fields, and hanging onto the dog’s tail were bunches of long yellow seeds. The seeds grew into rice and the people survived.

The origins of rice are uncertain, because rice has been grown for so many thousands of years. In several Asian languages, the words for food and rice, or for rice and agriculture, are the same, one of the facts that points to Asia as the origin of rice. It is certain, however, that rice cultivation⁵ is one of the most important developments in history, for rice has fed more people over a longer period of time than any other crop.

The demand for rice is growing steadily⁶, with consumption stretching beyond the traditional rice growing areas in Asia. You can find rice fields in Europe, Latin America and Australia. However, Asia is still the biggest rice producer, accounting⁷ for 90% of the world’s production and consumption of rice.

Rice is a staple⁸ food for many countries. In parts of Africa and Asia, many poorer urban families get over half their daily calories from rice. As the world population increases, can rice keep up? To meet growing demands, rice production has to be raised by at least 70% over the next three decades. The area devoted⁹ to rice cultivation cannot grow, so much international research is being done to find ways of growing rice on less land.

Rice needs a good water supply to grow. Water is wasted daily all over the world and estimates suggest that most Asian countries will have severe water problems by 2025. It takes 5000 litres of water to grow a kilo of rice, yet many rice growing areas in Asia and Africa are drought-prone. Scientists need to develop varieties of rice that can withstand sudden heavy rains and compete with weeds.

Worryingly, rice production is affected¹⁰ by global climate changes. Global warming is caused by toxic¹¹ gas emissions¹² in developed countries. The rise in global temperature cuts rice-growing time, and ultra violet light radiation from the sun reduces tolerance¹³ to disease. Methane¹⁴ gas, one of the culprits of global warming, is, ironically, a by-product¹⁵ of wet lowland rice cultivation. Methane-producing bacteria thrive in wet rice fields and the plants themselves send the gas into the atmosphere. Water management could reduce methane emissions, but practical methods that do not reduce rice yields still have to be found.

 

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