1. World Food Day
Rice

2. FACTORS AFFECTING ORIGIN &
DEVELOPMENT

3. Introduction
• Rice originated from Ancient Wild Rice Species
• Many species are known but commonly
cultivated ones are from type Oryza
• Predominant findings:
O. sativa (Asian rice)
O. glaberimma (West Africa)
• Gondwana Supercontinent Theory
• Rice species can adapt to various parts of the
world

4. Shifting cultivation
• During ancient civilization, rice believed to
have been grown by direct seeding without
standing water
• Evidences of rice cultivation were found in the
dry uplands of the South East Asian region

5. Wet-Rice Cultivation
• Dominant method used in today’s rice production
• Believed to have originated in lower Yangtze river
valley
- Swampy marshes
- River systems
- Monsoon rainfall
- High temperatures
• Ancient Chinese development of puddling and
transplanting domesticated rice species

6. Archaeological Evidences
• Carbonized rice remains of over 10, 000 years
old and rice glumes in burnt clay
• Large number of wild rice varieties found in
the region
• 130 ancient sites with 100 situated along the
Yangtze river

7. Archaeological Evidences
• Clay with paddy impressions and husk
remnants in Gujarat (expansion of Indus valley
since 2300 BC)
• Unearthed pottery shards bearing the imprint
of both grains and husks of O. sativa -> earlier
in 4000 B.C. at Non Nok Tha in the Korat area
of Thailand

8. Culture/ Religion
• Ancient Indian name for rice is dhanya which
means ‘sustainer of the human race’
• King of Nepal- Suddhodana which means
‘Pure Rice’
• Japan, it is linked to the Sun-Goddess who is
believed to be the mythological ancestor of
the Japanese Imperial family

9. Culture/ Religion
• The first authentic record of irrigation for
paddy cultivation is to be found in the Book of
Poetry supposed to have been written in the
Chow Dynasty about 781-771 B.C.
• Historian Ssu-ma Ch’ien in 148 B.C.
Wrote of conditions in the Yangtze Valley
which refer to the burning off of trees and
undergrowth, flooding the land and planting
paddy.

11. IMPACT OF CURRENT TRADE
POLICIES

12. Introduction
• Four types of rice traded globally;
indica, japonica, aromatic and glutinous
• Traded according to: fully milled, brown or rough
rice
• Main rice consuming:
India, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Myanmar
• Main rice producing:
China, India, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Vietnam
• Top exporters: Thailand, Vietnam, China and
United States of America (U.S.A.)

13. Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Policy
• Implemented by World Trade Organisation (WTO)
• Safeguard domestic interests in pests and disease
problems involved while importing plants and
plant products
• Some of the principals behind the regulations
enforced are not clear or wrongly used
• Example: Mexico and Central America banned
Asian rice imports through SPS measures such as
poor quality of gains, pest infestation and
pesticide residue.

14. Implications
• Difficult for Asian exporters to enter into the
regions’ rice market
• South American countries, seem to be taking
on a protectionist measure
• Brazil which are using unscientific legal
phytosanitary policies as a barrier to
safeguard national interests

15. MERCOSUR Trade Agreement
• MERCOSUR: Common Market of the South
• Allows for free trans-boundary movement of
goods between full member state-
Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay
• Largest trading bloc in South America, their
interest is to counter restrictions to regional
trade

16. Implications
• Regional exchange of rice would have to
compete against imported rice
• Rice is a food component largely traded
among MERCOSUR countries
• Imposing a high tariff on non-members
• Tariff levied by China, Egypt
Iran, Japan, Korea, Saudi Arabia and USA
averages to about 11 per cent and a maximum
of 18 per cent

17. South East Asian Nations (ASEAN)
• Economic strategies: self-sufficient and self-
reliant
• Self sufficient: Food consumption to be from
domestically produced food
• Self reliant: Advocate cheap imports to
supplement food supplies

18. Implications
• As staple food, sale of rice unlikely to suffer
drastic fall
• Major exporters Thailand and Vietnam have
an agricultural based economy therefore
ASEAN needs to safeguard their interest
• 107,867,551 tons of rice are circulated and
sold within the region versus 16,624,056 tons
of exports