Lifestyles Ideas Management - Cash Crop

Some facts about rice:
Around 645 million tonnes of rice (430 million tonnes in milled rice equivalent) was grown in 114 producing countries last year.
There are more than 40,000 different varieties of rice and they are classified mostly by length of grain – short, medium and long.
Rice seedlings grow best in warm temperatures and in shallow water.
Using traditional methods, it takes 5,000 litres of water to produce 1 kg of rice. The majority of rice is grown in flooded (irrigated or rain-field) padi fields and is known as lowland rice.
The word for rice means “food” or “meal” in several Asian languages, such as Chinese (mi) and Japanese (gohan).
Amid soaring and fears of shortages, several countries are considering or have curbed exports of the commodity:
Indonesia: President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono yesterday ordered officials across the sprawling archipelago, South-east Asia’s largest rice consumer, to prevent illegal exports.
Vietnam: Banned sales until June
Cambodia: imposed a two month ban on exports on March 26
India: Curbed exports of non-basmati rice
Pakistan: Considering slapping a tax on exports to rein in inflation
Eqypt: Banned exports from April 1 to October
Brazil: Temporarily halted exports for at least six months