Appreciating rice

For a big number of people, the polished rice means as a staple food or a main food that they must cook and eat in their daily diet. Without it, they will starve, become weak and thin and eventually will suffer many ailments.

It is estimated that one half of the world’s population use rice as their main food in the daily diet. In the Philippines, more than 95 percent of the population eats rice every day.

Rice also means for many people as their main ingredient for the making of rice cakes, rice wine or rice coffee. They also use rice for certain ceremonies or rituals like making offerings of cooked rice to their god, uncooked rice for showering newly-weds as a kind of a wish for a prosperous married life, for making certain kinds of lady’s adornment, and for making certain kinds of arts.

On the other hand, the unpolished rice is used as ingredient for making beer and for feeding the chicken. The rice bran, which is a by-product of rice when it is milled, is used as ingredient for the making of pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and soap, and for feeding the animals.

The oil that is extracted from the rice bran is used for making salad or for cooking.

Rice is also a source of livelihood for many people. Farmers usually sell their rice after harvest in order to have money. Rice buyers mill it in order to become polished rice and then sell them to the consumers. Many businessmen and store-owners make money for selling the unmilled and the milled rice.

The rice hull, which is commonly considered as an agricultural waste, can be turned into soil conditioner or one of the ingredients in making organic fertilizer by carbonizing them.
As can be deduced, rice is used in many ways by many people. So that it can be said that rice means many things to many people.

HISTORY OF RICE

No one can lay claim for inventing or developing rice to become food or become an ingredient for many preparations for food and other uses. It came as one of the natural gifts of God to mankind.

According to published reports, rice has been with mankind as early as 4,000 years ago or even older. Archeologists have discovered grains of rice buried deep on the ground in certain places in China. When the grains were subjected to studies, they were found to be more than 4,000 years old.

Studies also indicated that rice originated in several places in a broad area that covered Northern India, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam up to China.

In the Philippines, rice cultivation started more than 3,000 years ago. In fact, the rice terraces in the northern part of the country, which were built some 3,000 years ago, were constructed by the people specifically for the cultivation of rice.

Of course, the rice that we know today may not be the same rice that was known to the early people of the world. But just the same, then as it is now, rice played important roles in human lives and to society. There is no indication that rice will be less important in the lives and society of people in the future.

RICE IN THE FIELD

The rice that people need as food and for many other uses does not come out as a commodity that can be picked up anywhere. They must be produced by man.

In producing them, seeds are needed. There are procedures involved to grow the seeds and become plants that will later on produce the grains.

Proper cultivation is necessary in order for the rice plants to grow well and to produce more grains. The important needs of the rice plants must be provided in order to sustain its growth and development. Among these important needs are good soil, adequate water and fertilizers.

Sunlight is also very important for the growing rice plants in order for them, like other plants, to cook their food for their own nourishment.

Protection of the rice plants is also needed in order for them to grow very healthy. They need to be protected against insect pest and diseases.

As there are many things needed to ensure better ways and means to make the rice plants grow well and produce abundant grains, rice scientists and experts are continuously studying and developing better rice seeds, better ways of growing of the plants, better protection of the plants, and many other things needed for good cultivation.

It must also be understood that the growing area of the rice plants and the conditions obtaining in that area are not the same. There are growing areas which have abundant supply of irrigation water while the other areas are only supported by rainwater. Still, there are growing areas which are always filled with water while others are in relatively high places and are not plain areas.

It is, therefore, necessary for the scientists and experts to study and develop different ways and means in order to make the rice plants grow and develop well under the conditions existing in the growing areas and make them produce well.

RICE INTHE PLATE

The steaming cooked rice on the plates underwent a long process also. It is not like other fruits of plants that as soon as they are harvested and cleaned they are ready to be eaten.

Starting from the cutting of the stalks of the rice plants which are bearing ripened grains, there are many more processes involved to make the grains ready for cooking.

After cutting the stalk, follows the threshing to get the grains. The grains are then dried, bagged and transported to the rice mill. In the rice mill, the husk of the grains are removed. The unhusked grains are now ready for cooking.

It must be understood also that the unhusked grains can be either brown or white. This depends on the kind of milling done in the rice mill. The brown rice, which is the product of just removing the outer skin of the grain, is said to contain more nutrient than those grains which have been milled very well or white in color.

The unhusked rice is ready for cooking. It is also the grain that is used for many other purposes like turning it into flour or for many kinds of rice cakes. The unhusked grains are the ones also used for making coffee, adornment, for making art forms, for celebrations and rituals, and many other kinds of uses.

IMPORTANCE OF RICE

Without rice, worse things may happen to the people and the country. If there is no rice, there will be famine and will cause starvation and even death to many people. Without rice, the country will suffer because there could be trouble among its people and the government will have difficulty in stopping the trouble.

There can be war, too, among nations just to find food to feed its people.

In the Philippines, is there enough rice produced in its ricelands every cropping season to feed the population?

The answer is no. But there is a possibility to produce the rice needed by the population if certain conditions are met in producing it.

The country, it must be understood, has only a small area that can be used for the growing of rice. The Philippines has only 3.8 million hectares of agricultural lands being planted of rice. This land area has not been able to produce what is needed for consumption by the population for many years.

For example, in 2002, the rice production in the country totaled to only 8.6 million metric tons. In that year, the demand for rice was 9.5 million metric tons. Therefore, there was a shortage of 900,000 metric tons. This shortage was filled up by importing rice which the country has been doing for many years except for some few years in which the country produced enough rice to feed the population and answer the some other needs of the country for rice.

Other countries like Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar and China have big land areas for rice cultivation which can produce rice more than what they need for the needs of their people. Aside from having big land area, these countries also have large river deltas from where they get the irrigation water needs of their ricelands. The Philippines has very small river delta that’s why the provision of continuous irrigation water to the ricelands is limited.

Also, the country’s population is rapidly increasing. The growth rate in the country is placed at 2.36 percent every year. It is, therefore, not difficult to think that as the population grows, more rice will be needed as more people will need them for their food. Sadly, however, as the population grows, the area for rice cultivation is getting smaller because of the conversion of some rice lands into subdivision, commercial buildings, and for some other uses.

Therefore, there is a need to produce more rice from the remaining rice lands in order to answer the demand of the population.

As of today, the average farm yield is around four metric tons per hectare. Experts are saying that this farm yield can be increased some more if the producers will apply the technologies needed for higher production and that the needs for production can be made available.

APPRECIATING RICE

Rice, as we know now, is a commodity that is enveloped in many needs, conditions, situations, processes, and research works and development before they become ready for use as food and for other uses.