Rice is Life

Details: Written by Fr. Jack Nuelle, M.S.

We are all familiar with rice – at least Uncle Ben’s version. Rice, that small grain that originated in Asia, is grown today in 113 countries. The cuisine, culture and traditions of some 3,000 million people evolve around rice. In fact, many nations agree that “rice is life.” It is the grain with the second-highest worldwide production, after maize (corn).

Banaue Rice Terraces in Philippines, an
amazing feat of human engineering

Food is essential for life. Rice – the only major cereal that can withstand water submergence – is the primary food source for over half the world’s population. Our missionaries living in India, Myanmar, Madagascar and the Philippines can well attest to this. Rice, as their basic food staple, is their major source of energy and protein. But alone it is not enough. It lacks in amino acid and essential micronutrients for the body. And when rice grains are not renewed or improved, they naturally degrade in quality.

There are about 840 million undernourished people – including more than 200 million children – in developing countries. Improving the productivity of rice systems would contribute to eradicating this unacceptable level of hunger. The graph to the left shows rice distributed in 2009 by the United Nations World Food Program, the largest humanitarian agancy fighting worldwide hunger.

Rice harvesting in Burma (Myanmar)

School lunch program in Antsirabe

We might tend to think of rice only as it is presented at table. But there is an untapped potential to rice. Rice farming and associated post-harvest operations employ nearly one billion people in rural areas of developing countries. Rice cultivation – about four-fifths of world production is grown by small-scale farmers in low-income countries – is the principal activity and source of income for about 100 million households in Asia and Africa, and several countries are highly dependent on rice as a source for acquiring foreign exchange and government revenue. In addition, the threshing, milling, processing, market transport and cooking of rice helps support rural livelihoods.

Other rural people generate income from producing, servicing and maintaining tools, implements and equipment for rice cultivation and post-harvest operations. Rice cultivation allows terracing on mountain slopes, helps prevent soil erosion and landslides, controls floods, minimizes weed growth and generates water percolation and groundwater recharge, while submerged conditions enable matter to accumulate in soils.

I have seen rice growing in the tropical rainforests of eastern Madagascar, in the terraced slopes of Filipino mountains, in the deltas of northern Africa, in the watered planes of India. Everywhere rice brings rural farmers together to work, promotes business, consolidates culture, enriches religious festivals and nourishes people’s bodies and spirits. Yes, rice is life!