The Production of Rice Throughout the World: The East Asia Rice Working Group

Rice is an annual cereal grown widely in warm weather for food and its by-products (Webster's Ninth New University). Rice is classified as grain and has food sources as important as wheat. Rice is more than half the staple food of the world population. In addition to Antarctica, rice grows on all continents. There are 21 known wild species and 3 varieties. Oryza sativa japonica is thought to have been domesticated in Central China (Hurst) around 7000 BC.

Rice is a staple food in Asia and is part of the Pacific Ocean. More than 90% of the world's rice is produced and consumed in the Asia-Pacific region. Along with prosperity and urbanization progress, per capita rice consumption in middle- and high-income countries such as South Korea and Japan has begun to decline. However, nearly a quarter of the Asian population is still poverty, the demand for rice is very poor. In these countries rice consumption will grow even more rapidly. The population of Asia is currently increasing at an annual rate of 1.8%, and the population may not be stable until around the middle of the next century. In the population forecast of 2025, an average increase of 51% compared with the base year of 1995, in some cases up to 87% is seen. So far, the annual growth rate of rice consumption in the Asia-Pacific region for 45 years (1950-1995) has caught up with demand through expansion of production, not expansion of the region.

Between 1997, the region produced 91.37% of the world's rice between 1987 and 1997, with an average annual growth rate of 1.8%. In the past 30 years since the era of the green revolution caused by IR 8, Asian rice production increased more than 100% beyond the 80% population growth rate. This will increase the supply of rice and lower the price. It sufficiently proves the rationality of investment in research and therefore creates a sense of social justice. Self-sufficiency has been achieved in some countries, such as Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia and the Philippines, but in some countries it is short-lived. Liberalization of the economy, increased wealth of consumers, and expansion of gray channel trading have ignited demand for high quality rice imports. China's imports are growing steadily (Anon. 1998). In addition to Thailand, countries such as Australia, India, Myanmar, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Vietnam are also exporting rice.

For a while, Myanmar was regarded as a bowl of Asia. British colonial government prioritized rice production in the second half of the 19th century and investing in rice farming in Irrawaddy Delta was one of the largest single colonial investment projects in the world. Over 7 million tons, the country exports more than 3 million tons of rice annually. Today after 75 years, the export of rice from Myanmar has shrunk to 1.3 million tons. Half of it is illegal transboundary trade between China and Thailand. And Bangladesh 5 Asia's three major rice exporters Myanmar has been driven into world markets: Thailand, Vietnam, India (see Figure 1)