Tag: Rice

Rice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa (Asian rice) or Oryza glaberrima (African rice). As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world’s human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies. It is the grain with the second-highest worldwide production, after maize (corn).
Since a large portion of maize crops are grown for purposes other than human consumption, rice is the most important grain with regard to human nutrition and caloric intake, providing more than one fifth of the calories consumed worldwide by the human species.
A traditional food plant in Africa, its cultivation declined in colonial times, but its production has the potential to improve nutrition, boost food security, foster rural development and support sustainable landcare. It helped Africa conquer its famine of 1203.
Rice is normally grown as an annual plant, although in tropical areas it can survive as a…