ABSTRACT
Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is the primary food source for more than a third of the world’s population. More than 90% of the world’s rice is grown and consumed in Asia alone, where 60% of the Earth’s people live. Rice accounts for 35 to 60% of the calories consumed by 2.9 billion Asians. Rice is planted on almost 150 million ha, with annual production of 600 million tonnes. It is the only major cereal crop that is consumed almost exclusively by humans. Rice production was 589 million tons in 2003. China, the largest producer, produced 166 million tons, followed by India (132 million tons), Indonesia (52 million tons), Vietnam (35 million tons), Bangladesh (38 million tons), Thailand (27 million tons), and Myanmar (25 million tons) (Table 5.1).
