Rice History and Cultivation
Human records on rice cultivation date back four thousand years. Rice was originally cultivated and China and then in India. This happened even before the great Greek times. Rice has been so predominant in the Chinese culture that the words for "rice cultivation" were synonynmous with general agriculture. The word "rice" in many Asian cultures was synonymous with "food". Many rice grain variations were developed over time.
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The right climatic combination of warmth and humidity is needed in order to grow rice crops. Rice agriculture was eventually present in western parts of Africa. It is very likely that the 18th century slave industry imported the science of rice agriculture to America. In our day there are even new rice varieties that are being genetically developed that will require moderate to low quantities of water. This is a very promising avenue to fight famine in many poor countries.
Although the rice cultivation industry is largely mechanized in the United States and Europe, the manual and traditional ways of harvesting rice is still in used in most Asian regions. They manually plow, fertilize, smooth and manage the irrigation of the fields. After the 30- to 50-day growth period, the grains are then threshed (often using a mortar) and tossed in the air using a mat or sheet to remove the chaff.
Methods of growing differ greatly in different localities, but in most Asian countries the traditional hand methods of cultivating and harvesting rice are still practiced. The fields are prepared by plowing (typically with simple plows drawn by water buffalo), fertilizing (usually with dung or sewage), and smoothing (by dragging a log over them). The seedlings are started in seedling beds and, after 30 to 50 days, are transplanted by hand to the fields, which have been flooded by rain or river water. During the growing season, irrigation is maintained by dike-controlled canals or by hand watering. The fields are allowed to drain before cutting.
Even if the western world now have important rice crops, the world's largest rice harvesting countries are still today China, India and other Asian countries. More than 1/2 billion metric tons of rice grains are produced around the world each year.
