The rice shrubs consume 5000 liters of water for the production of one kg of rice.
Therefore rice is grown only in places with permanent rainfall and running rivers and is absolutely not cultivated in arid and desert regions.
It is estimated that in year 2005, the world will be in need of 900 million ton of rice. This will require more efforts to increase production and expand the agricultural area to double the present area.
The rice farmers consume 10 million tones of nitrogen per annum and this quantity will increase following the increase in production. This is a cause of concern to the environment and public health scientists as it is harmful to the human health due to the addition of nitrogen to the soil and the dispersion of some of its atoms in the air.
Rice is considered the main food for more than half of the
world population, as its consumers at the world level are
estimated at more than 3 billion, consuming above 500
million tons per annum.
90% of the consumers lives in Asia. Rice constitutes more
than 70% of the main diet for the population of many
countries such as India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Burma,
Vietnam and china.
Globally, rice constitutes about 21% of the international
food consumption; some nations take rice three times per
day.
