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The cultivation of rice is the main activity for most of the Asian population, especially the eastern part of this continent. All the population work for about six months per year. The cultivation is done manually in which simple tools such as the plough and sickle and other manual tools are used, which are time and effort consuming. The cultivation starts with preparing the land by ploughing and levelling and the preparation of basins for containing the water.
Rice is immersed with water for about 120 to 160 days till it gets matured.
During the levelling stage the soil is covered with water and mixed, barriers, and small channels are made to guarantee the equal distribution of water. Then the organic fertilizers, e.g. nitrogen & potassium are added to fertilize the soil.
Rice is grown either directly in the basins and then distributed later on, or in small nurseries but very intensively. Within three to four weeks after growing, these seedlings will be transferred to the basins and distributed equally such that about 4 to 5 seedlings are planted in each point with distances of about 15 cm between every two seedlings.
After that, the basins are observed accurately to insure that water is covering all the plants equally and to keep eye on the growth of some bacteria, mushrooms and viruses that threaten the farms and damage the plants. Certain types of pesticides are applied for each type of pests.
After the plants are completely matured, the basins are emptied from water, and after two weeks the harvesting process begins. In the Asian countries the harvesting is done manually. The stems are collected in bundles, tied up and left under the sun for several weeks to dry. The harvest is then thrashed to separate the rice grains from the other part of the plant by using mortars and other manual tools. The tough rice is then taken to special places for cleaning and peeling and removing of any soil or weeds. This process is performed in Asia by use of very simple and sometimes primitive tools like the hand mill which is designed in such a way that does not crush the grains or smash them but only separate the hard hull. Then rice is sifted to separate the grain from the hulls and the other suspending substances.
In this stage we obtain the brown rice that contains the transparent membrane and the two grains with most of the food substances like vitamins, minerals, rice oil. Then follows the final stage i.e.the preparation where rice is entered through a special mill to separate the brown membrane from the white rice grain, which is rich with starches and sugars.
Then rice is sorted according to its type, quality and size and then packed according to the credited trade classification for marketing.
In most Asian countries rice cultivation is performed manually using primitive tools.
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