The Rice and our race for supremacy

May 1st, 2008 | by Vijayaraghav |

 

 

The Rice and our race for supremacy  

What connects Carolina in the U.S., Scotland and Bihar? The answer is not easy but not that difficult either.  If you peep through the history you can see more precisely that it’s rice. Many may be familiar with the long and aromatic Basmati rice grown in the fertile Gangetic plains of Bihar. It is believed that this rice was taken to the U.S. in the 17th century and grown in Carolina. Till date the Carolina rice is one of the most popular varieties in that country. In Scotland, there is a small village named Patna. William Fullerton, who made large sums of money selling Patna rice, established this town in the 19th century.  

I had a bad dream last night about our Onam feast where I was sitting in front of a long plantain leaf decorated with variety of delicacies but surprisingly the rice was missing.  We always start the Onam feast with the delicacy of rice and pure ghee as a starter.  Onam feast is unimaginable without rice but who knows what will be in store for the future.   

Can you imagine a lunch without rice?  Can you imagine a supper without rice? There are so many delicacies, which seeks the accompaniment of rice to create a symphony of taste.  

You must be wondering, why I am writing all these!  Why about rice? 

A heated debate is going on in media circles all over the globe about the spiraling prices of rice as well as energy which may be a cause for a possible civil unrest in the poor Asian and African countries. A global food crisis has reached at its peak. The World Bank has forecasted that 33 nations from Mexico to Yemen may face social unrest after food and energy costs have increased. Asia is experiencing one of the worst effects of globalization; as countries have become increasingly reliant on one another.  Protests over high food prices have erupted across the developing world, and the stability of governments from Senegal to the Philippines is threatened.  

Rice is a staple for a large part of the world’s human population, especially in East, South and Southeast Asia, making it the second-most consumed cereal grain. Rice provides more than one fifth of the calories consumed worldwide by humans. Rice is the most important crop in Asia. In Cambodia, for example, 90% of the total agricultural area is used for rice production. World production of rice has risen steadily from about 200 million tons of paddy rice in 1960 to 600 million tons in 2004. Milled rice is about 68% of paddy rice by weight. In the year 2004, the top three producers were China (26% of world production), India (20%), and Indonesia (9%). World trade figures are very different, as only about 5–6% of rice produced is traded internationally. The largest three exporting countries are Thailand (26% of world exports), Vietnam (15%), and the United States (11%), while the largest three importers are Indonesia (14%), Bangladesh (4%), and Brazil (3%). Although China and India are the top two largest producers of rice in the world, both the countries consume majority of the rice produced domestically leaving little to be traded internationally. 

In India, Pakistan and Bangladesh the price of rice has doubled in the past. Asian families often spend half of their earnings on food, which is more than double to what western households spend.   In India prices of rice have gone up so fast contributing to 7% inflation last month.  The national rice production this year is estimated to be 94 million metric tons, which is more than 2 million metric tons from last year.   

Let’s check the current scenario.  Due to economic reforms, the government has gradually eased its control over the rise exports during the past 15 years.  India is now more open to the world and more exposed to global price fluctuations.  Farmers and traders across India are now selling to the highest bidder, which in turn drives up domestic prices.  To quell inflation, government has banned exports of non-basmati rice and adjusted price controls to discourage exports of basmati rice. The renowned economist and vice chancellor at New Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University, Mr. B B Bhattacharyya opined, “In desperation, the government is trying to isolate the domestic market”. 

Some kinds of fertilizer have nearly tripled in price in the last year, keeping farmers from buying all they need. That is one of many factors contributing to a rise in food prices that, according to the United Nations’ World Food Program, threatens to push tens of millions of poor people into malnutrition.  Fertilizer inflation has created a crisis in countries that subsidize fertilizer use for farmers. In India, for instance, the government’s subsidy bill could be as high as $22 billion in the coming year, up from $4 billion in 2004-5.  Once new supplies become available, the rising use of fertilizer will still pose difficulties. Overall global consumption of fertilizer increased by an estimated 31 percent from 1996 to 2008, driven by a 56 percent increase in developing countries, according to the International Fertilizer Industry Association. In India, the cost of subsidizing fertilizer for farmers has soared. Agriculture and development experts say the world has few alternatives to its growing dependence on fertilizer. As population increases and a rising global middle class demands more food, fertilizer is among the most effective strategies to increase crop yields.  

Asian rice crisis may get worse if it is not keeping pace with the demands from surging population. A survey conducted by U S Department of Agriculture estimated that worldwide rice consumption increased by 0.9% last year to nearly 424 million metric tons.  Production increased less than 0.7%.  The rise institute’s Zeigler says “We’re consuming more than we’ve been producing.  And as demand for rice continues to increase, we’ve seen productivity growth plateauing”. With Asian nations struggling to protect their own production and supplies, it could mean the emergence of a much hungrier world.  

Dr M.S. Swaminthan, while emphasizing the multi- functionality aspect of agriculture in the Indian context said that in the post-WTO scenario, agriculture was becoming not only a gamble in the monsoon, but even a gamble in the market. He expressed concern over the fact that production techniques and productivity of farmers farming in India were becoming increasingly uncompetitive vis-à-vis those of factory farming endowed with technology, capital and subsidies. Our existing research, educational and extension infrastructure will have to be retooled and restructured so as to convert the vast know-how available in our research institutions into field- level do-how.  

Looking into this grave concern Mr Khushwant Singh got wild and wrote in his Hindusthan Times column “With malice towards one and all” that “It is ironic while the toiling masses cannot fill their bellies and farmers continue to take their own lives, there is also a khaas aadmi, a tiny majority which does not turn a hair blowing up Rs.10, 000 on one meal comprising premium brands of Scotch, vintage wines, delicacies like caviar, oysters, lobsters, and meats cooked in wines followed by deserts and liqueurs till they burst with indigestion and wind in their stomachs.  Surely, the top priority of any government worth its name should be to rectify this gross imbalance.” 

While summing up the entitlement relations in 1981, Dr Amartya Sen wrote “The mesmerizing simplicity of focusing on the ratio of food to population has persistently played an obscuring role over centuries, and continues to plague policy discussions (poverty and famines – p8) Whatever Dr Sen said in 1981 still continues.  

We must come out of our pragmatism and there must be a focused thinking from government’s side particularly from the Ministry of Agriculture to sail through the present crisis. The agricultural development needs more stress as it showed a decline during the past so many years. The mounting pressures on lack of irrigation, labour and competitive procurement prices makes it tough to evolve a   growth strategy to bring about vibrancy in the farm sector. 

The dream of sustained growth is fast disappearing and when it is a global crisis, the government can do very little to check the prices. Unless the government takes it as a challenge, exaggerating the increase in GDP to pave the way for global leadership is merely a distant dream and will remain only as an election plank.