Rice is the most important human food crop in the world, directly feeding more people than any other crop. In 2012, nearly half of world’s population – more than 3 billion people – relied on rice every day. It is also the staple food across Asia where around half of the world’s poorest people live and is becoming increasingly important in Africa and Latin America. 

Rice has also fed more people over a longer time than has any other crop. It is spectacularly diverse, both in the way it is grown and how it is used by humans. Rice is unique because it can grow in wet environments that other crops cannot survive in. Such wet environments are abundant across Asia. The domestication of rice ranks as one of the most important developments in history and now thousands of rice varieties are cultivated on every continent except Antarctica.

Rice is the most important human food crop in the world, directly feeding more people than any other crop. In 2012, nearly half of world’s population – more than 3 billion people – relied on rice every day. It is also the staple food across Asia where around half of the world’s poorest people live and is becoming increasingly important in Africa and Latin America. 

Rice has also fed more people over a longer time than has any other crop. It is spectacularly diverse, both in the way it is grown and how it is used by humans. Rice is unique because it can grow in wet environments that other crops cannot survive in. Such wet environments are abundant across Asia. The domestication of rice ranks as one of the most important developments in history and now thousands of rice varieties are cultivated on every continent except Antarctica.