POV+-+Importance+of+Rice

__ ** The Importance of Rice and Rice Farmers ** __(This essay was written on March 18, 2008, before the price of rice increased and before the current world food shortages) The first thing you see on your dinner table is a bowl of rice. The price of this food that you eat every day has increased rapidly these years. 50% of the whole world’s population, which is 3 billion people, eats rice. Rice has become one of the main foods that people in this world eat. But a problem that rice producers and farmers are facing right now is that the amount of rice produced can no longer feed the large population. The population is growing exponentially. The whole population will double in the next 40 years. By then, the farmers will have to produce enough rice to feed 6 billion people. If the amount of rice produced cannot get balanced with the population, the price of rice will increase dramatically. Food shortages will become an international problem. More rice will need to be produced so the resources will decrease.

If the rice prices per kilogram just rise 50 baht, one half of the 3 billion people will not be able to afford rice. Right now, every 5 seconds there is a kid dying of starvation. Imagine what will happen if the rice prices increase. There will probably be 1 kid dying from starvation every 2 seconds. Food poverty is what this situation is called. Food poverty is happening in every part of this world. As the population grows in the next few years, food shortages will become an international problem. Starvation will become more serious around the territory which is suffering the overpopulating problem. People may have conflicts over food and there is a possibility of war happening in those countries. In fact, these problems are happening currently in countries such as, Bangladesh, China, and a few countries in Africa.

When the farmers try to increase rice production, natural resources are overused and will decrease rapidly. Farming especially puts stress on the fresh water availability and the arable land amount. In order to produce more rice, fresh water and fertile lands are needed. These resources will soon be lacking and will bring more difficulties to survival of humans.

I believe that controlling the population and producing more rice is the only solution for food poverty, food shortage, and overuses of resources. The best way to control the population is to lower the birth rate. On the other side, to increase the rice production, technology development is needed, such as genetically modified rice can be used to feed the population.

In this food-lacking age, I also find that the society is not caring enough about the farmers. The farmers’ incomes are unbalanced with the hard work they have done in the fields. Through this rice unit, I learned that I never tried to understand the food that I eat everyday. I have never thought about farmers and their lives. Why do farmers always have a lower economic status? Why are farmers in the lower part of this society? After this rice unit lesson, I think that I understand the significant of rice and the problems that might be caused if rice production was not available.