Rice production record & Thai rice subsidy issues

15th January, 2014

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No ban on rice imports
We

are

a

liberal

economy

-

Haruna

Minister for Trade and Industry Haruna Iddrisu has
said that government’s restriction on the importation
of rice to the Kotoka Airport and the Tema and
Takoradi seaports should not be misconstrued to
mean a ban on the importation of rice.Government,
he said, has only banned rice importation by land due
to rampant smuggling and also because government
wants to get ―reliable statistics‖ on imports.―If you

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ask me today as to how much rice was imported into the country, we will struggle to give you a figure…‖ the
minister said at the swearing-in of new board-members for the Export Development and Agricultural
Investment Fund (EDAIF).
―We have said import rice through accredited ports -- bring rice in through Takoradi, Tema and Kotoka. So,
please, there is no ban on rice importation. We are a liberal economy but we encourage rice production in order
that we can lower the imports. What is it that somebody wants to carry rice from Ivory Coast to Ghana and
cannot do so from Takoradi, Tema or Kotoka International Airport?‖The Trade Ministry served notice to rice
importers in October 2013, stating that "with effect from 1st November, 2013, all imports of rice shall be done
through only the Kotoka International Airport, Tema and Takoradi Ports".The ministry later relaxed the ban for
a group called The Ghana-Ivory Coast Rice Importers and Sellers Association, which made an appeal to
government to enable them clear rice they had already made arrangements for.
The ban was thus relaxed for those of the importers who had made financial commitments or advance payment
for rice from their suppliers abroad.There has since been a certain level of confusion in the public sphere, with
media reports that there was a total ban on the importation of rice -- and that the trade ministry, without
recourse to parliament, had lifted the ban.―Before Christmas a number of Ghanaian importers had brought rice
to the borders. We slapped them with a penalty, and they were not happy about it -- We considered and relaxed
the ban. We are not happy destroying businesses; we will not do that. So that window of opportunity should not
be misconstrued.
We have not sanctioned or authorised lifting of the ban [on rice import by land],‖ Haruna Iddrisu
explained.Smuggling and under-declaring of imports has been a bothersome issue at the country’s borders and
ports of entry, with government said to be losing millions of cedis through the practice.The porous nature of the
country’s borders in particular has facilitated the smuggling of various commodities, including rice, into the
country.―There are integrity problems at the borders. We are seeking to have reliable statistics on imports…
That must guide our future policy,‖ the minister said

Rice, wheat buffer stock move may push market prices up
Chetan Chauhan, Hindustan Times New Delhi, January 15, 2014
First Published: 23:48 IST(15/1/2014) | Last Updated: 02:41 IST(16/1/2014)
In a final push to the food security law, the Union cabinet on Thursday would consider a proposal to increase
buffer stock of two vital food grains, rice and wheat, by about 60% for easy roll-out of the programme.Such
stocking may trigger an increase in prices of food grains in the open market.The food security law was enacted
in September 2013 and state governments have one year for implementing it.The law provides for priority
households (existing below poverty line) getting 5 kg of food grains per month, and Antyodaya (extremely

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poor) households 35 kg per month.The
combined coverage of priority and Antyodaya
households should be 75% of the total rural
population and 50% of the urban population.The
food ministry has proposed a change in
regulations to maintain a minimum 150 metric
tonnes of buffer stock in a year. As of now, the
minimum buffer stock is 99.30 metric tonnes in
a year.
The government maintains buffer stock on quarterly basis for operational and strategic purposes. The
operational purpose is to provide food grains for the public distribution system (PDS) as per quota fixed for
each state. The strategic stock is for meeting emergency situations such as droughts and natural calamities.The
food ministry has proposed a substantial increase in both operational and strategic stock. This is what could
possibly affect open market prices.With change in buffer stock requirement, the government will need an
increase in capacity of silos to store additional food grains.The cabinet has already approved a policy for public
private partnership to build international quality silos. According to an official source, the response of private
players to the policy has been poor because of ―inflexible‖ norms.The Food Corporation of India often faces
criticism over its storage facilities and large amount of food stock going waste

Foodgrains production to touch a new record this year: Pawar
VISHWANATH KULKARNI
NEW DELHI, JAN 15:
India’s foodgrains production, aided by timely
and uniform spread of monsoon, is headed for a
new record this year, said Agriculture Minister
Sharad Pawar.However, he expressed concerns
over pulses and edible oilseeds output as the
country is still import-dependent to meet the
rising demand.―We will be approaching an alltime record production of foodgrains this year
when the second advance estimates will be
announced sometime in February,‖ Pawar told the
85th Annual General Meeting of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research on Wednesday.―The efforts of
scientists in developing the high-yielding, input-efficient, disease-tolerant varieties/hybrids along with
widespread adoption by the farmers are visible in increasing the farm productivity, quality and quantity,‖ Pawar
said.India’s foodgrains production had touched an all-time high of 259 million tonnes in 2011-12, but fell
marginally in the subsequent year to around 255 mt on account of poor rains.

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Cultivable area
Pawar said despite a stagnant cultivable area at around 142 million hectares, foodgrains production in the
country over the past 10 years has increased from 198 mt in 2004-05 to 259 mt in 2011-12 at an average of
about 6 mt per annum.During this period, production of wheat and rice — the two main staple cereals have
reported an increase of 50 mt.
Research programmes
Pawar exhorted the ICAR scientists to formulate research programmes that are more focussed and contribute in
realising the national goal of 4 per cent growth in agriculture.With climate variability becoming a major issue,
Pawar told the scientists that it was the government’s constant endeavour to enhance the resilience of Indian
agriculture against natural disasters and climate changes.
(This article was published on January 15, 2014)
Keywords: Foodgrains production, foodgrains output, timely monsoon, Sharad Pawar,
In Snap: A farm worker harvests paddy near Thrissur. India's food grains production is estimated at a record
235.88 million tonnes in the 2010-11 crop year, according to the third advance estimate figures ending June. —
K. K. Mustafah

Thai Farmers Begin Deserting Government Over Late Rice
Updated Jan. 16, 2014 12:27 a.m. ET

Antigovernment protesters in
Bangkok waved Thai flags
on Wednesday in their
continuing campaign to force
the prime minister from
office. Associated Press
Thailand's
flagship
rice
subsidy is running out of
cash and backfiring at a
critical time for Prime
Minister Yingluck
Shinawatra, whose political

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future hinges on support from farmers and other rural voters as her rivals intensify their campaign to remove her
from office.
The government has been buying up rice from farmers at about 50% above market prices to boost rural incomes
since Ms. Yingluck's Pheu Thai Party took office in 2011. Now, it can't sell the rice fast enough to fund the
subsidy. Rival exporters such as India and Vietnam have ramped up production, selling rice cheaper and
knocking Thailand off its perch as the No. 1 exporter."Farmers are very angry," said Nipon Poapongsakorn, a
rural development specialist at Thailand Development Research Institute, a think tank. "It is the first time in our
history that farmers didn't get money for the rice that they already sold to the government,''
The state-owned bank tasked with funding the policy, the Bank of Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives, is
seeking to raise 20 billion baht ($610 million) in a bond auction Thursday it hopes will make up the shortfall
from a 75 billion baht auction in November, when only half of the issue was purchased.The funds will go
toward paying rice farmers, some of whom haven't been paid in months. The government on Wednesday extend
a deadline for the payment of October's harvest, while local media said that in one northern province, only a
small fraction of its nearly 50,000 rice farmers received money from the government.Thailand's rural population
comprises the political base for Ms. Yingluck and her elder brotherThaksin Shinawatra, a polarizing former
premier who was ousted in a military coup in 2006. The subsidy is one of a raft of policies aimed at benefiting
rural voters that has annoyed the mostly middle-class protesters in Bangkok whose taxes pay for it.
Opponents of the Shinawatra political empire have turned out by the tens of thousands this week to demand Ms.
Yingluck's resignation. The protesters say Ms. Yingluck and her brother's populist policies amount to votebuying, while the government maintains its policy benefits farmers, who are among Thai society's poorest
citizens.
The expectations raised by the subsidy program have now become a liability for the government, which has also
had to face down protests from rubber farmers and other groups demanding equal treatment.The delay in
payments highlights how the subsidy program has left the agriculture bank—and the government—in a
financially precarious situation. Analysts at CIMB Securities said the Thai state incurs costs of about 300 billion
baht ($9.2 billion) a year to support rice prices, amounting to about 2.5% of GDP.Chookiat Ophaswongse,
president of the Thai Rice Exporters Association, said approximately 10 million tons of paddy—unprocessed
rice—haven't been paid for by the government, worth about 170 billion baht.The bond auction Thursday may
go some way to alleviating the pressure.
Chut Trakoolngam, a dealer at Kasikornbank, said he would take part in the auction and was fairly optimistic
the bond will sell because it offers an attractive yield of about 3.2%, but added that the agriculture bank's debt
level is "not sustainable."The International Monetary Fund has warned that the debt has eroded the credibility of

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Thailand's public finances and recommended in November that the subsidies be scrapped. Some farmers have
even turned out in Bangkok to join in the antigovernment protests. Wasana Yingphon, a 45-year-old rice
farmer, drove from the ancient capital of Ayutthaya, a stronghold of support for Ms. Yingluck, to the capital in
December to complain about missing payments.
Ms. Wasana said many rice farmers are having to go to nonbank lenders and pay high interest rates so they can
afford to plant new crops.With such large outstanding payments, Mr. Chookiat of the rice exporters association
said he worries how the government will settle its bills long-term."I suspect that the situation will get worse if
the government delays their payments any further," he said.
Write to Isabella Steger at isabella.steger@wsj.com
Feeding China

Beijing has rice to go around, but that might not be enough
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
more rice than it can consume. Yet, grain imports are rising rapidly and that makes the central government

Rice is serious business in China. The country ingested
146 million tons in 2013, making it by far the world's
largest consumer of the grain, a longstanding title.What's
worrying the government isn't how much rice China will
eat this year. That figure is set to slowly decrease as the
country urbanizes. Rather, leaders are closely monitoring
how much rice China imports, as well as the factors that
could make China dependent on foreign grain in the
future.During the past four years, rice shipments to China
have climbed some 530%. In 2013, China bought 3.4
million tons of rice from abroad, surpassing Nigeria for the first time as the world's biggest importer, according
to Index Mundi, an edible commodities tracker.Beijing isn't exactly celebrating the new title. In fact, this year
agricultural policymakers will step up their guard on what they consider to be grain self-sufficiency. In early
2014, China's State Council will issue an annual policy report known as ―Document No. 1.‖ The statement,
compiled by a special team from the country's cabinet, will likely call for 100% self-sufficiency in edible grain,
clarifying one of China's longest-running policies.A less specific definition for self-sufficiency was originally
set at 95% in a long-term plan running 12 years through 2020.―[The government is] very, very worried about
imports,‖ said Huang Guiheng, research director at BRIC Consultants in Beijing. ―They have increased very
rapidly in the past few years.‖
The good earth

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For a country that produced more than 200 million tons of rice in 2013, 3.4 million tons in imports seems like a
trivial sum. As agricultural policymakers watch import levels rise, they're also tracking the country's long-term
capacity to supply its own grain – often in the face of mounting environmental challenges.In 2010, the director
of China's Rural Development Institute, Chen Xiwen, first sounded the alarm on the scarcity of water in the
northeast, the country's grain basket. Of the increasing shortfall, he wrote, ―It's inevitable that the rate of selfsufficiency will decline.‖China feeds 22% of the world's population with just 7% of the earth's arable land and
the second figure is declining steadily as croplands desertify.
This week, the State Forestry Administration said that 9% of China's wetlands disappeared during the past 10
years.Chen raised doubts again early last year when, as grain imports hit an all-time high, he announced that the
country would not impose curbs on imports in 2013. It's unclear at present if limits will be introduced this year
but Document No. 1 could clarify how the government will act on this.Pollution is another bombshell. In May, a
government test in rice markets in the southern city of Guangzhou said that half of the tested grain was
contaminated with high levels of the heavy metal cadmium, although the scope of those tests was later shown to
be quite limited.In the final days of 2013, the Ministry of Land and Resources said about 2.5% of China's arable
land was too contaminated by heavy metals to farm. It was a major admission from the government, which
hadn't made such data public since 1996. The ministry called the situation ―grim.‖
Legacy policy
Anxiety over cadmium-laced rice or drying paddy fields isn't misplaced. Given its history with famine, and its long-term
struggle to be self-sufficient, a deteriorating environment gives China good reason to worry.Self-sufficiency has been a
guiding light for the country dating back to the early years of New China. In the 1950s, the age-old tradition of household
farming was broken apart by the central government and reorganized into collective farms that put hundreds of people
working together in the fields.Collective farming for the most part was disastrous. Tens of millions of people starved in
the countryside due partly to poor productivity and low yields on farms in 1959 and 1960. Farmers continued to till the
fields in that manner until the late 1970s, when villages began spontaneously breaking away to resume household-based
cultivation.The opening up of China in the late 1970s and early 1980s was led by reformers striving to stabilize crop
yields and keep bellies full.
―Grain self-sufficiency has been the most important challenge since the establishment of People's Republic of China, and
it was the main reason of starting the policy of reform and of opening doors,‖ said Chisa Ogura, a Tokyo-based senior
consultant at agricultural-focused Promar Consulting, giving a sense of the weight put on agricultural policy in the
country.Ogura isn't convinced of the potency of Document No. 1 this time around. The last major central policy statement
on self-sufficiency was issued in 2008 after world grain prices surged the year before. Reaffirming and even strengthening
the definition of self-sufficiency this year with Document No. 1 wouldn’t be terribly surprising, she said.Fu Zhenzhen, an
analyst at Beijing Shennong Kexin Agribusiness Consulting, agreed with that. She said for decades the government has

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strived to incrementally raise the rate of self-sufficiency with one goal in mind: ―The first thing it wants to do is protect
the edible grain. Everything else is less important.‖

Bushels after bushels

The central government isn't just worried about rice. Imports of wheat, corn and soybeans have grown
dramatically during the past few years. China is also the world's largest consumer of wheat, putting down 126
million tons of noodles, fried gluten, as well as wheat-based animal feed, in 2013. Imports jumped by 187% last
year alone.
Corn imports grew by 159% in 2013, after surging by 2,657% in 2009 and some 3,000% in 2005, according to
Index Mundi.Because the amount of rice, wheat and corn consumed in the country is so vast, a slight
adjustment in China's self-sufficiency rates can lead to upheavals in the amount it imports, Huang at BRIC said.
That's why even seemingly small changes in policy can have a great impact on the global
market. ―[Consumption] is so huge that if one type of these three main grains' self-sufficiency rate declines a
little, it means that China will become the largest importer immediately,‖ he said.This happened with rice
during the past three years, but not for the most obvious reasons.At the end of 2012, as China closed in on the
No. 1 rice-importer title, some analysts questioned if the country's new hunger for imported grain would
continue to grow and eventually push the price of rice on the international market sky high.Experts have come
out to disprove that notion.
Huang Jikun, director at the Center for Chinese Agricultural Policy at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in
Beijing, told China Economic Review that China's overall demand for rice is falling as the country urbanizes.
Urban dwellers consume about half the amount of rice their counterparts in the countryside eat. As more and
more rural folk move to the cities they will slowly diversify their diet and China will eat fewer bowls of rice.―It
is not too difficult for China to achieve food grain self-sufficiency because per capita consumption for rice and
wheat will fall in the coming decades,‖ Huang said.Pricing is the dominant factor contributing to imported rice.
Central planners set grain prices that, in terms of rice, have been higher than international prices since countries
such as India and Pakistan flooded the market with the grain in 2012. Many Chinese traders have opted for the
cheaper stuff.
Global diet

―What rate of self-sufficiency do we have to achieve before we are considered safe?‖ a reporter at Chinese
weekly newspaper The Economic Observer asked in December.By the accounts of many experts, the country
has long been self-sufficient despite rising imports. Environmentalists, on the other hand, might say that major
challenges such as pollution and water shortage stand between China and a full basket of rice in the future.In a

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possible indication that leaders doubt China's agricultural capacity at home, they have pushed state firms to buy
up farms and companies abroad to help boost supply.
In September, state-owned Xinjiang Construction and Production Corporation struck a deal with Ukraine for the
rights to farm 3 million hectares of its land for 50 years. The deal more than doubled China's overseas
agricultural projects in what analysts said was a new era for Chinese farming abroad.Recently, China's state
grain trader Cofco put in a US$250 million bid for a stake in Dutch grain trader Nidera with the hope of
securing new access to resources.Whether agricultural resources abroad, when brought under the control of
government firms, will be added to China's calculation on self-sufficiency is questionable. What does seem
evident is that feeding China – with imports, buyouts or homegrown crops – is a global feat and will not be
confined to the country's borders.

Ayutthaya farmers demand rice pay
Published: 15 Jan 2014 at 20.25

About 70 farmers marched on temporary offices of the Department of Internal Trade (DIT) Wednesday to
demand payment for the crops they pledged at the Support Art and Crafts International Centre of Thailand
building in Ayutthaya’s Bang sai district on Wednesday.The group was led by Sa-ard Suksuddaen, deputy
chairman of the Ayutthaya Farmers Council. He said the state owes over 87 million baht to 400 crop growers
who pledged their rice paddy during the 2012-2013 pledging period. Mr Sa-ard submitted the farmers’ petition
to DIT deputy director Nopporn Linthong.Ms Nopporn assured the crop growers that they would get their
money. However, she said they will have to be patient as there are many ahead of them in line to receive
payments from the rice scheme.From 2012-2013, many farmers pledged large amounts of rice worth around
1.57 billion baht. The government has yet to pay out more than 630 million baht.Ms Nopporn added that the
Department of Internal Trade will meet with the National Rice Policy Committee and the Bank of Agriculture
and Agriculture Co-operatives to find solutions to the nationwide issue

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Rice bias in the Philippines ‘neglects soil problems’
CIAT International Center for Tropical Agriculture

[MANILA] The Philippines could be neglecting vital environmental soil research in favour of a narrow focus
on rice production, a study suggests.Although the country is among the most active publishers of soil research
in South-East Asia, the study shows that the great majority (74 per cent) of the 546 soil science papers
published from 1970 to 2012 were on rice, with 203 of the papers (37 per cent) produced by foreign soil
scientists based at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), which has its headquarters in the
Philippines.
Ian Navarrete, a research fellow at Georg-August University of Göttingen, Germany, and lead author of the
paper in Scientometrics, says this highlights a need to shift research to other important subjects such as soil
pollution, quantifying changes in soil carbon stocks with land-use change, and the nature of degraded soils in
the Philippines.He says that poor understanding of other soil science disciplines could explain why soil
degradation is a major agricultural and environmental problem in the Philippines, noting that most of the
poorest rural communities are located on degraded lands.―The continued use of these problematic soils for
agriculture has resulted in unsuitable crop production, leading to low crop yield, failure of the government’s
massive forest rehabilitation projects, and widespread soil degradation,‖ he tells SciDev.Net.
This suggest, Navarrete adds, ―that basic information about the soils is the key to long-term planning for
suitable soil management strategies and sustainable land-use‖.Navarrete says the bias towards rice research can
be explained by the presence of a major rice research centre in the country — IRRI. Of 546 papers recorded on
the Thomson ISI database, 203 were published by just nine people as first author, all of them foreign scientists
and affiliated with IRRI.One recommendation the study makes to increase publication among local researchers
is for universities in the Philippines that offer a doctorate degree in soil science to require publication in peerreviewed journal as prerequisite for graduation. It also suggested making it a benchmark for research
productivity evaluation in universities, and basis for job tenure, promotion and awards.
Neal Menzies, professor of soil and environmental science at the University of Queensland, Australia, says that
soil science was traditionally an agricultural science, but it is now an important environmental science as
well.He notes that there is much research in the Philippines on organic agriculture, composting and beneficial
microorganisms, ―but this research is not producing many papers, and this is strong evidence that the return on
investment has been poor‖.Menzies warns of possible funding waste as a result of poor quality research or
outcomes that are not being adopted or put to use.
This article has been produced by SciDev.Net's South-East Asia & Pacific desk.

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Rice is piled high with health benefits
There are thousands of varieties of rice, categorized by grain size short, medium and long
as well as by color and aroma. (Fotolia / January 15, 2014)
By Andrea N. Giancoli, M.P.H., R.D., Environmental Nutrition NewsletterPremium Health News Service
4:30 a.m. CST, January 15, 2014
Rice is the most popular grain worldwide, feeding over half of the globe, according to the USA Rice Federation.
In the U.S., consumption of this gluten-free grain has doubled over the last three decades, to more than 25
pounds per person per year. This is good news, as scientists report rice is tied to many health benefits.
HEALTHIER DIETS WITH RICE
Research examining the dietary patterns of U.S. rice (both white
and brown) eaters reveals they tend to make healthier choices
than non-rice eaters. A 2009 study published in the Journal of
the American Dietetic Association found that compared to nonrice eaters, rice eaters had higher intakes of vegetables, fiber,
iron and potassium, with lower intakes of total fat and saturated
fat.Another analysis from the journal Nutrition Today in 2010
reported similar findings, and also found that rice fans chose
more fruits and legumes, and consumed fewer added sugars than
non-rice eaters. Both studies identified rice eaters as those who consumed at least a quarter-cup of rice per
day.The results of these studies aren't surprising to nutrition experts; you don't usually eat rice all by itself."Rice
eaters are more likely to pair rice with vegetables, such as in a stir-fry, or combining beans and rice," says
Rachel Begun, M.S., R.D., spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
THE BROWN RICE ADVANTAGE
Most rice eaters in the U.S. choose refined white rice, with a mere 1.3 percent opting for whole grain brown
rice, according to Julie Jones, Ph.D., CNS, LN, Professor Emerita at St. Catherine University, St. Paul, Minn.,
and an international expert on grains. Brown rice is considered a healthier choice because the nutrient-rich germ
and bran components are intact. They are removed in the refinement of white rice. Enriched white rice offers

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essential B-vitamins and iron, but whole grain rice contains more fiber, minerals and phytonutrients.One such
phytonutrient in whole grain rice is oryzanol, which may have an important impact on lowering cholesterol,
according to Jones. Michio Shimabukuro, M.D., Ph.D., Designated Professor at the University of Tokushima
and co-author of a review on oryzanol and brown rice published this year in Obesity Research and Clinical
Practice, goes further, stating, "Oryzanol exerts a variety of biological effects, including cholesterol-lowering,
anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, anti-diabetic and anti-oxidant activities."Shimabukuro reports that brown rice
and oryzanol could play a role in treating obesity.
He co-authored research in mice, published in the journal Diabetes (2012) that showed oryzanol led to a
significant shift in preference from fatty to healthier foods. Whether humans would respond in the same way
and consequently eat fewer calories remains to be seen.Brown rice does hold promise, as evidenced by
Shimabukuro's 2013 research in the British Journal of Nutrition. In this study, he reported weight loss and lower
abdominal fat in subjects with metabolic syndrome who switched from white to brown rice.There's no need to
wait for the research to play itself out before deciding to choose brown rice. It's a nutrient-dense food and is
counted toward your whole grain intake by the U.S. Dietary Guidelines, which recommend you make half your
grains whole grains to reduce the risk of chronic diseases.Enjoy brown rice with steamed or stir-fried
vegetables, in soups and salads, or top with fruit and milk for a brown rice breakfast.
BEYOND BROWN AND WHITE RICE
The USA Rice Federation asserts there are over 120,000 varieties of rice, categorized by grain size--short,
medium and long--as well as by color and aroma.
1. ARBORIO. Named after the Italian town from where it originates, this rice is traditionally used to make
risotto. Arborio is typically a refined white rice that when cooked releases starch, yielding a creamy
consistency. Its firm center imparts a characteristic chewy bite when eaten. Arborio rice itself is bland, but
absorbs flavors exceptionally well.
2. JADE OR BAMBOO Not a variety of rice, but rather a white rice that has been dyed green with bamboo
juice, jade rice is short to medium grain and has a sticky texture. You may see it added to sushi rice for a splash
of color. It has a subtle flavor of green tea.
3. BASMATI. Common in Indian cuisine, this long grain variety is an aromatic rice, giving off a flavor and
aroma reminiscent of popcorn or roasted nuts. The grains elongate with cooking and don't cling together.

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Basmati can be found as a white or a whole grain rice. It works well for pilaf, stuffing, salads or entrees.4.
JASMINE. Another aromatic long grain rice, jasmine rice hails from Thailand. Its tender moist texture allows
the grains to cling to one another. Jasmine rice, which is great for curries or as a side dish, has a mild flavor
sometimes described as nutty or slightly sweet. Look for whole grain (brown) jasmine rice.
5. BLACK. There are many varieties of whole grain black rice, the glutinous (see below) and aromatic black
Japonica may be the most well recognized. Their color comes from anthocyanin pigments found in the bran
layer, which imparts a dark purple hue to the rice when cooked. Naturally sweet glutinous black rice is often
used for desserts. Medium grain black Japonica has a subtle spiciness, and it's versatile as an ingredient in
entrees, soups, rice bowls, salads, and pilaf.
6. RED. A little chewy with a savory nutty flavor, red rice is whole grain, acquiring its unique color from the
anthocyanins in the outer bran layer. Not to be confused with red yeast rice, which is fermented white rice
treated with a mold that results in a red color, the naturally red rice variety can be short, medium or long,
making it a versatile culinary delight.
7. GLUTINOUS OR SWEET. Also referred to as "sticky rice," the short grains of this variety are plump and
almost round. Composed primarily of the starch component amylopectin, the rice gelatinizes, giving it a gluelike consistency after cooking. Glutinous rice can be purchased as refined white or intact as a whole grain. It is
perfect for sushi or desserts, such as the Asian delicacy, mochi.
8. WILD. Whole grain wild rice is from a different plant species than all other rice varieties, but is still a grain.
It has a hardy flavor with a chewy texture. Mix wild rice with brown or red varieties to make a colorful whole
grain dish. Add wild rice to soups and salads for a gourmet flair.
(Reprinted with permission from Environmental Nutrition, a monthly publication of Belvoir Media Group,
LLC. 800-829-5384. http://www.EnvironmentalNutrition.com

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Rice production record & Thai rice subsidy issues

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