World’s Largest Rice Producing Countries | Economic Geography

Here is a list of world’s largest rice producing countries:- 1. China 2. India 3. Bangladesh 4. Japan 5. Parts of South-East Asia.

Rice Production in China:

The greatest rice producer in the world is undoubtedly China (36 per cent). Padi is grown main­ly in the warmer south in the Chang Jiang (Yangtze) and Xi River (Si Kiang) Basins, the south-east coast- lands, the Sichuan (Szechwan) Basin and the hill slopes south of the Chang Jiang (Yangtze). Rice provides food for three-quarters of the Chinese but is replaced by wheat and kaoliang in the cooler north.

Approximately a third of China’s farmland is under rice. Double-cropping is common, with seeds sown in March and August and harvested in June and November. China’s relentless efforts to increase food produc­tion and to raise dietary standards, has given wheat greater prominence in recent years.

Wheat acreage has increased at the expense of rice with flood control measures along the rivers and the reduction of inun­dation. China imports some wheat to supplement local supplies but has a little rice for export in good years.

Rice Production in India:

The next greatest rice producer, India ac­counts for 20 per cent of the world total. A quarter of India’s cultivated land is under rice, and the annual output is almost 74 million tonnes. It is the staple food in all the wetter parts of India where rainfall exceeds 1 525 mm (60 inches). In regions of lower rainfall (less than 1 015 mm (40 inches)) irrigation is essential or rice gives way to sorghum or millet.

The major rice- producing regions are the middle and lower Ganges and the coastal lowlands of peninsular India. Wheat and rice imports are necessary in most years, though with the introduction of high-yielding varieties India aims eventually to become self-sufficient in rice.

Rice Production in Bangladesh:

The total rice acreage of nearly 10 million hectares (24 million acres) and the annual out­put of nearly 20 million tonnes makes Bangladesh a major world rice producer. The bulk of the rice fields are unirrigated in the Ganges Delta region where the annual rainfall is more than 2,030 mm (80 inches) and the soil is heavy and wet all the time.

Rice Production in Japan:

Although in acreage, Japan’s rice lands are less than a third of those of either Bangladesh or Indonesia, yields are high, about 6,166 kg/hectare (5,500 lb per acre) or three times as much as that of both the countries combined. The Japanese have introduced high-yielding ‘Japonica’ padi hybrids which increase output tremendously.

Some of the fast- maturing species that the Japanese agronomists have devised can be harvested within 95 days. Some of the cold-resistant species can be grown as far north as 42°N in Hokkaido.

Wet rice occupies about half the cropland of Japan, mainly in northern Honshu. Double-cropping is prac­tised in the extreme south in irrigated alluvial lowlands. Elsewhere rice is single-cropped, especially north of Sendai. After the summer harvest, the fields are either left fallow or planted with winter crops. However, the trend in Japan is towards greater wheat cultivation, and rice consumption has dropped.

Rice Production in Some Parts of South-East Asia:

Indonesia, the third largest world producer of rice has some 8.5 million hectares (21 million acres) under rice, mostly in Java, and wherever the annual rainfall is more than 1,525 mm (60 inches). It is the primary food crop and is raised as either sawah (wet padi) or huma (dry padi).

It is very intensively cultivated and the terraced mountain slopes support 6 per cent of the world’s rice. The an­nual output falls far short of domestic requirements. Besides regular imports, the people supplement their diet by planting maize and many starchy crops such as tapioca or cassava and sweet potatoes.

The international trade in rice is very small, involv­ing only between 3 and 5 per cent of total production, because most of the rice produced is immediately con­sumed in the areas of production. The large popula­tions of China, India, Bangladesh and Indonesia leave little or nothing for export.

The traditional rice ex­porters, Burma and Thailand, produce 9.5 million tonnes and 13.5 million tonnes per year respectively. Because of the growing population in Burma exports are declining. Decreased exports from Thailand are partly due to the use of higher-yielding varieties in traditional rice-importing countries, such as Malaysia, which are striving to attain self-sufficiency.

Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan produce rice chiefly for home consumption and have to import supplementary supplies in some years. The develop­ment of ‘miracle padi’ in the Philippines has boosted production from 5 million tonnes in 1969-71 to 7 million tonnes in 1977. Yields have also increased.

There used to be some rice exports from Indonesia, also from Vietnam and Kampuchea but political upheaval and subsequent poor harvests have ended these. The Mekong Delta, the Annam coastland and the Tonle Sap area are all natural sites for padi cultivation.

In Taiwan padi is grown mainly on the wetter west coast, on both lowlands and uplands. The warm, hu­mid climate, even more favourable than that of China, allows double-cropping to be done on a large scale. Yields are high about 4 020 kg/hectare (3,600 lb per- acre); and in good years there is a little for export.

In Malaysia padi occupies the second greatest culti­vated acreage after rubber and nearly 95 per cent of the padi grown is wet padi. Padi acreage has increased from 328 790 hectares (811,820 acres) in 1961 to 468 165 hectares (1,155,960 acres) in 1968 and 735 000 hectares (1,815,000 acres) in 1980 and production is now almost 2 million tonnes.

The government has opened up many large padi settlement schemes, some of which are very large, e.g. Kubang Pasu, Kedah is 30 375 hectares (75,000 acres) and Tanjong Karang, Selangor is 19 850 hectares (49,000 acres). The latter is made up mainly of newly-cleared virgin jungle lands.

Large dams and irrigation works such as the Muda Irrigation Scheme in Kedah and the Kemubu project in Kelantan provide water for double-cropping. High- yielding padi species, especially a type known as Bahagia, are used and yields have been greatly improved.

In Korea rice is the dominant crop though wheat, millet and barley are also grown. Rice cultivation was greatly expanded by the Japanese during their thirty- five year rule over Korea, when as much as 40 per cent of the milled rice was shipped to Japan. Today, how­ever, the entire crop is consumed within the Korean peninsula.

Outside Monsoon Asia, relatively little rice is grown. In Egypt, rice is grown both in the Nile Delta and Val­ley, and is the chief food grain of the Egyptians. It was originally cultivated by the basin irrigation system, in which the annual flood-water of the Nile was kept back by rectangular basins or banked-fields and the padi was sown after the flood had subsided.

Today, though basin irrigation is still used in some areas, huge dams like the Aswan High Dam with its 480 km (300 mile) long reservoir allow two or three crops a year to be cultivated under the perennial irrigation system. Annual output is around 2.27 million tonnes.

Brazil (2 per cent of world total) is the greatest rice-growing nation in the southern continents. Padi is grown mainly in south-east Brazil where the heavy precipitation, the swampy coastal lowlands and the abundant sunlight all make the area ideal for wet padi cultivation. Colombia also produces a little rice.

The U.S.A. produces about 1 per cent of the world’s rice, chiefly from the coastlands of the Gulf of Mexi­co. The leading rice state is Louisiana, followed by California, Texas and South Carolina. The annual out­put is 4.5 million tonnes, some of which is exported.

The U.S.A. has a highly mechanized system of padi cultivation. The average yield is high too, about 4 900 kg/hectares (4,400 lb per acre) in irrigated fields.

In Europe, padi-farming is only of some significance in the North Italian Plain, the Ebro Basin of Spain, the Rhone Delta of France and scattered areas in the Bal­kans. The U.S.S.R. also produces some padi.