Blog #7 – RiceBefore we get started, take a look at this quick video showing the World’s 10 biggest rice growing countries. This is just to give you a look at how globalization really impacts everyone.
This blog will include a video on how rice is made, how it impacts the Philippines, and how rice farmers are searching for new methods. The USA Rice Federation provided a lot of information in order for me to complete this blog: http://www.usarice.com/ . As did a site called Nicaragua Living: http://www.nicaliving.com/node/19171. 
The USA Rice Federation is a global advocate for the U.S. rice industry. Its mission is to protect the interest of producers, millers, merchants and allied businesses. The USA Rice Federation website is very narrow minded, it focuses on the United States and Canada for the most part stating how they are dedicated and committed to fair, reasonable, and enhanced rice production using government policies. This can correlate with what we’ve been talking about in class, how the big companies just simply don’t care about other people and places. 
Rice is a staple in many places, for example in the East Asia. So why is it that people who are producing the rice are also starving? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-vz7dA3fO8&feature=relmfu Some of it has to do with the environment. The video shows multiple rice farmers through East Asia dealing with the difficult weather environment, landslides and crops underwater have left farmers searching for new methods of farming. One farmer said he doesn’t have enough rice to even feed his family, let alone make a profit from it. The drastic climate changes are threatening for billions of people who rely on this rice to live.
Even in the Philippines, the price of rice is increase leaving many families hungry. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxpNrZVHW2Q. This video shows a family of 14 struggling to get by, and although the country knows there’s a problem their solution isn’t helping. This video really shows the impact of what happens when there is no food security, the women is angry about the trading of rice but she is too worried about keeping her children alive that she can’t do anything about it. The cost of rice has increased so much that this family misses meal. The corner markets sell expensive rice, while the cheap rice is too far for most poor individuals to travel to. This leaves individuals stuck, like of most globalization, it becomes a cycle. 
There are between 7,000 and 10,000 rice varieties in the world, these are sub-divided into three types: long grain, medium grain, and short grain. The USA market is controlled and typically only exports long grain rice. However the farming rice is a long process as you can watch here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXL1oMdCFUM&feature=related. This video shows the conditions in which rice in third world countries is produced, most of it in literally in puddles of mud/ dirty water.
The rice we eat is produced, packaged, and placed in the supermarkets for us to pick up and cook. So many countries rely on rice as there leading export, as well as a way of just survival. Where here in America we use rice as a supplement rather than a necessity and we don’t think about the struggle behind where the rice we are eating come from.
Rice is not only a staple food, it is a way of life!
I did not realize that within the context of rice there was a struggle against corporations. The video you posted about the family with fourteen children brought up an important aspect that we have discussed in class. The video talked about the Pilipino government giving the people in poverty aid by selling rice at a cheap price. The government fails to see that instead of giving out aid they should be finding a solution to stop poverty. It makes me wonder were the rice is coming from and why they are able to give the bags of rice out for so cheap.
ReplyDeleteThe most terrible part about the government giving aid, rather than introducing a new method to farm rice, is that they are still lacking to supply cheap rice to ALL who needs it. The video pointed this out when the mother who is so poor can’t even travel to the city where the cheap rice is being sold.
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ReplyDeleteI was just wondering if you found anything that mentioned the environmental implication or if the production created health problems? And is it big companies that the workers work in or is it small scale farming that is sold to larger companies?
ReplyDeleteSadly, this is can be seen as a result of the global economy. As we discussed in class, countries are encouraged to grow cash crops in quantities that are in surplus of t local population's demand, and that any crops that they do need would in theory be bought with the profits from these cash crops. The shift to cash crop production has made it difficult for the Philippines to grow their own rice. The frequent typhoons also do not help. Surprisingly, the Philippines was a minor rice exporter in the 80's.
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