Growing and Harvesting Rice: Commodity Project Research - Coursework Example

Running Head: ASIAN STUDIES Asian Studies [Writer’s name] [Institution’s name] Asian Studies Introduction Rice is the basic food of more than half the population of the world. South from Korea to Indonesia, and westward to Iran, including the vast populations of India, China and Japan, rice is the staple upon which the diet of a billion and a half people is based. Linguistic terms indicate its fundamental significance. In the Thai language, for example, food may be divided into two categories, khaw meaning^ "rice," and kab khaza meaning, literally, "with rice." Food is either rice or something eaten with it (Coclanis 1998). China now is producing more rice than they consume, It is thanks to the development of hybrid super-seeds after the 1960s and 1970s .it was noted that have still seen predictable that increases in food supply over the past decade—significantly more then the actual growth of the population in that time period. So the problem must largely lie on the demand side. Analysis Southeast Asia’s developing countries seem to be the most important countries in the international rice market. These countries are well known for this commodity in the market, so much so that a few years back it was producing and exporting more then other hi-tech countries like America. Countries nominated for the best rice award have always been south Asian countries, in which china produces the most. Thailand and Vietnam are ranked as the top most exporter of rice. China is not only the world’s bigger consumption of rice country, but also are bigger producer, the income rising in two countries where a third of the world's population consumes about half of the world's rice, more people are eating protein-rich meat and diary. People are making more money and eager to try other tasty food, at the result, the growing demand for higher protein foods both for livestock feed as well as food, is partly increasing the corn and wheat prices over these a few of years. The cultivation processing and export of agricultural products especially rice has traditionally been the mainstay of the Thai economy. Even though Thailand is one of the fastest developing countries in south East Asia it’s reliant on a rice crop, but this dependency has turned it into one of the largest exporters of rice. Thailand is the largest producer of rice as well, despite the fact that the yield per hectare is low in the late 1980s Thailand annually produced approximately 20.8 million metric tons of rice (Anthony 1994). What is more, in this year, lagging rice prices moved sharply to catch up with other grain markets, India and even China to clamp down on exports in order to keep prices low at home. In 1952 Communist China emerged as an exporter of rice—a dramatic change after so many years of scarcity; and the Communists have made much of the fact in their propaganda in Asia, offering "New China" as an example of the productive superiority of the Communist system (Nevins & Nancy 2008). There is urgent need for efforts to help the peoples of south and southeast Asia understand that the pretense of plenty and prosperity in China is a myth. China realizes the fact that rice is one commodity which they can produce easily on their own (Rogers 2004). They have enough land and good quality soil. In fact this commodity has caused a continuous fight to become the top producer of rice. Rice is a commodity which has helped south Asia to enter in the market. Growing and Harvesting Rice This commodity is harvested in south Asia. Two kinds of rice is produced, one is lowland rice. This kind of rice has to be in grown in plains which are literally flooded with water. This is done because its roots need to utilize the important nutrients present in the water in which it is planted. However these seeds are first planed in seedbeds and then moved into the flooded fields, these fields are already ploughed. Some places in south Asia there is very little moisture and the crop cannot be planted in flooded field s, upland rice is utilized. Rice is planted on soil like other crops in the field. The rice extracts nutrients from the soil instead of the water (Paroda & Kumar 1990). This crop is harvested in approximately 4 to six months. Places in south Asia which are out well equipped for rice harvesting, use a knife t cut the crop. Then they tie them in bundles and dry them in the sun. A procedure called threshing is used after the rice is dried (Palit 2002). Animals walk on the crop to take out the grains. Developed countries use machines to process rice these machines are called combines. It harvests the rice and cleans it and then the rice in dried by placing it in high temperature. History Rice has been scarce in the Far East throughout modern history, but the shortage has become even more acute since the Second World War. Wartime damage and post-war political disturbances caused a sharp decline in production and shipments. In 1934 international shipments of rice totalled 9,000,000 tons, but by 1948 they had dropped to 3,330,000. By the end of 1952 shipments had increased only to 5,000,000, a little over half the figure for the peak year 1934 (Eicher & John 1990). Meanwhile the population explosion in Asia has continued unabated. The pre-war surplus producers of rice were Burma, Indo-China Thailand, in that order. Philippine and Indonesian rice production was approximately equal to local needs. The main deficit areas were India and Ceylon, China, Japan and Malaya. The bulk of Indo-China's surplus moved within the French Union. Japan's needs were formerly met by "internal shipments" from the captive economies of Korea and Formosa, leaving Thailand and Burma as the primary exporters to meet the requirements of Malaya, of India and Ceylon, and of China (Atkin 1990). Burma was then a British colony and her trade in rice, as well as the brokerage, financing and transport of rice for Thailand, was firmly in the hands of British dealers. Trade was oriented to European market conditions, and international and domestic prices were dominated by London brokers. In the pre-war era, considerable amounts of Asian rice were shipped to Europe and Africa (Latham 1998). According to Peking figures, 1951 production almost (99.4 percent) reached the figure for 1936, China's peak production year of that decade. In 1936, China had a net import deficit of 246,000 tons, her lowest import figure for the decade. In 1938, her rice imports were 380,000 tons (Gereff & Korzeniewicz 1994). No one has ever suggested that there was enough rice for Everyone in China in 1936, even with the 246,000 tons imported. The Peking figures indicate that there is less rice available in China today than in 1936, and there has been a tremendous population increase since that year. But China is now exporting rice. (Rozelle 2007) And the government has contracted to export 254,000 tons of rice per year to Ceylon for a five-year period beginning in 1953 (Awokuse 2007). The only possible conclusion is that the rice is being squeezed out China of the already underfed Chinese people for purposes of international politics. The picture has been completely altered in the post-war period. Although the export surplus of Viet-Nam and Cambodia (small by pre-war figures) continues to move within the French Union, all of Thailand's and Burma's rice now remains in the Far East. Who Buys The Rice? Mostly western countries buy this rice. US has it’s own crop but still it prefers buy south Asian rice preferably that which is grown in Philippines (Clay 2004). European countries also purchase south Asian rice as they can purchase at lower prices then American rice. How Commodity Entered the International Rice Market South Asian countries most valuable commodity rice entered the global market due to globalization, it turned the market into a integrated world market for rice, this made it possible for Southeast Asian rice not just to enter, but soon to control Western markets, at the cost of other usual suppliers for example Italy, and it also completely wiped out brazil from the global market of rice (Helyette 2005). Export Sales Today export sales and distribution are almost entirely in Asian hands, and the major part of the trade is carried on by contracts governments. Representatives of countries where there are shortages now negotiate with Thai officials in Bangkok and with Burma officials in Rangoon for allocations based on current crop estimates, at prices set about six months in advance of delivery. Since world prices are continually increasing, the buyers may get delivery at prices 25 percent below prevailing market prices (Chong-Yah Lim 2004). This means, in effect, a type of subsidization of neighbouring economies by Thailand, and it also tempts these countries to sell part of their allocation. While the Thai and Burmans attempt to get higher prices for their only significant export crop, the receiving governments exercise pressure to keep prices down, appealing on humanitarian grounds and sometimes threatening economic reprisals. “The major structural transformation in Asia's rice economy over the past three decades has been part and parcel of the process transition toward an industrial economy.” (Barker & Dawe 2000) Agriculture is a significant economic activity in Vietnam, with rice being the key driver of the agriculture sector. In fact, Vietnam’s GDP by agricultural contribution is the highest in the South East Asia region, compared to countries that have significant agricultural activities such as Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia; about 68% as opposed to 51%, 57% and 14% respectively (Blench & Sprigg 1998). When Vietnam was affected by the Asian Financial Crisis in 1998 and 1999, where the GDP dropped drastically to 5.77% and 4.77% respectively (Sri & Thao 2003), the Agriculture sector was not greatly affected, although the contribution to the GDP growth showed gradual decrease over the years. This could be due to the shift to a manufacturing-based economy. Nevertheless, based on a report by MARD, agriculture products contributed about 4.224 billion USD to the total export value of 5.9 billion in the first 10 months of 2006. Thus it is evident that agriculture still plays an important part in Vietnam’s economy. Vietnams’ food crops have the largest output and accounts for about 50% of the total agricultural production from year 1995 to 2001, growing at a rising trend. Most of this 50% output are rice productions (Lokollo etal 2006). Vietnam is the 2nd largest rice exporter in South East Asia after Thailand with a per capita production of 338kg due to fertile soil in deltas such as the Mekong Delta. Vietnam’s export of rice is experiencing growth for the last 17 years in the 1989-2005 period (Rogers 2008). In 2005, Vietnam’s export of rice reached an all time high, with an export volume of 5170 thousand metric tones, in adjacent with higher world market prices for rice driving the total export value to USD 1.28 billion (Rogers 2008). The rise of export and the price of rice are mainly because of higher yields as well as usage of chemical fertilizers despite bad weather conditions. Conclusion Rice has always been a valuable commodity for the South-East Asia; it has always served as agricultural wonder for these countries. They thus hold economic dominance in the global rice markets. Thus, thus analysis helps us understand how the developments in this south Asian commodity has helped it in it’s economy. In conclusion, to be effective, strategies to boost Asian rice production have to be supported via strong government policies and an advanced as well as current information amongst rice researchers. Government should give guideline which will have a positive effect on the investment in research, which in turn will improve output, safeguard the environment and assures the security of the crop. The booming economy due to rice that will included in GATT, the reduction in rice production and Asia's current currency crisis are factors that have to all be vigilantly balanced to plan a strong policy for rice research as well as It’s production. References A.J.H. Latham (1998); Rice: The Primary Commodity Routledge; 1 edition Anthony R. Walker (1994); Rice in Southeast Asian myth and ritual Columbus, Ohio: Contributions to Southeast Asian Ethnography, Ohio State University, Dept. of Anthropology, Atkin Michael (1990); Agricultural Commodity Markets: A Guide to Futures Trading Routledge Awokuse, Titus O (2007); Market Reforms, Spatial Price Dynamics, and China's Rice Market Integration: A Causal Analysis with Directed Acyclic Graphs Market Reforms, Spatial Price Dynamics, and China's Rice Market Integration: A Causal Analysis with Directed Acyclic Graphs vol. 32, issue 01 Blench Roger and Spriggs Matthew (1998); Rice in Southeast Asia: a regional interdisciplinary approach Archaeology and Language II, Volume 1, Part 4 pages 379 – 389’ Chong-Yah Lim (2004); Southeast Asia: the long road ahead World Scientific Publishing Company; 2 edition Clay Jason (2004); World Agriculture and the Environment A Commodity-By-Commodity Guide To Impacts and Practices Island Press Coclanis, P.A. (1993); Southeast Asia’s Incorporation into the World Rice Market: A Revisionist View, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 24, pp.251-26 Eicher, Carl K., and John M. Staatz, eds. (1990); Agricultural Development in the Third World. Second edition. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press. Gereffi G and Korzeniewicz M (1994); Commodity Chains and Global Capitalism Praeger, Westport, CT Helyette Geman (2005); Commodities and Commodity Derivatives John Wiley & Sons Lokollo, Erna M. Hutabarat, Budiman and Swastika, Dewa K.S (2006); Status and prospects of feed crops in Southeast Asia: an integrated report UNESCAP-CAPSA Nevins, Joseph and Nancy Lee Paluso (2008); Taking Southeast Asia to Market: Commodities, Nature, and People in the Neoliberal Age Cornell University Press; 2nd edition Palit Kataki (2002); The Rice-Wheat Cropping System of South Asia Taylor & Francis, Inc. Paroda, R.S, and Kumar, P. (2000); Food production and demand in South Asia. Agricultural Economics Research Review 13: 1-24. R. Barker and D. Dawe (2000); The transformation of the Asian rice economy and directions for future research: the need for increased productivity retrieved from http://www.irri.org/science/abstracts/021.asp on September 26 2009 Rogers Jim (2004); Hot Commodities : How Anyone Can Invest Profitably in the World's Best Market , Random House Rogers Jim (2008); A Bull in China: Investing Profitably in the World's Greatest Market Random House Trade Paperbacks; Reprint edition Rozelle Scott (2007); The Emergence of Agricultural Commodity Markets in China Economic Review Sri Owen and Thao Soun Vannithorne (2003) ;The Rice Book Frances Lincoln Publishers Ltd Read More

What is more, in this year, lagging rice prices moved sharply to catch up with other grain markets, India and even China to clamp down on exports in order to keep prices low at home. In 1952 Communist China emerged as an exporter of rice—a dramatic change after so many years of scarcity; and the Communists have made much of the fact in their propaganda in Asia, offering "New China" as an example of the productive superiority of the Communist system (Nevins & Nancy 2008). There is urgent need for efforts to help the peoples of south and southeast Asia understand that the pretense of plenty and prosperity in China is a myth.

China realizes the fact that rice is one commodity which they can produce easily on their own (Rogers 2004). They have enough land and good quality soil. In fact this commodity has caused a continuous fight to become the top producer of rice. Rice is a commodity which has helped south Asia to enter in the market. Growing and Harvesting Rice This commodity is harvested in south Asia. Two kinds of rice is produced, one is lowland rice. This kind of rice has to be in grown in plains which are literally flooded with water.

This is done because its roots need to utilize the important nutrients present in the water in which it is planted. However these seeds are first planed in seedbeds and then moved into the flooded fields, these fields are already ploughed. Some places in south Asia there is very little moisture and the crop cannot be planted in flooded field s, upland rice is utilized. Rice is planted on soil like other crops in the field. The rice extracts nutrients from the soil instead of the water (Paroda & Kumar 1990).

This crop is harvested in approximately 4 to six months. Places in south Asia which are out well equipped for rice harvesting, use a knife t cut the crop. Then they tie them in bundles and dry them in the sun. A procedure called threshing is used after the rice is dried (Palit 2002). Animals walk on the crop to take out the grains. Developed countries use machines to process rice these machines are called combines. It harvests the rice and cleans it and then the rice in dried by placing it in high temperature.

History Rice has been scarce in the Far East throughout modern history, but the shortage has become even more acute since the Second World War. Wartime damage and post-war political disturbances caused a sharp decline in production and shipments. In 1934 international shipments of rice totalled 9,000,000 tons, but by 1948 they had dropped to 3,330,000. By the end of 1952 shipments had increased only to 5,000,000, a little over half the figure for the peak year 1934 (Eicher & John 1990). Meanwhile the population explosion in Asia has continued unabated.

The pre-war surplus producers of rice were Burma, Indo-China Thailand, in that order. Philippine and Indonesian rice production was approximately equal to local needs. The main deficit areas were India and Ceylon, China, Japan and Malaya. The bulk of Indo-China's surplus moved within the French Union. Japan's needs were formerly met by "internal shipments" from the captive economies of Korea and Formosa, leaving Thailand and Burma as the primary exporters to meet the requirements of Malaya, of India and Ceylon, and of China (Atkin 1990).

Burma was then a British colony and her trade in rice, as well as the brokerage, financing and transport of rice for Thailand, was firmly in the hands of British dealers. Trade was oriented to European market conditions, and international and domestic prices were dominated by London brokers. In the pre-war era, considerable amounts of Asian rice were shipped to Europe and Africa (Latham 1998). According to Peking figures, 1951 production almost (99.4 percent) reached the figure for 1936, China's peak production year of that decade.

In 1936, China had a net import deficit of 246,000 tons, her lowest import figure for the decade. In 1938, her rice imports were 380,000 tons (Gereff & Korzeniewicz 1994).

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