Rice Production Grows, but Not Everywhere

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This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, from http://voaspecialenglish.com | http://facebook.com/voalearningenglish A United Nations report predicts that world rice production will be higher this year than last year. The report is from the Food and Agriculture Organization. The FAO says the global rice harvest should be almost two percent higher this year, mainly because of increased production in Asia. Large gains are expected in Bangladesh, Burma, China, India, Pakistan, the Philippines and Thailand.Also, the FAO predicts a recovery for rice harvests in Africa. Production increases are expected to be led by Mali, Nigeria and Senegal. In other parts of the world, the report predicts that rice harvests will be lower in the European Union and the United States. Two reasons for this are unusually dry weather and falling rice prices, which have led some farmers to plant other crops. Smaller rice harvests also are expected in Latin America and the Caribbean. Concepcion Calpe is an economist with the FAO. She says good harvests in Asia will lead to reduced demand in the global rice trade this year. Demand in global trade is expected to fall nine hundred thousand tons to about thirty-four million metric tons. Ms. Calpe says one reason is because a lot of the major importers, like Indonesia or the Philippines, or even Bangladesh, have harvested very good crops. Another reason is because some of them, like the Philippines, have set limits on how much they are willing to i

Published 2012-06-12 · Watch on YouTube ↗
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