Have you ever thought how many times have you eaten rice? No? Well, I have haha! I am 20 years old and being a typical Nepali, I eat rice two times a day. So, technically, if I started eating rice after 1 year, I've eaten it for almost like 19×365×2= 28,470 times. Now, that's a hell lot a number. Exactly here, we can realize how much rice has influenced the total human consumption. In our part of world "to eat" means "to eat rice" .
Oryza Sativa, commonly known as rice is the main staple food of majority of World's population. Rice is a seed grain belonging to family Poaceae. It is believed to be first domesticated in the region of the Yangtze River valley in China. It is a monocot and is normally grown as an annual plant, mostly in Asia and Africa. It is now the most important agricultural commodity with regard to human nutrition and caloric intake. According to a research, rice provide 1/5th of total calorie intake worldwide by humans.
Rice can be grown in both lowland or upland, rainfed or irrigated. It can be directly seeded or transplanted from nursery bed. After harvesting, rice is milled and outer husks of grain is removed, thereby creating white rice. These white rice can be polished or nutrition treatment can be done. Finally, rice grain can be cooked and preferred recipe can be made. From all these edible purpose, nutrients benefits and color of rice we can consider it as edible silver.
In Nepal, rice is more than just a food. It is a way of living. Yes, as soon as monsoon knocks the door, people started to be seen in their field. From nursery bed preparation, to transplanting, from aged people to children, everyone wants to participate in field and work with fun. People working in cities come back to their village just to plant rice. It is a festival in Nepal. Asar 15 is celebrated as " National Paddy Day" throughout the nation. Though field is barren for whole year, in Asar/ Shrawan you can see greenery everywhere. And this greenery remains for next 5/6 month until rice is harvested. And this repeats next year too. This way, rice is a way of living.
Finally, it's a crime to talk about rice and not talk about farmers. One bitter truth about farmer is that he wants his children to study hard so that they don't have to be a farmer (like him) in future. This is a sad truth. Why is it so? Isn't it necessary to talk about it? Farmers grow rice and feed some of the richest people in the world. But, they themselves are living under poverty line, their profession are not respected as they should be. When you hear "rice farmer", what type of image come to our mind? An old person wearing ragged clothes in field? Same come to mine. And it's not our fault because society taught us the same thing and this mentality is to be changed.
So, you, me, we, everyone as a responsible citizen should think about this. We have a capacity to change the world, so why not start with those people because of whom we are alive? After all, everybody got to eat, ain't it?
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