As Australia dries, a global shortage of rice: Drought contributes to shortage of food staple

As Australia dries, a global shortage of rice: Drought contributes to shortage of food staple

www.iht.com

The collapse of Australia's rice production is one of several factors contributing to a doubling of rice prices in the last three months — increases that have led the world's largest exporters to restrict exports severely, spurred panicked hoarding in Hong Kong and the Philippines, and set off violent protests in countries including Cameroon, Egypt, Ethiopia, Haiti, Indonesia, Italy, Ivory Coast, Mauritania, the Philippines, Thailand, Uzbekistan and Yemen.

(visit the link for the full news article)


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[edit on 4/17/2008 by biggie smalls]

We are seeing the food crunch here in the US, how do you think the developing world is making do? Well, they're barely skating by.

"The collapse of Australia's rice production is one of several factors contributing to a doubling of rice prices in the last three months."

That's huge! People are going without food as a result of the high prices. Its really sad that one continent/country produces so much food that the price would double.

I doubt the rice farmers in Australia are using sustainable agriculture. Coupled with drought, disaster strikes.

There have been riots in at least 12 nations so far. Rice is a STAPLE for about HALF the world's population. That's 3 billion people relying on food that isn't going to be grown this year due to droughts.

The climate is changing. Parts of the world are getting wetter, others are becoming dryer. We will continue to see starvation if we don't figure out how to deal with our food supply problems. The droughts are at least partially anthropocentric. If we had intelligent water usage, there wouldn't need to be this problem in the first place.

I still don't understand why ever building doesn't have a rain catchment system on it, especially here in the arid Southwest. We wouldn't have to keep draining our aquifers and complaining about the rise in water prices.

I just hope the people of the world figure out how to deal with this issue...

God bless.

www.iht.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Originally posted by biggie smalls

I doubt the rice farmers in Australia are using sustainable agriculture. Coupled with drought, disaster strikes.

www.iht.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

i think you will find that Australian rice growers are the most efficient users of water in the world

"Globally, Australians are the most productive and most water efficient rice-growers - achieving the greatest yield per hectare and greatest yield per ML of water used."

"In the past 10 years, rice growers in Australia have increased production per hectare by 60% while at the same time decreasing water use per hectare by 30%. However, rice is still a major user of water in Australia, accounting for some 11% of irrigated water use."

both quotes from www.savewater.com.au...

However, rice is still a major user of water in Australia, accounting for some 11% of irrigated water use."

From your source. Permaculture was invented in Australia, but I don't imagine they are using that with rice.

Water "efficiency" doesn't matter when it doesn't rain...

And how is this relevant to a drought? A drought is a drought, regardless of what the water available is used for.

[edit on 4/17/2008 by biggie smalls]

well for starters i was pointing out that we are using sustainable farming practices...

and the drought we have been going through for the past few years doesn't mean it doesn't rain, just the rain fall is below average... but that doesn't mean a great deal when most the water comes from the north, which has recently gotten a lot of rain.

I agree Australia uses sustainable agriculture. I just wasn't so sure about rice. I didn't think it was all that possible as rice is usually grown in "patties."

Droughts have a huge affect on agriculture. Less water is available for personal use in general, and farmlands typically use the majority of water.

I've studied Yeoman's keyline design, which originated in Australia, and was fascinated by it. Its essentially a broadscale permaculture design focused around water resources and plow methods.

Keyline design is amazing for channeling rain water:

This contour diagram show a primary ridge with Keyline cultivation designed to drift the first flow of rainfall run-off towards the centre of the ridge. The blue arrow heads show the direction surface flow will tend to move. Though the lower lines parallel the contour they progressively develop a toward the centre of the ridge slope as cultivation proceeds up the ridge. Note that ridge pattern cultivation does not extend into the valley. Significant valley shapes are cultivated differently to achieve the same water controling effect.

You can irrigate on a ridge, or on a flat plane:

In flat country Keyline is often more efficient. The storage ratios of farm dams are better in flatter country, resulting in more water being stored for each unit of earth in the wall. In suitable flat country, the unique "Keyline Contour Irrigation Channel" has enabled: "Flood-Flow Irrigation" the fastest, fully controlled, one man, gravity powered, irrigation in the world. Flows rates of around ten megalitres per hour enable irrigation at the rate of 20 ha (50 acres) per hour when applying 50 mm of water. Traditional slow flood irrigation methods used in most large scale irrigation schemes drown aerobic soil organisms, cause crop deterioration and promote salinity. The slow application of flood irrigation water is not part of sustainable agriculture.

[edit on 4/17/2008 by biggie smalls]

There's a rice shortage throughout the whole of Asia, Indonesia recently slapped a ban on exporting any of their rice to other countries.

I know that there is some contention here in Oz land about growing rice, a lot of people put it in the same category as growing cotton because of the amount of water it consumes.

I wonder how we'll have the water to grow ethanol crops

pipe water from the north?

last time i checked Darwin water catchment was 99.5%

reply to post by mattguy404


I didn't know about the Indonesian rice export ban. It seems many people worldwide are freaking out with the rice supply, and rightly so. We really are in a bit of trouble here.

You know I was thinking about comparing rice to cotton, but I wasn't sure if the amount of water used was comparable. Cotton was the #1 water user in the state of Arizona before agriculture was essentially banned. Its a long story, but the jist is politicians decided it would be a better idea to outsource agriculture because it uses so much water. What they didn't understand that the majority of the water was being used to grow cotton. Now the cost of food has risen exponentially, in part because we don't have locally grown food. A short-sighted answer has caused more problems in the long run. Thanks politicians .

I hope you were joking about the ethanol crops...