Map of World Food Production Areas
Rice: Thailand farmers and globalization
Globalization makes the world smaller and affects people’s
lives in many aspects. With the fast development of information
technology (IT), our way of life has changed drastically.
IT has markedly changed our way of life, economics, society,
and policy worldwide. Every country has to prepare itself to
cope with this change. Besides IT development, the World
Trade Organization (WTO), which aims to create efficient and
fair international trade, has been established. To promote agricultural
trade, three measures, market access and tariff reduction,
domestic support reduction, and export subsidy reduction,
have been implemented since 1995. In general, it is believed
that the WTO and IT will boost the volume of agricultural
trade, which will create benefits for many people, especially
farmers.
It seems that being a WTO member
provides a good opportunity for Thai rice exports and enables
farmers to expand their production.
After being a
member of this organization, the trend of Thai rice exports has
been increasing. Some research results revealed that Thai competitiveness
in the world rice market has increased (Tawhon
2003). Moreover, the WTO is a forum for its members to negotiate
and reach agreement. Therefore, Thailand should cooperate
with this organization closely. Creating subgroup members
having the same or relevant problems should be carried
out continuously to strengthen bargaining power.
In the near future it is expected to be an
important tool in the development of rice farmers and the agricultural
sector. Therefore, Thai rice farmers should prepare
themselves to cope with this kind of technology.
Rice & Globalization
Today, for many people in the world, rice is the basic food.
It is known that rice is traditional Chinese food, which first was cultivated in Asian countries. But today, it is considered as an international food, which covers about 81 000 000 hectares around the world. Because of globalization processes, rice became an international product. This product was chosen because it helps to demonstrate globalization process which has changed consumption patterns, international trade, agricultural patters of many countries, etc.
The role of globalization
From a marketing point of view, globalization presents opportunities and challenges for world population to interact and interchange with technological innovations (such as new agricultural technologies for rice, which allows to cultivate this product in different regions with poor climate comditions), foreign aid as rice or grain. The new technology of rice cultivation gives less developed countries unprecedented opportunity “to jump” through the initial stages of development. The example of rice shows that the basic sphere of globalization is the international economic system, i.e. global manufacture, national economies and the world market.
Cultural globalization
Rice is one of the main products, which caused cultural globalization. This process is connected with technological revolution and economic globalization which together create a stream of the cultural blessings. Culture includes both conscious and unconscious values, ideas, attitudes, and symbols that shape our behavior and that are transmitted from one generation to the next. So, if rice consumption patterns are transmitted around the world, it is possible to say that rice became a component of our culture, borrowed from Chinese traditions.
Shaping the regions
This problem is connected with potential regional or global instability. National economic fluctuations or crises have regional or even global consequences. Droughts or floods in regions of rice cultivation have a great influence on international trade and consumption patterns in many countries. For instance, droughts in India have a global impact on rice consumption being the major supplier of this product. To prevent this, local agricultures have to adapt their facilities to resist the outcomes of global crisis.
Rice is one of the products, which shows that people all over the world were becoming more alike in their tastes.
Opportunities
At the same time, globalization presents companies with unprecedented opportunities to reconfigure themselves. It is supposed that global market is “the same global bazaar that allows consumers to buy the best that the world can offer also allows producers to find the best partners” (Galbraith, 2002). If inflow of resources occurs in the form of credits or investments, it increases internal savings and reduces shortage of investments for the local companies. Direct foreign investments will bring technologies from abroad, thus the financial risk decreases. In any case growth of investments should increase incomes of the population, having raised demand for manpower and having made it more productive. Globalization means widening business horizons to encompass the world in scanning for opportunity and threat. A successful globalization includes the ability to think globally and act locally. A global product like rice may be the same product everywhere and yet different. Globalization requires people to behave in a way that is global and local at the same time by responding to similarities and differences in world.
Rice: Different cooking ways
There are many varieties of rice; for many purposes the main distinction is between long- and medium-grain rice. The grains of long-grain rice (high amylose) tend to remain intact after cooking; medium-grain rice (high amylopectin) becomes more sticky. Medium-grain rice is used for sweet dishes, and for risotto and many Spanish dishes.
Rice is cooked by boiling or steaming, and absorbs water during cooking. It can be cooked in just as much water as it absorbs (the absorption method), or in a large quantity of water which is drained before serving (the rapid-boil method).[10] Electric rice cookers, popular in Asia and Latin America, simplify the process of cooking rice. Rice is often heated in oil before boiling, or oil is added to the water; this is thought to make the cooked rice less sticky.
In Arab cuisine rice is an ingredient of many soups and dishes with fish, poultry, and other types of meat. It is also used to stuff vegetables or is wrapped in grape leaves. When combined with milk, sugar and honey, it is used to make desserts. In some regions, such as Tabaristan, bread is made using rice flour. Medieval Islamic texts spoke of medical uses for the plant.[11]
Rice may also be made into rice porridge (also called congee or rice gruel) by adding more water than usual, so that the cooked rice is saturated with water to the point that it becomes very soft, expanded, and fluffy. Rice porridge is commonly eaten as a breakfast food, and is also a traditional food for the sick.
Rice may be soaked prior to cooking, which saves fuel, decreases cooking time, minimizes exposure to high temperature and thus decreases the stickiness of the rice. For some varieties, soaking improves the texture of the cooked rice by increasing expansion of the grains.
In some countries parboiled rice is popular. Parboiled rice is subjected to a steaming or parboiling process while still a brown rice. This causes nutrients from the outer husk to move into the grain itself. The parboil process causes a gelatinisation of the starch in the grains. The grains become less brittle, and the color of the milled grain changes from white to yellow. The rice is then dried, and can then be milled as usual or used as brown rice. Milled parboiled rice is nutritionally superior to standard milled rice. Parboiled rice has an additional benefit in that it does not stick to the pan during cooking, as happens when cooking regular white rice.
