Rice: Overview

A staple food of more than two-thirds of the world’s population, rice is one of the most important grains in the world. There are two domesticated species: Asian rice (Oryza sativa), which has been cultivated for at least seven thousand years in Southeast Asia, China, and India, and African rice (Oryza glaberrima), which has been cultivated in West Africa since about 1500 BCE. In the sixteenth century, O. sativa was introduced into West Africa, probably by the Portuguese, and it largely replaced indigenous African rice, mainly because of its higher yields.