{"id":24186,"date":"2021-09-27T16:11:20","date_gmt":"2021-09-27T14:11:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/navdanyainternational.org\/?post_type=post_publications&p=24186"},"modified":"2023-04-11T13:07:48","modified_gmt":"2023-04-11T11:07:48","slug":"the-story-of-rice","status":"publish","type":"post_publications","link":"https:\/\/navdanyainternational.org\/es\/publications\/the-story-of-rice\/","title":{"rendered":"The Story of Rice"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

As one of the most important and most widely produced staple crops in the world, the story of rice is deeply tied to place and time. Throughout Asia, has always had a deeper significance than just a basic food, it holds an important place in cultural ceremonies and rituals, is a connector and creator of community and a symbol of heritage. Throughout time and in direct relation with the diversity of ecosystems, farmers have developed a tremendous diversity of rice, all linked to specific knowledge systems, and with some being able to flourish in extreme conditions. This heritage of traditional cultivation rice systems have given resilience, ensured livelihood and adequate nutrition for millennia to local food communities.<\/p>\n

But since the beginning of the Green Revolution, there has been a corporate push to capture, \u2018improve\u2019 and introduce industrialized rice systems based on hybrid, and now GMO rice, chemical inputs and genetically uniform monocultures. The attempt to capture and consolidate the variety of rice growing systems into a singular profitable market has taken place through methods such as, direct biopiracy of resilient traits, illegal patenting, and the centralization of rice seed into the seed banks of international research institutions which are inaccessible to farmers. The Imposition of GM Golden Rice now acts as the most recent attempt to further impose the failed industrial model, only made possible by the previous destruction of traditional cultivation systems. Especially since the story of the corporate capture of rice has led to a series of negative effects, like the decline of available seed diversity, the elimination of livelihoods, environmental and nutritional degradation, and the destruction of ancient traditional lifeways.<\/p>\n

The Story of Rice is, therefore, a complex comparison between traditional rice cultivation systems and their cultures, and the effect of the destruction they have undergone through the imposition of a predatory industrial model.<\/p>\n

\n