Rice Shortage

The threat of a "megaquake", a series of typhoons, and a week-long national holiday have some Japanese scrambling to buy rice -- the nation's cherished staple food -- with the government warning Tuesday against panic buying.

India's export ban aims to ensure domestic availability and lower prices for consumers at home.

Sri Lanka wants farmers to plant more rice as part of plans to avert a severe food shortage, a top official said on Tuesday, as experts warned of a 50% drop in production that would worsen the impact of its already-severe financial crisis.

Andhra Pradesh will use a deepwater port to export rice for the first time in decades amid a global shortage of the grain, according to a government order seen by Reuters, which could raise shipments this year by a fifth.

Rice farmers in Jammu and Kashmir are in a bind over what to plant this season, following a prolonged dry spell in January and February. The state irrigation department has found a 'solution' to the water shortage -- it has asked farmers not to plant paddy this season as this crop needs a lot of water to grow

Heavy rain that brought record flooding to Louisiana recently has put a damper on the nation's harvest of rice, a food staple that usually likes water as it grows but can't be gathered by machine if fields are inundated.

Venezuelans facing severe food shortages might have been expected to welcome heavily subsidized bags of rice, milk and other staples -- but the controversy didn't take long to set in.

Venezuelans complain that what goes into their Sunday dinner plate comes from abroad: Steak, from Brazil; plantains, the Dominican Republic; rice, South Africa; Parmesan cheese, Uruguay; oats, Chile. Even coffee, in a country famed for it, often is Colombian.

The threat of a "megaquake", a series of typhoons, and a week-long national holiday have some Japanese scrambling to buy rice -- the nation's cherished staple food -- with the government warning Tuesday against panic buying.

India's export ban aims to ensure domestic availability and lower prices for consumers at home.

Sri Lanka wants farmers to plant more rice as part of plans to avert a severe food shortage, a top official said on Tuesday, as experts warned of a 50% drop in production that would worsen the impact of its already-severe financial crisis.

Andhra Pradesh will use a deepwater port to export rice for the first time in decades amid a global shortage of the grain, according to a government order seen by Reuters, which could raise shipments this year by a fifth.

Rice farmers in Jammu and Kashmir are in a bind over what to plant this season, following a prolonged dry spell in January and February. The state irrigation department has found a 'solution' to the water shortage -- it has asked farmers not to plant paddy this season as this crop needs a lot of water to grow

Heavy rain that brought record flooding to Louisiana recently has put a damper on the nation's harvest of rice, a food staple that usually likes water as it grows but can't be gathered by machine if fields are inundated.

Venezuelans facing severe food shortages might have been expected to welcome heavily subsidized bags of rice, milk and other staples -- but the controversy didn't take long to set in.

Venezuelans complain that what goes into their Sunday dinner plate comes from abroad: Steak, from Brazil; plantains, the Dominican Republic; rice, South Africa; Parmesan cheese, Uruguay; oats, Chile. Even coffee, in a country famed for it, often is Colombian.