510 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1960 



was lacking in flavor, it was filling; a slave must eat what is provided; 

 lie cannot clioose. Also, there were corn and plantains as competitive 

 starches, often available in the absence of yuca. Although rice never 

 became the almost universal staff of life in the New World that it 

 had been for millennia in the Far East, paddy rice and, in a limited 

 measure, dry rice, were grown to some extent all through the Colonial 

 Period. 



During the 19th century New World sugar plantations increavScd 

 in size as herculean efforts were made to cater to the world's sweet 

 tooth. As the plantations became more and more market-oriented, 

 factory methods were introduced wherever feasible. It was less ex- 

 pensive and much less trouble to import cheap food for cane cutters 

 and for sugar-mill workers than to grow it locally. Kice, which 

 shipped well and kept well under tropical conditions, could be im- 

 ported at ridiculously low prices from the Far East. 



Between World Wars I and II great changes in the rice pictiu'e 

 took place all over the world. Nationalism was rampant everywhere. 

 The republics in the New World began to insist that agriculture be 

 diversified in order to cut down on unemployment and underemploy- 

 ment and to resist economic colonialism. Great emphasis was placed 

 on rice culture, since that grain had become more and more important 

 in the diet. "Grow it at home" became the watchword. Even coun- 

 tries that tried to assure themselves of an exclusive market for their 

 sugar demanded the right to buy rice in the cheapest market and not 

 necessarily from the countries that imported sugar. 



BRAZIL 



Rice consumption in Brazil is very important, and production has 

 greatly incieased in recent years as seen in the following table: 



Mean annual rice acreage and production 



Metric 

 Hectares^ long 



1932-38 956, 000 1, 305, 000 



1948-52 1, 927, 000 3, 025, 000 



1953-57 2, 492, 000 3, 691, 000 



♦ 1 hectare = 2.471 acres. 



Dry rice, cultivated in savanna or brush country, accounts for a 

 large part of Brazilian production. Only m southern Brazil has 

 paddy rice been important. It is possible that recent Japanese settlers 

 along the Amazon will change this picture. Dry rice, dependent on 

 rainfall, is subject to great fluctuations in yield from year to year. 

 The fluctuations in production account for the great variations in rice 

 exports, which averaged 54,000 tons before World War II, 147,000 

 tons from 1948 to 1953, none for the years 1954 and 1955, 102,000 tons 

 in 1956, and none again in 1957. 



