A report on social media is creating a stir in the agriculture community for its attack on the world’s number one staple: rice.
The report by AFP News Agency claims rice is responsible for 10 percent of global methane emissions, and if the world wants to reduce greenhouse gases it cannot ignore rice.
VIDEO: Rice is to blame for around 10 percent of global emissions of methane, a gas that over two decades, traps about 80 times as much heat as carbon dioxide. Scientists say that if the world wants to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, rice cannot be ignored. pic.twitter.com/46GgkaGPgK
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) April 16, 2023
The post was fact-checked by Twitter, which added “rice per se is not causing a 10 percent increase of greenhouse gases. Rice as a crop is efficient: the CO2 and Methane increases are caused by the burning made in ‘burning season’ made after the harvest.”
The story generated intense backlash, as rice is the world’s top staple, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. More than 50 percent of the world relies on rice for 85 percent of their food needs, and 95 percent of global output is grown in developing countries.
Twitter users expressed displeasure in everything from eating bugs and cultivated meat, to fears of mass famine, to possible attacks on our food systems.
