Did you know that rice is the most important crop grown in Guyana? Alongside sugar, another popular crop, rice has been the bedrock of Guyana’s growing agriculture industry for many years. Today, rice production in the country is increasing as a result of a recent increase in global rice prices. According to a report from the United States Department of Agriculture, Guyana was expected to produce 928,000 metric tons of rice between 2017 and 2018.

Much of the rice produced in Guyana is grown by small-scale farmers, many of whom benefit from the support of financing programs such as GBTI’s Rice Farming Loans . One of Guyana’s only financing packages to be specially designed for rice farmers and millers, the Rice Farming Loan program involves the acquisition of essential supplies—including land, machinery, equipment, and fertilizer—and offers beneficial terms such as production cycle repayment options and preferential interest rates. As a result, farmers do not need to have to be overly concerned about their finances and can instead focus their energy on this remarkable crop.

If you don’t know just how remarkable rice is, read on to learn seven amazing facts about this popular staple food with a long history.

Rice is old.

Rice is the oldest-known food that we still eat today. According to archaeologists, rice consumption dates back roughly 5,000 BC, but other experts estimate that rice may have been grown as many as 15,000 years ago, when people started to settle on the river deltas of East and South Asia and cultivate it.

Rice is grown all over the world.

Due to its adaptability and high yield, rice has become one of the world’s only truly global crops, and it is grown on every single continent except for Antarctica. Rice farms are found in Africa’s tropical rain forests, in arid Middle Eastern deserts, in the Himalayan mountains, and on coastal plains. Therefore, it’s hardly surprising that for a large part of the world’s population, rice is the most widely consumed staple food. This is especially true in Asia, which produces and consumes about 90% of the world’s rice crop. In many Asian countries, the average person eats as much as 300 pounds of rice each year.

There are many different kinds of rice.

Depending on where you live, you’re probably familiar with at least a few different kinds of rice. Some of the most well-known varieties include basmati rice, a long-grain variety; jasmine rice, which imparts a unique perfume; and arborio rice, a short-grain white variety. But the list definitely does not stop there: while no one knows exactly how many different varieties of cultivated rice exist, scientists believe there may be as many as 140,000 distinct kinds.

White rice and brown rice begin the same.

It’s easy to assume that white rice and brown rice are different varieties of crops, but in fact, all rice starts out as brown rice, only becoming white through the mechanical process of removing the outer bran layer and polishing the grain. While this process does make the rice less nutritious—many of the nutrients in rice are found in the bran layer—it also greatly improves the shelf life. When stored properly, white rice can last up to 30 years, while brown rice only stays fresh and edible for three to six months before its bran coating begins to oxidize.

Rice can be used in a number of ways.

Rice is, of course, an extremely important staple food, but did you know that it has many other uses? For example, the rice bran that is produced as a by-product of the milling process is used to make oil for both food and industrial uses. Broken rice is used for brewing and distilling, as well as to produce starch and rice flour. Rice hulls are used for fuel, packing material, industrial grinding, and manufacturing fertilizer. Moreover, rice straw is use to thatch roofs in many countries and to make mats, garments, and packing material.

Sticky rice was one of the materials used to build the Great Wall of China.

Rice can be extremely strong, as anyone who has ever tried to get caked-on rice off the bottom of a cooking pot can attest. In the 15th and 16th centuries, workers constructing the Great Wall of China took advantage of rice’s exceptional strength by using it as one of their materials. Builders made a kind of porridge from rice and calcium carbonate, using this substance as a mortar to hold the stones of the wall in place.

Rice is part of popular expressions in many different languages .

In many countries, rice is such an important cultural element that it has found its way into the local language and expressions. In China and Japan, for example, the words for “rice” and “cooked rice” are the same as those for “food” or “meal”. Similarly, in Thailand, families are called to the dinner table with the expression “Eat rice.”. Finally, instead of “How are you?”, the phrase “Have you had your rice today?” is used as a typical greeting in China.

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[Meta Description: Through its annual tennis camp, GBTI is helping children to improve their physical fitness and learn important life skills.]

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Title: 7 Reasons Why Tennis Is Great for Children

Every summer for the last eight years, GBTI Diamond Branch has hosted a week-long tennis camp for children from the local community. Held at the Diamond Tennis Court and held in conjunction with the Guyana Tennis Association, the tennis camp is one of GBTI’s most beloved community offerings. This past summer, the GBTI Diamond Tennis Camp welcomed 70 children between the ages of 5 and 16, the largest number of participants in the camp’s history.

In recent years, tennis has become increasingly popular among children and their families. Children love the sport because it’s a fun physical activity. Parents love it because it offers their kids a wide range of health and developmental benefits. The following are some reasons why tennis is such a great choice for kids:

Tennis offers an excellent aerobic and cardiovascular workout.

Until you’ve played tennis yourself, you might not realize just how much running around is involved in a typical game. Even during a short match or friendly rally, players are running back and forth on the court almost constantly. This is a great way for children to enjoy a quality aerobic workout almost without realizing it. Playing tennis increases your oxygen intake, gets your heart pumping, and strengthens your entire cardiovascular system. Furthermore, because tennis involves so many changes in direction, side-to-side-movements, and sudden stops, it offers a better workout than simply jogging, for example.

Tennis helps to improve your bone strength.

It’s easy to see how tennis can help you to build muscles. Holding and swinging a racket takes a lot of strength, after all. Did you know that tennis can also build bones? Playing tennis regularly can actually help to increase your peak bone mass. In other words, it can boost your bone density. Since bone mass peaks around the age of 30 and then begins to decline, it’s important for children to build up as much bone density as possible at a young age. Tennis has been shown to improve bone structure and density in young players, and it may even help to prevent osteoporosis in later years.

Tennis develops coordination skills.

Motor control and coordination skills, particularly hand-eye coordination, can be a major challenge for growing children. Tennis is a great way to enhance these skills because it requires the full cooperation of the whole body. Children who play tennis gain practice in body positioning, judging speed and distance, and making contact with moving targets. In addition, tennis helps to improve both gross motor coordination and fine motor coordination, as well as the different movements involved in working both the large and small muscle groups.

Tennis improves flexibility.

While children are naturally limber, this can change as they grow older and their muscles and ligaments become less elastic. Tennis helps children to improve and maintain their flexibility because it requires elongated movements such as reaching out to make contact with the ball. In addition, careful stretching during both the warm-up and cool-down process is strongly encouraged in tennis, so children learn how to keep their muscles supple and avoid stiffness or injury.

Tennis poses a lower risk of injury.

Many children like the fact that there’s no physical contact involved in tennis. While sports such as soccer, football, and hockey can offer many of the aforementioned physical benefits, they also are associated with an increased risk of collision and related injuries, which have been attracting more attention in recent years due to the lifelong effects they can have on children. Tennis isn’t entirely risk-free, of course—there’s always the possibility of being struck by a stray ball—but because there’s no contact with other players, the risk of serious injury, particularly to the head, is greatly reduced.

Tennis builds psychological fitness and resilience.

Tennis is not only good for children’s physical health, but it can greatly benefit their mental and psychological health, as well. In many ways, tennis is a good training ground for the realities of adult life, as it offers children the opportunity to experience competition and challenges, as well as to learn good sportsmanship in a safe environment. Children who play tennis learn how to concentrate and focus for long periods, develop better control over their emotions, learn from their mistakes, and improve over time. All of these skills are essential on and off the tennis court.

Tennis teaches self-reliance and accountability.

In many ways, tennis offers an excellent balance between the worlds of team sports and individual sports. Since tennis lessons are typically taught in groups and involve plenty of friendly rallies and matches, children can benefit from the social and cooperative atmosphere that team sports offer. At the same time, tennis is an individual sport, which means that kids learn self-reliance and individual accountability.