> there are well over 100,000 varieties of rice registered with the Centro di Los Banos genetic bank in the Philippines

> over 5,000 varieties are known and grown, mostly of the Indica type

> approximately 50 varieties are grown in Italy

> world production amounts approx. to 500 million tonnes, which are grown over an area of over 148 million hectares, five times the surface area of Italy

> the largest producer in the world is China with 175 million tonnes

> Europe produces approximately 2 million tonnes of rice

> Italy is the top European producer with 1,400,000 tonnes of rice over a surface area of 232,835 hectares (a third of Italy's total production is for domestic consumption)

> 90% is produced in the provinces of Vercelli, Pavia and Novara

> per capita consumption in Italy is 5 kg/year, equal to the average European consumption but lower than that of Spain (7 kg/year)

> per capita consumption in Laos is 170 kg/year.