15 MINS • B1 READING

🌾 Rice Around the World

An IELTS-style reading practice about rice around the world.

Share this 15-minute activity with students to practice IELTS Reading skills. Let them work independently first, then use the provided explanations to check answers together in class.

Read the 4 short paragraphs about rice carefully before looking at the questions. Answer all 8 questions in order, and read the evidence notes to see why each answer is correct.

📖 Reading Passage: Rice Around the World

A

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is the food agency of the United Nations. In a special paper for the International Year of Rice, the FAO explains that rice is the staple food for more than half of all people on Earth.

B

The same paper points out that in Asia alone, over two billion people get 60 to 70 percent of their daily energy from rice. This means that for these communities, rice supplies most of the fuel their bodies get from food.

C

According to the report, farmers working on small farms produce about four-fifths of all the rice grown worldwide. Most of these hard-working farmers live in countries with low incomes.

D

The FAO report notes that people grow rice in 113 different countries, covering every single continent except Antarctica. Back in December 2002, the United Nations officially named 2004 as the International Year of Rice.

💡 Natural Sentence Pattern

____ Paragraph A ____ Paragraph B ____ Paragraph C ____ Paragraph D

____ Paragraph A ____ Paragraph B ____ Paragraph C ____ Paragraph D

____ TRUE ____ FALSE ____ NOT GIVEN

____ TRUE ____ FALSE ____ NOT GIVEN

____ A. It is grown by more than half of the world's population. ____ B. It serves as the main food source for over half of the world's people. ____ C. It is the only food agency supported by the United Nations. ____ D. It is consumed equally across all continents.

____ A. In every country in the world except those in Antarctica. ____ B. On six continents in a total of 113 countries. ____ C. In 113 countries located exclusively in Asia and Antarctica. ____ D. Only in low-income countries on small farms.