Rice is considered a vital part of nutrition in much of Asia, Latin America, Africa, and the Caribbean. Sri Lanka too has exported rice in the past but its current status is not so good as past. More than 30% of the total labor force is directly or indirectly involved in the rice sector.
In 2021 rice harvest failed, leading to a USD 1.2 Bn emergency food aid program, a USD 200 Mn income-support program, and “huge sums to import hundreds of thousands of tonnes of rice” - Doug Saunders (February 5, 2022)