Describe a crop you are familiar with.
You should say:
- what crop it is
- where and when it grows
- how you know about it
and explain how useful it is.
[Instruction: You will have to talk about the topic for one to two minutes. You have one minute to think about what you are going to say. You can make some notes to help you if you wish.]
Model Answer:
Well, I live in the continent of Asia, and so, I don’t think that I am as familiar with other crops as “rice” since this particular crop is the main source of our carbohydrate requirements. So, I guess that I will go ahead and talk about this crop here as best as I can. And thank for you choosing this topic for me.
Now, while more than 90 per cent of the world’s total rice is grown in Asian countries, like China, India, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Japan, Pakistan, and various other countries of Southeast Asia, it also grows in parts of Europe, North America, South America and Australia. So, in essence, we can say that rice is very much like a “universal crop”, making it the staple food of almost 3.5 billion people around the world.
Depending on where or in which parts of the world we are cultivating rice, even though it can grow pretty much throughout the entire year, rice basically is a top crop to grow in the monsoon or rainy season since it requires average temperatures of 25-26 degree Celsius and a minimum of 100 cm of rainfall. Besides, certain types of rice can grow during the dry season as well, providing that an effective irrigation system is in place to properly make the land wet.
By the way, I don’t know about this crop just not only because it happens to be our main food, but also because I have learned a great deal about it through some TV programmes that talk greatly about agriculture and the farming situation in my country.
Again, rice is a highly useful crop. rice is a rich source of carbohydrates or the body’s main fuel that can keep us energized. Then, brown rice is also an excellent source of many nutrients, including fibre, manganese, selenium, magnesium, and vitamin B. Besides, a thing called “rice bran”, the outer layer of rice is also used to make a type of healthy cooking oil. Finally, a byproduct of rice, called “rice straw”, is also used to feed cattle or animals, and to make paper and fertilizers.