which grain is said to be the staple food of more than one-third of the world's population
Staple food Just 15 crop plants provide 90 percent of the world's food energy intake (exclusive of meat), with rice, maize, and wheat comprising two-thirds of human food consumption. The three are the staples of about 80 percent of the world population,[8] and rice feeds almost half of humanity.
Domestication Cereal crops were first domesticated around 9000 BCE in the Fertile Crescent in the Middle East. The first domesticated crops were generally annuals with large seeds or fruits. These included pulses such as peas and grains such as wheat. The Middle East was especially suited to these species; the dry-summer climate was conducive to the evolution of large-seeded annual plants, and the variety of elevations led to a great variety of species. As domestication took place humans began to move from a hunter-gatherer society to a settled agricultural society. This change would eventually lead, some 4000 to 5000 years later, to the first city states and eventually the rise of civilization itself.