Rice Today Special Supplement
Rice Today Special Supplement
Rice Today Special Supplement
Anniversary Symposium and Exhibition, Vientiane, Lao PDR, 8-10 April 2014
Lesson plan:
Save water
by Rona Nia Mae Rojas
More benefits
A unified approach
DePartment of agriculture technical staff and local officials from lanao del
norte (in southern Philippines), where the Bulacan agricultural State College
has a project for water-saving techonologies, take part in a field demonstration
of aerobic rice technology.
Farmers
get their
groove
back
by M.N. Budhar
INdIa
tamil Nadu
dr. G. uMapathy
dr. G. uMapathy
A Perfect mAtch
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direct
approach
The
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bdul Basir and Shadat Hossain, rice farmers from Rajabari village in the Bangladeshi district of
Rajshahi, tried direct seeding for the rst time in 2005, preparing their elds by furrowing the soil
with a locally produced lithao, which they demonstrate with Dr. M.A. Mazid, below (Shadat at left).
Previously, says Shadat, I needed a seedbed that required extra management like uprooting
seedlings and transplanting. If there was enough rain, I could transplant but, if there was no rain,
the seedlings became older and I had to waitin some years, two months or more. If I transplanted
older seedlings, the yield was very poor. In 2003, there was so little rain that we couldnt transplant
at all.
With direct seeding by lithao, we can go ahead, even with little water, concurs the 45-yearold Abdul, who supports a family of seven. With direct seeding I expect that, whatever happens, Ill
harvest something. This gives me a good feeling. Before, we believed that if there was no more rain,
there would be no crop. Now, we believe that even if theres only a small amount of rain, the seed will
germinate and well get some rice.
Both farmers have also been struck by the labor advantages of direct seeding, noting that labor
requirements are less and more labor is available when it is needed.
During transplanting time, explains Abdul, every farmer wants to transplant, so theres a labor
shortage and labor prices go up. Direct-seeded rice requires 15 labor days per hectare; transplanting
requires 30 labor days.
When they transplanted, Abdul and Shadat generally grew only a wet-season rice crop each year.
If there was enough soil moisture following rice harvest, they would plant a chickpea crop too, but in
the past ve years, Abdul managed to grow chickpeas only once. In 2005, both farmers reaped good
yields from their direct-seeded rice elds and consequently grew successful chickpea crops.
There has been keen
interest from surrounding
farmers not directly involved
in the project. Both Abdul and
Shadat invited their neighbors
to see their crop. About 50 local
farmers visited and, according
to Abdul, were so impressed
that they now plan to try direct
seeding themselves.
We should follow this in
the future, concludes Shadat.
We will continue to do this,
even if the extension agents
and the researchers have
gone.
Rice Today April-June 2006
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grain of truth
use. In the
past, where
farmers have
changed from
transplanting to
direct seeding, a
lack of good weed
management has
constrained the
development of
IRRI WEED scientist
successful directDavid Johnson examines
seeding systems.
a weed with eld techEffective weed
nician Emil Barcial.
management
is more than
start over any competing weeds.
just spraying a eld with herbicide.
Second, the water in a ooded
After 5 years of on-farm trials, the
eld effectively acts as a herbicide,
researchers are condent that direct
suppressing weed growth. The
seeding is a sustainable practice.
ipside, of course, is that weeds are
However, says Dr. Johnson,
the major problem facing farmers
it is a knowledge-intensive system
who direct-seed, and who can lose
and well need to ensure that the
most of their yield if they dont adopt
farmers have the knowledge and
adequate weed-control measures.
information they need to make the
Its likely that farmers who
right decisions at the right time.
direct-seed will be more reliant on
The key to successful
herbicides, says Dr. Johnson, simply direct seeding on a large scale
because they cant rely on ooding
therefore lies in the way that
to suppress weeds during the crucial
farmers manage their crops.
initial period of crop establishment.
We have to change the farmers
Most Indian farmers already use
mindset, says Dr. Singh. If he wants
herbicides. In Bangladesh, farmers
to do better, he has to be a better
are less familiar with herbicides but
manager. Only then will it be possible
recent years have seen increased
to benet from new technologies.
Productivity
levels, by and
A DECISION TREE, designed to help
large, could
partly due to
management. If a
farmer improves
management
certainly his
productivity
will go up.
Sure enough,
when
weeds
are managed
appropriately,
direct seeding
is showing
promising
results. Like
their Bangladeshi
counterparts,
the Indian
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Gelia T. CasTillo
by Lanie C. Reyes
IRRI
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lanIe c. Reyes
leSS thirSty
gene hettel
Making rice
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in eastern india
Similarly, in eastern India, IRRI
introduced a drought-tolerant
breeding line, IR74371-70-1-1, which
has also consistently performed
well both at research centers and in
farmers fields. Since eastern India
is one of the largest drought-affected
areas, a variety that can cope with a
dry spell is a welcome change in rice
farming.
IR74371-70-1-1
was initially tested
under an India-IRRI
collaborative project,
the Drought Breeding
Network (DBN),
whose partners are
the Central Rainfed
Upland Rice Research
Station (CRURRS)
in Hazaribag; Indira
Gandhi Krishi
Vishwa Vidyalaya,
Raipur; Birsa
Agricultural Univ.,
Ranchi; Narendra
Dev University
of Agriculture
and Technology,
Faizabad; Tamil Nadu
Agricultural University, Coimbatore;
University of Agricultural Sciences,
Bangalore; and Barwale Foundation,
Hyderabad, India. Courtesy of the
DBN, researchers have identified this
entry as promising for the droughtprone ecosystem.
Since this line is a product of
a joint endeavor, the team from
CRURRS suggested the name
Sahbhagi dhan, which means, in
Hindi, rice developed through
collaboration. Recently, the Variety
Identification Committee (VIC)
recommended it for release to
the Central Subcommittee on
Crop Standards, Notification,
and Release of Varieties.
Nimai P. Mandal, a plant breeder
at CRURRS, tested Sahbhagi dhan
during the wet season of 2004. It
cRURRs (2)
As well as improving farmers incomes and productivity, watersaving technologies can also help to ease social tensionsbut
The big
Story by Adam Barclay,
photos by Raymond Jose Panaligan
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squeeze
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Vic Vicmudo,
manager of nias
Tarlac groundwater
irrigation systems
Reactivation
Project.
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PhilRices
Jovino de dios.
The development and dissemination of watersaving technologies for rice as reported here
are carried out through the Water-Saving
Work Group of the Irrigated Rice Research
Consortium and the Consultative Group
on International Agricultural Research
Challenge Program on Water and Food.
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MAPS
SATELLITES
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david johnson
Chris QuinTana
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T. Mendoza (2)
Successes in Sulawesi
M. CasiMero
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Country highlight:
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World Bank, Food and Agriculture Organization, and IRRI. 2012. Laos Rice Policy Study. Rome (Italy): World Bank, 115 p.
Ibid.
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Population:
Total rice production:
Average rice yield:
Area planted to rice:
Average annual rice
consumption per person:
6.2 million
2.7 million tons
3.47 tons per hectare
870,000 hectares
165 kg (2009)
Nel garcia
ice production is an
important livelihood of
around 724,000 farmers
in Lao PDR, whose rice
sector is rapidly transforming from
pure subsistence to more commercial
production. Rice farmers who sell
their produce increased from 6% in
1998-99 to 30% in 2010-11.1
Generally, rice is produced by
small farm households with an
average farm size of less than 2
hectares. Although rice farming in
Lao PDR is small-scale, its average
size of rice holdings has increased
over the last 12 years. Almost 90% of
the rice area in Lao PDR is rainfed,
predominantly in the lowlands.2
Rice remains the staple food for
Lao PDR and glutinous rice is the
most popular type of ricemore than
90% of the rice produced is glutinous.
Lao PDR also appears to be the center
of biodiversity for glutinous rice and
has one of the highest concentrations
of biodiversity of rice in the world.
Ariel JAvellAnA
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Making a point
about aerobic rice:
iRRi water scientist
Bas Bouman.
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boosts the
potential of
aerobic rice.
Anhui Province, China
Although rainfall
in many parts
of China is high,
it is also very
unstable. In such areas, the
majority of the years rain
Mengcheng
can fall over a couple
of months in summer,
Fengtai
Funan
causing floods that
badly damage or totally
destroy traditional
dryland crops such as maize
Hefei
and soybean. Aerobic rice,
though, can still handle
flooding. In a year when
rainfall is spread out and no
floods occur, a maize crop will
yield higher than an aerobic
rice crop. But, if the floods
hitand they often doaerobic
rice will give farmers a few tons
per hectare, where maize would
have left them with nothing.
The day after witnessing Beijings
last field of lowland rice, Rice Today,
urban and industrial development
with CAU agronomist Guanghui Xie,
is staggering and the flow-on effects
headed south to Anhui Province,
for farming are sobering indeed.
where rice is a much more important
Rivers have been diverted to provide
crop (see map above). The farmers in
water for cities, groundwater is
Anhui are some of Chinas poorest
dropping every year, and laborers
any technology that can increase their are leaving the farms in droves to
water productivity and help them
find better-paid work in mining and
secure rice for their own consumption construction. Compounding the
can also help reduce poverty.
problems, much of the provinces
Anhui, like Beijing (and much
irrigation infrastructure is outdated
of northern China), is also facing a
and in bad need of maintenance.
water crisis. Here, too, the pace of
The worsening shortage of farm
the sun sets over hefei (left); rice
fields are dwarfed by a new power
station in fengtai. Rapid, large-scale
urban and industrial development is
pushing laborers off the farms and
into the cities. the consequent rising
cost of rural labor makes less laborintensive aerobic rice more attractive.
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aerobic believers
ShAobing Peng
Every dr p counts
Water scarcity is crippling the worlds food supply balance. So, IRRI has developed water-saving
technologies to help farmers cope with the problem and, more importantly, to sustain global rice
production.
ater makes
up 70% of our
planet. But
despite this
vast availability, our fresh
water reserve is finite.
Over the years, improper
use has led many to waste
this precious natural
resource, unaware of its
dire crippling effects on
the worlds food supply
balance, particularly for
ricethe staple food of
about 3 billion people
around the world.
Like all other plants,
rice needs water to
survive. However, unlike
most plants, it needs
twice as much water to
produce good yields. For
1 kg of rough rice, for
example, an average of
2,500 liters of water needs
to be supplied by rainfall
and/or irrigation (see
How much water does
rice use? on pages 28-29
of Rice Today Vol. 8, No.
1). About 1,400 liters are
used up in evaporation
and transpiration, while
the remaining 1,100 liters are lost
by seepage and percolation. A
farmer, then, constantly needs to
ensure that sufficient irrigation
water is provided (to complement
rainfall if that is insufficient) to
match all these outflows. Note that
transpiration (the process by which
the rice plant absorbs water, takes
it up to bring essential nutrients
from roots to leaves, then releases
it to the atmosphere) is the only
productive water use, as it helps
the plant stay alive and healthy.
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An irrigation canal
in northern China
dries up because of
water scarcity.
Safe AWD
The threshold of 15
cm is called Safe AWD
as this will not reduce
yields. In Safe AWD,
water savings are on the
order of 1530%. Once
farmers feel confident
that Safe AWD will not
reduce their yields,
they can try to drop
the threshold level for
irrigation to 20 cm,
25 cm, 30 cm, or even
lower. This will help save
more water, although
production may be
slightly affected. This
minor setback may be
acceptable when the
price of water is high
or when water is very
scarce.
How to implement
AWD?
A practical way to
The field water tube
implement AWD is
This tube can be made
to monitor the depth
of a 40-cm-long plastic
of ponded water in a
pipe or bamboo, with
The soil inside the tube is removed
field using a field water
a diameter of 15 cm or
after sticking it into the ground.
tube. After irrigation,
more, to allow farmers
the depth of ponded
to see and monitor the
water will gradually decrease. When
water table. Put holes on all sides of
ponded water drops to 15 cm below the the tube. Stick the tube into the soil,
soil surface, irrigation should be applied but leave 15 cm above the soil surface.
to re-flood the field up to 5 cm. From a
Remove the soil inside the tube so that
week before until a week after flowering, the bottom will be visible. Make sure
ponded water should always be kept at
that the water table inside the tube is
5-cm depth. After flowering and during
the same as that on the outside. The
grain filling and ripening, the water level tube can be placed in a flat part of the
can be allowed to drop again to 15 cm
field close to a bund so that it is easy to
below the surface before re-irrigation.
monitor the depth of ponded water.
Rice Today July-September 2009
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grain of truth
Circle irrigation:
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blake Onken
Scuba rice
New versions of popular varieties of rice, which can withstand 2 weeks of complete submergence,
are set to make a big impact in South Asia
adam barclay
DR. ISMaIl and UC Riverside scientist Julia BaileySerres share a laugh at BRRIs Rangpur station.
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BRRI SCIEntISt M.a. Mazid (second from right) speaks to onlookers about the success of farmer Mostafa
Kamals (right) flood-tolerant rice trials. Mr. Kamals neighbor, Mohammad Shahidul Islam (left), is keen to
grow the new varieties himself.
tHE DEVElopMEnt and testing of flood-tolerant rice varietieson show here at BRRIs Rangpur station
have attracted keen interest from plant scientists across the world.
Rice Today April-June 2009
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ExaMInInG tRIalS at BRRI headquarters in Gazipur, K.M. Iftekharuddaula (right) has bred flood tolerance
into popular Bangladeshi rice variety BR11, which accounts for more than one-third of the countrys
wet-season plantings.
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IRRI MolECUlaR biologist Sigrid Heuer (center) with her ph.D. student namrata Singh (left) and IRRI
assistant scientist Darlene Sanchez at the Chinsurah Rice Research Station, in west Bengal, India.
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Whats cooking?
Laotian
congee
C
by Leigh Vial
Boil stock
In a large pot, put 45 liters of water, then add:
A large piece of pork or chicken (up to 1 kilogram)
A few pieces of ginger, according to taste
23 whole onions, according to taste
23 whole small coriander plants
Add toppings
Some suggested toppings are the following, for one person:
A tablespoon of fried garlic
A tablespoon of chopped spring onions
A tablespoon of chopped coriander
One sliced boiled egg
A pinch of dried or fresh chillies
Watch Dr. Vial demonstrate how to prepare this dish in a 8:52 video on YouTube at http://snipurl.com/lao_congee.
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