Uruguay: A small country, big in rice

VALUEPICK · 1 Uruguay: A small country, big in rice Sat Mar 19, 2016 4:38 am

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http://ricetoday.irri.org/uruguay-a-small-country-big-in-rice/

VALUEPICK · 2 Re: Uruguay: A small country, big in rice Sat Mar 19, 2016 4:57 am

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http://ricetoday.irri.org/rice-revival-in-the-land-of-maize/

Rice revival in the land of maize

http://ricetoday.irri.org/cote-divoire-an-emerging-rice-powerhouse-in-west-africa/

Côte d’Ivoire: An emerging rice powerhouse in West Africa

Chinwi · 3 Re: Uruguay: A small country, big in rice Sat Mar 19, 2016 10:47 am

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Some observations - as per the first article of IRRI.

Uruguay - rice yield 8 tons per Ha.
i.e. 3200 kg per acre. = 160 Bushels per Acre

This is two times to what we get in our country. In some parts we get around 800-1000 kg per Acre

Cost of production:
They say 1,800 US$ / Ha = Rs. 104,000 / Acre

Our cost is about Rs. 40,000 / Acre. If seed sowed ( no transplanting) and machinery used in harvesting you can bring it down to 30-33,000/-

Hence their COP - cost of production is very high compared to us.
This is very interesting because we always feel our COP is too high to sustain in paddy cultivation.

But, they grow export quality round shaped (keeri samba like?) grain. So they can export them easily.
Our problem: Most of the varieties we grow have no export market.

In SRi Lanka people are going back to natural varieties of rice. A good market is forming for non-hybrids like Suwandel, Kurulu Thuda, Pachchaperumal, Kalu heenati, Ma wee, Rath Ael etc.

They are high in Protein and fiber. Most of out traditional varieties have protein content of 10%-11%, for hybrids like BG XX or BW YY its 7 -8%

--

thanks for the link

VALUEPICK · 4 Re: Uruguay: A small country, big in rice Sat Mar 19, 2016 12:34 pm

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“But, they grow export quality round shaped (keeri samba like?) grain. So they can export them easily.’

In SRi Lanka people are going back to natural varieties of rice. A good market is forming for non-hybrids like Suwandel, Kurulu Thuda, Pachchaperumal, Kalu heenati, Ma wee, Rath Ael etc.

They are high in Protein and fiber. Most of out traditional varieties have protein content of 10%-11%, for hybrids like BG XX or BW YY its 7 -8%’'

Chinwi you are right.

Just like Pakistan, Sri-Lanka needs to produce higher quality rice to capture export market. The Pakistani basmati rice is in great demand in the United States, Europe and United Arab Emirates. Both the private and public sectors have a program for improving Pakistan’s basmati rice for the export market. They are working together to make sure that the farmers are being rewarded for growing high-quality basmati rice while bringing farmers and market together.

In addition, Sri-Lanka had some healthy high quality rice. For some reasons we don’t see in super markets or retail shops. I don’t know farmers are still producing those types of rice for the market except for their consumption. If we eat that rice we cannot eat some other rice. We can see big difference in tasty as well as in quality.

Sri-Lankan organic type of rice could have some export market. Some varieties could be better than Basmati.

Chinwi · 5 Re: Uruguay: A small country, big in rice Sun Mar 20, 2016 7:53 am

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Once I was taken to see how they do harvesting in somewhere in Thailand during a tour organised by Thai Irrigation , I found the variety was Jesmin smelling Basmati.

I collected small amount of 'wee' from that field and later tried to propagate them here , gave some grains to our farmers too. Unfortunately not successful.
May be due to lack in day time needed for flowering for that particular variety. (I do not think chemicals used to fumigate harm them)

Some plants need long day time to stimulate breeding. -Photoperiod sensitive - ( The region I went was around 15 N , which has prolonged daytime than us) Pakistan is even more upwards in the map.

I found this text about basmati:

"Basmati rice (Basmati 386, Basmati 370) is photo-period sensitive. Prolonged sunshine, high humidity and assured water supply are the basic requirements for its successful cultivation. Cool temperature (25-29 ºC day and 20-22 ºC night) at maturity is highly conducive for producing better aroma and ensuring eating characteristics in the basmati rice. These conditions are available only in the defined geographical area of the Indo-Gangatic Plains."

They say , there are photoperiod-insensitive basmati cultivars also but to retain characteristic Basmati aroma you need low day night temperature (25 C/21 C) at crop maturity.
In Sri Lanka we get highest temperatures (35 C - 30 C ) during crop maturity.

This is same for Masoor Dal I think. (parippu) I have seen Parippu plants growing in Gannoruva, Peradeniya. I tried too. We can grow parippu but to get proper flowering they need prolonged suntime or cooler period. In Uttar India, Pakistan and Australia they get it.

Hence , we should concentrate more on our own natural rice like Suwandel (which has excellent aroma) for the time being .

In kenya they have successfully made hybrid Basmati by crossing with their local varieties. But they found the aroma has vanished.

VALUEPICK · 6 Re: Uruguay: A small country, big in rice Sun Mar 20, 2016 9:37 am

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Hence, we should concentrate more on our own natural rice like Suwandel (which has excellent aroma) for the time being.

Yes above is one option.

Other option is active involvement by both government and private sector in the research area.

Other thing is rice need more water to grow. On the other hand some other grain can grow with less water or less rain. Many countries prefer to have some sort of crop diversification to meet future demand and to minimize risk involved in weather changing pattern in some period. Crop diversification in some countries are generally viewed as a shift from traditionally grown less remunerative crops to more remunerative crops.

There was a growth in grain market in Sri-Lanka during last couple of years. This growth will have to maintain to meet demand in the coming 10 years. However we didn’t see satisfactory growth in Rice. During this Maha season we should see record rice harvest thanks to good weather. Floods and heavy rain made havoc on faddy fields during previous years.

According to The study, led by the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), Some African countries may have to find alternative crops, improve irrigation systems or even abandon crop-based agriculture completely by the year 2100.Now some countries are encouraging drought resistant seed production.

It is good to see many countries are trying to produce more grain locally. Now some countries are looking at farm land overseas to provide a steady, reliable supply of food in the future.

https://www.oxfam.org.au/get-involved/how-schools-can-get-involved/classroom-resources/food-4-thought-2/food-4-thought-geography/worksheet-5-how-can-food-security-be-achieved-in-the-future/

How can food security be achieved in the future?

Chinwi · 7 Re: Uruguay: A small country, big in rice Sun Mar 20, 2016 3:04 pm

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There is a rice growing system called SRI.
SRI = System of Rice Intensification

It needs very low water quantity compared to traditional system .

SRI is not related to SRI Lanka.

As per Wikipedia, SRI is a low water, labor-intensive, organic method that uses younger seedlings singly spaced and typically hand weeded with special tools. It was developed in 1983 by the French Jesuit Father Henri de Laulanié in Madagascar.

Mr. Salinda Dissanayake MP, as a farmer, is an expert in Sri Lanka about this system. He was talking about this with un even in 1990s and practicing this in his own farm for decades now.

As per records he got 17 tons/Ha from BG358 (340 bushels / acre)
Unfortunately officials in Agri Dept. worked against it or didn't give any support.

Only problem in SRI method is it is labour intensive. You need lot of manpower for planting and managing the crop. Hence we find it difficult to get the farmer support to do it in acres of lands they have. For small land lots SRI is perfect.

Rice yield is always increased when there is less water. Normally our farmers want to submerge the field with water during entire growth period.

The rice plant is NOT an aquatic plant. It sucks air Oxygen from roots. If you keep it's rootzone fully under water, the plant experience breathing problem, like asthma for us. ගොයම් යනු ජලජ පැලෑටියක් නොවේ.
Farmers never agree on this. They like to see water running all over the paddy fields, every time.
But, even in our major schemes, whenever there was moderate water scarcity, the harvest increases significantly than the seasons where we had ample water supply.

In SRI method they keep the soil in moist but not under water. This gives much needed Oxygen to produce bigger harvest . But unless all the farmers in the area corporate for SRI, you cannot keep excess water out from your area.

As reported in international publication,

SRI in other countries
Many countries reported remarkable
increases in yield. Salinda
Dissanayake, Member of Parliament
in Sri Lanka, personally tested SRI in
his own rice field of a little more than
2 acres for four seasons, using seeds
of various varieties. He got the highest
yield of 17 t/ha with BG358, a variety
developed by the Sri Lankan rice
researchers. Even with local varieties
such as Rathhel and Pachdhaiperumal,
usually much lower
yielding at ~2 t/ha, impressive yields
of 8 t/ha and 13 t/ha were obtained.
Dissanayake formed a small group
to inform farmers of SRI; and farmers
who took up SRI from 18 districts
have doubled their yields on average.
"These yields were obtained with
less water, less seed, less chemical
fertilizer, and less cost of production
per kilogram …among SRI users, we
find people of many different income
and educational levels and different
social standing, including many poor
farmers having only small plots of
land, farmers with moderate income,
some agricultural scientists, and a
few administrators, businessmen and
political leaders who practice it with
their own convictions," Dissanayake
said.
H. M. Premaratna, a farmer from
the Ecological Farming Centre,
Mellawalana, Sri Lanka, backed up
the enthusiasm of his Member of
Parliament, and has personally provided
training on SRI to more than
3000 farmers by 2002. "From my
experience, I have observed that the
rice plant becomes a healthier plant
once the basic SRI practices are
adopted," he said.
Reports from 17 countries in 2002
showed that three-quarters of the
cases gave a significant yield advantage
of at least 20 to 50% increase,
and although the super-yields reported
from Madagascar have not been
obtained elsewhere, some farmers in
Cambodia and Sri Lanka have come
close. Overall, the conventional systems
yielded 3.9 t/ha, very close to
the world average for rice production.
The average for all the SRI yields
reported was 6.8 t/ha

http://www.i-sis.org.uk/full/pdf/sis23.pdf

VALUEPICK · 8 Re: Uruguay: A small country, big in rice Mon Mar 21, 2016 10:55 am

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Thank you for the information.

There are some reports that grain are becoming less susceptible to weather as variations in crop yields by weather are smaller due to the improvement of seeds and agricultural technology.

http://allafrica.com/stories/201602240521.html

Uganda: Improved Farming Tools to Boost Rice Production

https://www.proshareng.com/news/Agriculture/Nigeria-is-working-towards-selfsufficiency-in-rice-production/29583

Nigeria is working towards self-sufficiency in rice production

VALUEPICK · 9 Re: Uruguay: A small country, big in rice Sun Apr 03, 2016 6:44 am

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http://www.sundaytimes.lk/160403/business-times/global-role-of-sri-lankan-rice-to-feed-the-world-187987.html

Global role of Sri Lankan rice to feed the world

VALUEPICK · 10 Re: Uruguay: A small country, big in rice Sun May 01, 2016 6:04 am

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http://irri.org/our-work/research/better-rice-varieties

Better rice varieties

Countries like Ukraine are practicing and introducing cost-cutting measures due to low prices for their grains.

They are switching from imported grain seeds to domestically produced ones, both by large multinational companies as well as domestic ones. This is confirmed by a two-fold decrease in corn seed imports in MY2014/15, followed by an almost 40 percent decrease in October 2015-January 2015, compared to the same period of the previous year. Ukraine imported good quality hybrid corn seeds from Hungary, Romania, and France, as well as other countries in MY2014/15.

Another factor allowing grain farmers to decrease their costs in Ukraine is the use of generic agrochemicals instead of branded ones.