AGRICULTURE

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AGRICULTURE

• Unit 3 Subsistence Wet Rice Farming

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Distribution of WRC in Monsoon Asia

• 90 of the worlds rice is produced and consumed
  in Asia where 50 of the worlds population
  reside
• Rice is a staple food in Asia
• Wet rice or padi cultivation is commonly found in
  Monsoon Asia
• Monsoon seasonal winds which bring rains
• In South Asia April to October Southwest
  Monsoon
• November March Northeast Monsoon

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Distribution in Monsoon Asia

• Where are they found?
• Ganges floodplain in India and Bangladesh
• Chang Jiang Plain and Zhu Jiang Delta in China
• Java and Bali in Indonesia
• Luzon in the Philippines

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Distribution of WRC in Monsoon Asia
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The Rice Plant
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Factors influencing DistributionPhysical
Factors
Physical Conditions Physical Conditions
Climate High temperature of 21 27C
Climate High annual rainfall of 2000mm to 2500mm
Relief Flat land
Soil Fertile, clayey, alluvial soils
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Factors influencing DistributionHuman Factors

• Labour
• Requires a lot of labour
• Practised in areas where there is an abundance of
  cheap labour such as India and Indonesia
• Capital
• Poor farmers use simple tools in their farming
• Areas where labour lacking (Japan), capital is
  important to buy machines
• Capital is also required in areas not arable to
  build irrigation facilities

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Factors influencing DistributionHuman Factors

• Technology
• Use of technology such as irrigation in areas
  with low rainfall
• Supply water all year round and allow more than
  one rice crop to be planted
• Social Conditions
• Traditional practices such as inheritance laws
  limits the size of the farm
• Small farm size low output low income
• Market and Transport
• Not important consideration for subsistence
  farmers
• For commercial farmers, close to the market help
  saves transport cost

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Factors influencing DistributionHuman Factors

• Government
• Plays a significant role in improving practice of
  wet rice farming
• Provide funding for building irrigation

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• C apital
• L abour
• T ech
• D emand/market
• G ovt

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WRC as IPO system
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Match your descriptions to the photographs
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Wet Rice Cultivation in Indonesia The Process
PICTURE 2. CULTIVATING THE SAWAHThe water
buffalo pulls a harrow through the flooded sawah.
The harrow levels the soil surface and makes a
smooth bed for rice seedlings to be planted and
makes water depth the same throughout the sawah.
PICTURE 1. PREPARING THE SAWAH (wet rice field or
paddy)Using mattocks (heavy hoe-like
implements), the men break up the mostly volcanic
soil into large clods which will soften and
dissolve in the water.
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The Process
PICTURE 4. PLANTING THE RICE SEEDLINGS
Women plant the seedlings one at a time, spacing
them a hand span apart. (A hand span is the
distance from the thumb to little finger when the
fingers are spread apart). These women worked for
four days to plant this single sawah. A few days
later, a man will walk through the fields casting
handfuls of fertilizer to cover the fields. As
weeds begin to grow, men will go through the
paddy pulling them up and burying them beneath
the mud, where they also act as fertilizer as
they decay.
PICTURE 3. THE SAWAH READY FOR PLANTINGSmall
bundles of green seedlings, lined up along one
edge of the sawah, are being transplanted from
specially fertilized beds. Notice the slight rise
in elevation between each sawah from foreground
to back. Looking closely, you can see water
trickling from a sawah to the one in front.
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The Process
PICTURE 5. THE RICE GROWS AND MATURESShown here
in terraces, the rice has grown and branched out
(called tillering), developed seed heads, and
soon will be ready for harvesting. Lower on the
hillside are several sawahs that are flooded and
waiting to be planted. In some countries, like
Bali, the rice is planted first in the highest
fields. After the water is used it is allowed to
flow downhill where the lower terraces then use
it.
PICTURE 6. HARVESTING THE RICEA woman holds a
small knife (called ani-ani) in her right hand,
concealed so as not to frighten the rice plant.
Each stalk is cut individually and transferred to
her left hand. When enough has been cut to make a
small bundle, it is stacked for later threshing.
Traditionally, the person doing the threshing
received one stalk from each bundle.
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The Process
PICTURE 8. DRYING THE RICERice is spread out on
canvas along a village street to evaporate
remaining moisture (about 20 percent of its
weight).
PICTURE 7. THRESHING THE RICEThe rice seeds are
separated from their stalks and husks (chaff) by
being ground underfoot. (Sometimes the bundles
are beaten by hand). Next the rice will be tossed
in a wide, flat basket to let the wind blow away
the lightweight chaff.
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The Process
PICTURE 10. SELLING RICEAlthough most rice is
stored unhulled in the household or village until
needed for food, some rice is sold in the open
market. Baskets of rice, in various stages of
hulling, are offered for sale.
PICTURE 9. POUNDING THE RICEA woman pounds the
unhulled, dried rice with a log from a palm tree
(as a pestle) in a stone bowl (mortar). This
wears off the brown hull so the rice may be
cooked and eaten. If pounded more, rice flour is
produced. Sometimes several women pound rice in a
log trough side by side.
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Rice Growing in California
PICTURE 2. LEVELING THE RICE CHECKTractors and
dirt loader are used to level the surface of the
rice check so the water will cover the surface to
the same depth over all. The tractors are
controlled by a separated machine which uses a
laser to find high and low spots. Each check is
tilted slightly so water will flow continuously
through the field, assuring that oxygen is
present is the water around the plants. Although
this machinery is very expensive, the job needs
to be done only about every five years.
PICTURE 1. PREPARING THE CHECK (rice field)A
tractor pulls a moldboard plow (its shape turns
the soil over) to turn under a crop of vetch, a
crop planted after the last rice crop. It will
compost and act as fertilizer, adding nitrogen to
the soil. The rice field is called a "check" and
can be either rectangular or follow the contour
of the land. Rice grows best in clay soil, which
softens under water but doesn't let more water
drain through once it is saturated. This keeps
water on the surface for the rice plant to grow
in.
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PICTURE 3. SEEDS ARE READIED FOR PLANTINGRice
seed are soaked in large bins so they will sprout
soon after planting. Sometime the seeds are
coated with fungicides (to prevent the growth of
fungus) or coated with elements to improve the
acid level of the soil. In the background are
white tanks holding fuel to run the machines used
in rice growing.
PICTURES 4. SOWING THE RICEThe rice checks have
been flooded through a system of canals which
bring water from a nearby river. The rice is
seeded from an airplane, which sows a thirty-foot
wide swath before returning for reloading from a
funnel moved into position by a truck. Two planes
alternate in the landing-refilling-taking off
process, which takes three minutes.
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PICTURE 6. HARVESTING THRESHINGA harvester (or
combine) both cuts and threshes the rice. It cuts
a 20-foot wide swath of rice, then separates the
rice kernels from the stems (straw), and the
husks from the kernels (chaff). The combine feeds
the rice into a tractor pulled carrier, which
will take to rice to a truck on a nearby roadway.
The combine also chops up the rice straw and
deposits it onto the field behind it. Later the
straw will either be burned off or ploughed under
before the next harvest.
PICTURE 5. CARE OF GROWING RICEThe growing rice
is treated periodically with pesticides and
herbicides to kill insects and weeds. The rice is
kept flooded with 6-8 inches of water until just
before harvest, when the clay soil of the check
dries very quickly.
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PICTURE 8. RICE STORAGEAfter being dried, the
rice is loaded into bins on a truck to be moved
into the tall silos of a warehouse. In the
warehouse it will be kept at a controlled
temperature to maintain its quality.
PICTURE 7. DRYING THE RICERice is put into wide,
shallow bins, which move up, over, and down a
height of three stories as hot air is blown over
them. When harvested, rice contains 18-26 percent
moisture. It is dried to about 14 percent
moisture, to help it keep for storage.
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PICTURE 9. MILLING THE RICEThe rice is milled in
a storage warehouse and rice mill, where
machinery controlled by computers removes the
brown hulls from the rice. The large building
shown in the picture is owned by a cooperative of
rice farmers who share the cost of operating it.
PICTURE 10. SHIPPING THE RICEAbout 55 percent of
California rice is sold in the U.S. and its
territories, where it is mostly used for food.
The remainder is sold on the world market. Short
grain rice, preferred in Asian markets, grows
well in California. The ship is loading rice at
the Port of Sacramento into a Korean merchant
ship.
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Process for Subsistence WRC

• BEFORE THE ARRIVAL OF RAIN (MONSOON)
• Preparing the field and nurseryrepairing bunds
  to create a flooded conditions
• Sowing the seeds in the nursery

• ARRIVAL OF RAIN
• Ploughing by buffaloes
• Transplanting of rice saplings to flooded fields
• Or some practise direct seeding
• Patching is carried out
• Feritilising and weeding

• END OF RAINY SEASON
• After 150 days
• Harvesting using sickles
• Threshing separate rice grain from stalk
• Winnowing remove unwanted stalk husks

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Rainfed Vs Irrigated Fields

• RAINFED
• Dependent on the monsoon rains
• Too early/late,
• little/ heavy, subsistence farmers greatly
  affected
• Grow 1 rice crop per year

• IRRIGATED
• With irrigation facilities, farmers able to grow
  2 3 rice crops per year

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Characteristics of WRC Rainfed vs Irrigated
FieldsPurpose of farming

• Rainfed
• Farmers are subsistence and mainly grow rice for
  their own consumption
• Egs. China, India, Indonesia

• Irrigated
• Farmers practised commercial farming
• Eg. Japan

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Size of farms

• Rainfed
• Usually small
• Half a hectare to two hectares
• Some countries small and fragmented due to the
  practice of dividing the land equally among sons

• Irrigated
• large

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Level of technology

• Rainfed
• Subsistence farmers use simple technology
• Use traditional ways of cultivation
• Depend on manual labour and buffaloes to do the
  work
• animal manures to enrich the soil

• Irrigated
• Commercial farmers use a higher level of
  technology
• Rely on modern irrigation methods and machines
• apply chemical fertilisers to increase their
  yields

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Amount of inputs

• Rainfed
• lower inputs as compared to irrigated fields
• Work in smaller fields and use simple technology
  and animals

• Irrigated
• Higher inputs compared to rainfed
• Capital is needed to build irrigation facilities,
  buy high yielding seeds, chemical fertilisers and
  machines
• Able to practise double cropping

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Amount of outputs Variety

• Rainfed
• lower outputs as compared to irrigated fields
• Produce 1 crop of rice per year
• Due to small farms, traditional methods and tools
• Grow variety of crops such as vegetables and
  fruits

• Irrigated
• Commercial farmers produce a higher outputs than
  subsistence farmers
• With the use of HYVs and technology, able to
  harvest 2 to 3 crops of rice per year
• Grow 1 type of crop - monoculture

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Characteristics of WRC
Rainfed Irrigated
Purpose of farming Subsistence Commercial
Size of farms Small, fragmented large
Level of Technology Simple technology higher level of technology
Amount of inputs Low High
Amount of outputs Low High
Variety of outputs Grow other crops Monoculture
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Problems facing subsistence farmers

• Size of farms
• Land fragmentation reduces size of farm
• Scattered plots
• Difficult for govt to plan for irrigation and
  drainage projects
• Shortage of labour
• Especially able-bodied young men due to R-U
  migration
• Tenacy
• Farmers are less inclined to increase yields as
  large proportion of harvest goes to landlords
• Poverty
• An obstacle to invest to increase yields
• Illiteracy
• Resistant to new farming methods such as using
  HYVs
• Natural hazards
• Unreliable rainfall/ floods and droughts/ attacks
  by rodents

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Rain-fed Vs Irrigated Fields

• Rain-fed fields
• Occupy 25 of worlds rice area
• Produce 17 of worlds rice output
• Farmers are poor and practises monoculture
• Crop yield is unstable
• Traditional rice varieties which do not respond
  to fertilisers are grown

• Irrigated Fields
• Occupy 55 of worlds rice area
• Produce 75 of worlds rice output
• Farmers enjoy govt support and multiple harvest
• Crop yield is stable
• Use modern rice varieties which have a shorter
  growth period and respond well to fertilizers
  resistant to pests and diseases

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Climatic Graph of Alor Star

• What is the climatic pattern of Alor Star, Kedah?
• How would the climatic pattern help farmers in
  the North Kedah plain to make decisions that are
  related to the farming activities of the year?
• If farmers organise their farming activities
  based on the graph, how many crops can they grow?

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Green Revolution

• The period of change of wet rice cultivation
  brought about by modern varieties of seeds/ HYVs,
  technology, irrigation facilities and use of
  fertilisers, pesticides and herbicides.
• Refers to a complex change of technology which
  includes both improved seeds and a wide range of
  new management practices
• Modern varieties (MV) or high yielding varieties
  (HYVs)

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Benefits

• Higher rice output
• Use of HYVs has increased rice production
• Countries spend less on rice imports and earn
  more money from rice exports
• Adoption of double cropping or triple cropping
  creates more jobs in rural areas
• Higher standard of living
• Farmers who produce more rice sell their surplus
  and receive a source of income
• Income earned can be used to purchase and invest
  in more farm outputs
• Break out of the poverty cycle
• Improve living conditions and lifestyle

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Problems

• Higher cost of production
• HYVs, fertilizers, pesticides, irrigation
  facilities cost money
• Use of cultivated land throughout the year
  depletes soil nutrients purchase expensive
  chemical fertilisers
• Increased fuel cost for tractors and combined
  harvesters
• Poor farmers unable to afford these new
  technology
• Widening income gap
• Rich farmers afford the use of technology
  increase yield increase income
• Poor farmers cannot afford yields remain low
  or decrease

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Problems

• Over irrigation
• By careless farmers results in waterlogging and
  salinity which destroy crops
• Pollution
• Large quantities of fertilizers and pesticides
  contaminate the soil
• Wash by rain into groundwater, rivers and other
  water bodies, polluting the water and endangering
  aquatic life

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Problems

• Spread of diseases and pests
• In areas where HYVs seeds are used, one or two
  varieties are planted
• Widespread destruction if diseases or pests occur
• Traditional farmers select their own varieties of
  rice seeds to plant resulting in different
  varieties in adjoining farms
• Prices affected by demand
• Price of rice falls when yields are high/ surplus
• Sell surplus rice at a reduced price
• Loss of work
• Mechanization of farm activities has put some
  workers out of jobs and R-U migration may
  intensify

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Spreading Benefits of GR

• Continual research on the development of HYVs
• For different growing environment,
• To produce high yields in rainfed or flood prone
  areas to benefit those farmers who have no access
  to irrigation facilities or subject to floods
• Set up banks and co-operatives
• for providing loans at low interest rates to
  farmers
• Poor farmers able to get loan to buy better
  inputs
• Provision of storage and marking facilities
• Promotion of the use of more biological control
  methods and natural predators to fight pests
• Less dependence on chemical fertilizers and less
  pollution

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Impact of GR on Rice Cultivation in Asia

• Positive
• Bumper harvests
• Shorter growing seasons (100 vs 180 days)
• More tolerant to unfavourable climate
• Respond well to fertilisers

• Negative
• Shorter height submerged in water during heavy
  rains
• Growing of one HYV make spread of new pests
  diseases a potential danger
• Heavy applications of pesticides and fungicides

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Impact of GR on Rice Communities in Asia

• Rich farmers get richer, poor farmers get poorer
• Large capital needed
• Chemical fertilisers
• Insecticides
• Irrigation drainage
• Mechanisation
• Rich farmers double their yields sell the
  surplus

• To bridge the gap
• Govt to provide costly infrastructure
• Extend credits and loans
• Subsidies to purchase HYVs
• Formation of collectives to share cost of setting
  up

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Impact of GR on Environment

• Negative
• Use of HYVs requires heavy use of fertilisers,
  pesticides and herbicides which severely affect
  the ecosystem within the rice fields and cause
  pollution of groundwater, rivers, lakes and seas.

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Benefits

• P roduction
• T olerant
• S horter growg pd
• D oubled
• M ore income
• C reated new ind and jobs
• Question
• Assess/Evaluate the impact of improvement of
  technology on the rice community in Monsoon Asia.
  8

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Problems

• H igh cost
• O utbreak of p/d
• W eeding
• P ollution
• U nemplpymt
• I ncome inequality

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Case Study of Impact of the GR on WRC in India

• Reasons for the need to increase food production
• Large population many suffer from malnutrition
• Famine and hunger widespread
• Reduce reliance to purchase food from other
  countries
• Alleviate poor farmers from poverty by increasing
  farm outputs income improve standard of
  living
• Move away from subsistence farming
• Help solve unemployment which indirectly reduce
  rural urban migration

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Economic impact

• Growth of local manufacturing sector
  (fertilisers, pesticides, machines etc) which
  created jobs and contributed to GDP
• Irrigation leads to building of dams which were
  also used to generate hydroelectric power
  create jobs, improve quality of life
• Indian govt able to furnish loans from world bank
  for the purpose of GR
• Sharing of experienced rice farmers to other
  countries generated income for the country
• (read up on social impact)