More rice with less water in Southeast Asia

Reisfeld

Since 1997 SDC has been funding a regional partnership program among 11 rice-growing countries in South and Southeast Asia: The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) based in the Philippines. This partnership program has helped to improve each country’s irrigated rice production by developing and testing rice-growing technologies and crop-management approaches in farmers’ fields. The focus is on the more efficient use of resources such as land, labour, water and fertilizer with the aim of increasing yields in a sustainable, environmentally friendly manner.

An innovative approach
Concrete innovations are being adopted by thousands of farmers across Asia:

Alternate wetting and drying: a water-saving practice which allows farmers to harvest the same yields using 15-30% less water. If this practice is applied across Asia the amount of water saved would represent as much as 200 times the water consumption of the city of Paris.
Direct seeding of rice allows rice to mature 10-15 days earlier hence allowing farmers to sow other crops earlier and increasing their flexibility to respond to irregular rainfalls.
Post-harvest technologies, such as better driers, improve the quality of milled rice by 12-40% compared to sun-dried rice.

Additional Information and Documents

The Cereal Knowledge Bank (CKB)
http://www.knowledgebank.irri.org/
International Rice Research Institute (IRRI)
http://irri.org/
IRRI news
http://solutions.irri.org
Southeast Asia
Mekong (Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar)
Rural development / Food security
Dossier Innovation