Legal Advisor. Advocate Zaheer Minhas. Editorial Advisory Board. 1. Admiral (R) Hamid Khalid. 2. Javed Islam Agha. 3. Ch. Hamid Malhi. 4. Dr. Akhtar Husain.
A Quarterly Magazine
Rice plus Editorial Board Chief Editor Hamlik
Contents
Managing Editor Rahmat Ullah Editorial Associate Rozeen Shaukat English Editor Marriyum Naseer Business Development Manager Mujahid Ali Graphic Designer Mohammad Zakriya Marketing Executives
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Editorial Note Basmati Exports and Expectations
4
Rice in 2011-12- Market Insights
8
What You Must Know About Rice
9
SRI: Colossal Hope for Threatening Paddy Demand
10
Rice Scientist Interview
16
Country Specific Information Direct Seeding-A New Revolution for Rice Sector
Sarfraz Ahmed
17
Khalid Shabbir (UAE)
19
Water Scarcity and Rice Production
Shamsahd Ahmad (Saudi Arabia)
22
Rice Trade with India-An opportunity or Threat
26
Current News
Legal Advisor Advocate Zaheer Minhas Editorial Advisory Board 1. Admiral (R) Hamid Khalid 2. Javed Islam Agha 3. Ch. Hamid Malhi 4. Dr. Akhtar Husain 5. Dr. Fayyaz Ahmed Siddique 6. Dr.Abdul Rashid (UAF) 7. Islam Akhtar Khan
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A Quarterly Magazine
Rice plus SRI: Colossal Hope for Threatening Paddy Demand Farhan Khalid,1 Dr. Azraf-Ul-Haq Ahmad1and NaeemFiaz2 Rice is the 2nd most important cereal cash crop and one of the main export items of Pakistan. Its cultivation is provisionally estimated on an area of 2883 thousand hectares with annual production of 6883 thousand tons in 2009-10 i.e. 1% less than the last year 2008-09. It accounts for 6.4 % of value added in agriculture and 1.4 % in GDP.Rice production worldwide doubled in reverence to advanced technologies with the advent of green revolution from 1960s to 1980s. As the population is continuously increasing day by day, this increase in rice production has slackened and needs management practices that can enhance its yield to cope with the increasing demand for paddy to feed the mammoth population. Scientists have to develop certain techniques or methodologies to cope with the food security challenges and to omit the hunger for increased livelihood. For this purpose an effective system had been introduced since 1980s that is promising for momentous increase in the yield of rice. This system is known as “System of Rice Intensification (SRI)” a crop and resource management system which requires minimum use of inputs but surprisingly promises robust growth of plants with almost doubled the yield obtained under normal or conventional practices. SRI was developed by Henri de Laulaini in 1980s at the Uplands of Madagascar. Farmers obtained reliable yields ranging from 7 -1 to 15 t ha in the succeeding years on low inherent fertile soils, reduced application of irrigation, and without the use of chemical fertilizer or other agricultural chemicals. Further, this system has been promoted by many scientists, the most famous Professor Dr. Norman Uphoff,who contributed well through his research activities for the uplift of the SRI. Recently, there is enough literature on strong scientific basis that can reflect the effectiveness of this system to mitigate the food security problems of rice worldwide. This system is getting importance among research sector and institutions because of its attractive results and now it is being practiced in many Asian countries. In several recent publications, it has been suggested that SRI represents an integrated and agroecologically sound approach to irrigated rice cultivation, which may offer new opportunities for location-specific production systems of small farmers. SRI is basically a management system that includes certain key elements viz. 1 Transfer of younger seedlings of 8 to 15 days before the initiation of 4thphyllochron 2 Widely spaced transplanting single seedling per hill in a square pattern of 25cm x 25 cm and even more up to 30cm x 30cm depending upon the soil fertility status of the soil 3 Intermittent irrigation (muddy condition during vegetative growth stage) before panicle initiation (PI) rather flood irrigation or submerged conditions and shallow water management from PI to maturity 4 Addition of nutrients to the soil preferably in organic forms like compost or other organic amendments instead of chemical fertilizers 5 Intensive manual or mechanical weed control without herbicide use starting 10 days after transplanting and continuing until the canopy closes. SRI advocates have claimed that this approach would permit resource-poor farmers to attain very high yields with infertile soil, without mineral fertilizer input and with reduced irrigation and fewer seeds. The key physiological principle behind the principal SRI measures is the acceleration of growth rate by providing optimal growing conditions which are responsible for enhanced tillering and shortened phyllochrons. Furthermore, intermittent irrigation is believed to improve oxygen supply to rice roots, thereby decreasing aerenchyma formation and causing a stronger, healthier root system with potential advantages for nutrient uptake. SRI promises to overcome the current food security issues due to increasing population and increasing food demand. There is dire need of research work on SRI under climatic conditions of Pakistan whereas a lot of research work is being worked out in many countries worldwide and fruitful results have been reported by many renowned scientists and research workers. 1
Department of Agronomy, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad. Research Officer, Sugarcane Section, Ayub Agriculture Research Institute, Faisalabad.
2Assistant
Department of Agronomy, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad. 9 Assistant Research Officer, Sugarcane Section, Ayub Agriculture Research Institute, Faisalabad
