|
Rice-duck farmer with organic rice in Korea, Photo: Kevin Gallagher |
Several bowls of rice are consumed each
day of the year by about half of the earth's population. Asia dominates the
world market growing about 90% of the total production (see table 1). To Asians
'rice' is more than just a grain, it is a concept that is the basis of many
cultural practices, belief about the organisation of the universe, and
self-identification. National rice self-sufficiency goals in most Asian
countries are not just national economic goals, but also statements about the
social-cultural importance of rice production.
The fact that rice is indigenous to Asia separates this grain
culturally and ecologically from staple grains in other parts of the world.
Managed crop production of rice has probably occurred for several thousands of
years over most of Asia-sufficient time for significant adaptations to evolve
between plants and animals in the rice ecosystem, and plants and culture. In
comparative evolutionary time, maize production in Europe or wheat production in
the Americas has only just begun. One must be careful when applying basic
concepts about mono-cropping, continuous cropping, and diversity that have
developed in European or New World systems, as they are not automatically
applicable to the Asian rice system.
But rice production is in crisis in Asia. The great gains in
rice production during the Green Revolution have for most countries stabilised
in absolute terms, or begun to decline in per capita terms(3,4).
Moreover, the high input dependence on 'modern' rice production is causing
environmental damage(5) and significant social costs(6,7).
| Table 1. Rice and population statistics for major regions | |||||||
| Region | Production ('000 t) |
Harvested area ('000 ha) | Av. Yields (t/ha) | Population (million) | |||
|
World |
527,413 | 147,517 | 3.58 | 5,716 | |||
|
Asia |
482,549 |
91.5% |
131,665 |
89.3% |
3.66 |
3,457 |
60.5% |
|
S. America |
16,410 |
3.1% |
5,912 |
4.0% |
2.78 |
319 |
5.5% |
|
N. & C. America |
8,965 |
1.7% |
1,701 |
1.2% |
5.27 |
454 |
7.9% |
|
Africa |
14,802 |
2.8% |
7,145 |
4.8% |
2.07 |
728 |
12.7% |
|
Europe |
2,060 |
<0.5% |
366 |
<0.5% |
5.63 |
726 | 12.7% |
|
Rice Statistics: 1993 levels(1);
Population Statistics: 1994(2). |
|||||||
Cost of maintaining soil fertility
The increase in fertiliser use in Asian rice
production has grown from 19 kg/ha in 1960 to 110 kg/ha in 1985 to an
estimated 185 kg/ha in 1990(8). Yields increased from an average of about 1.8 to
3.6 tonnes/ha over the same period, mostly due to fertiliser inputs and improved
irrigation and rice varieties. In temperate China, Korea and Japan, where
long days and a single long season favour higher yields, fertiliser use per
hectare usually exceeds 300 kg/ha and yields are more than 5 tonnes/ha. What is
astonishing about this development is that rice yields over about 1.8 tonnes are
due to nitrogen fertiliser inputs. This means that as much as one half of the
world's current rice production is entirely dependent on chemical fertiliser
inputs, and the proportion is growing.
These levels of fertiliser applications are known to cause
soil degradation in the form of salination and pH changes that reduce crop
yields(9). The switch to chemical fertilisers is usually associated with a
reduction in the amount of compost or other organic materials incorporated into
soils, leading to a long term decline in micro-nutrients and soil structure(10).
The switch from animal power to machines has also led to a visible reduction of
compost available on farms in Asia.
Major fungal diseases of rice (rice blast, Pyricularia
oryzae and sheath blight, Rhyzoctonia solani) are present in most
rice environments but only become yield reducing at higher levels of nitrogen
application. Below about 100 kg nitrogen/ha these diseases are occasional
problems, but can frequently cause epidemics at higher nitrogen levels(11,12).
While blast occurs primarily in temperate rice and significant plant resistance
is available, sheath blight occurs under hot and humid conditions and no plant
resistance is yet available. Thus, as the push for higher yields promotes higher
nitrogen fertiliser levels, fungal pathogens and fungicide use will increase.
China, Korea, and Japan are already high fungicide users, while Vietnam,
Indonesia and Malaysia are close behind as they push nitrogen inputs upwards.
| 'USE PESTICIDES! (SAFELY)' and other slogans International and national pesticide campaigns often focus on 'Safe Pesticide Use' campaigns. The slogans are usually misleading and imply that pesticides are safe or can be used safely. Yet there are at least two major problems here. First is that 'safe use' usually means a face mask, rubber gloves, rubber boots, and plastic covering. The cost of this equipment can range from US$50-$250 or from 1 to 6 months disposable income for most Asian farmers. Who can afford to be safe? Pesticides requiring expensive equipment should not be registered, and 'Use Pesticides Safely' should be changed to 'Reduce Exposure to Pesticides'. The second problem is the meaning of 'safe'. Safe for oneself, or safe for the environment. Most pesticides have been shown to effect shrimp, fish, shell fish, molluscs, etc. Even a relatively safe selective pesticide used in rice, buprofrezin, inhibits shrimp growth in ponds adjacent to rice fields. |
Sustaining fertility
Run-off of nitrogen may have a significant impact on
streams and rivers in some regions(13). However, ground water leaching of
nitrogen from rice fields in much of Asia is probably not as great as one would
expect given the high application rates. This is due to the anaerobic conditions
of the flooded or saturated rice field during most of the rice season; the
leaching form of nitrogen (nitrate) is not formed so nitrogen is held in the
soil or immobilised in plant tissue.
Leaching is possible, however, at the end of season when
soils begin to dry. In these cases, a suitable catch crop should be established
to immobilise residual soil nitrogen. In Korea, a group of farmers in the Chinju
area are experimenting with a traditional catch crop, Chinese milky vetch. The
vetch is sown in the autumn and will utilise residual nitrogen. After winter,
the vetch will continue to grow. Rice is planted directly into the vetch covered
ground with no tilling or herbicides. When fields are flooded the dying vetch
acts as a mulch and eventually returns its nitrogen to the soil.
Can fertiliser use be reduced and yields maintained? In the
cases of organic growers in Korea(14) and Japan the answer is yes, as they are
achieving yields comparable with chemical fertilisers. Their use of compost is
often very high and not likely to be available to all farmers. New technologies
such as productive green manures, cover crops, and catch crops will have to be
developed to replace fertilisers in a non-labour intensive manner, yet complete
replacement of fertilisers for high level producers does not seem feasible in
the near future.
 |
'Agro-ekosistem' drawing of a rice field in Indonesia - part of learning to manage pests through IPM, Photo: Kevin Gallagher |
Combating high pesticide use
Asian rice producers are also high users of pesticides
(13% of world) but do not need to be. The UN FAO Inter-Country Integrated Pest
Management (IPM) Programme has been working with national and local governments
for the past 14 years. The experiences gained in working with farmer groups
indicate that in all of the major rice producing countries (including chemical
intensive Korea(15)), current levels of pesticide use can
be reduced by 50-80% when farmers receive appropriate training on IPM(16).
The unnecessarily high use is probably due to the past 30
years of top-down directives which, following the ideals of the Green
Revolution, meant direct credit was tied to the use of fertilisers, seed, and
pesticides. At the same time, all major donor agencies provided pesticides or
subsidies in aid programmes or in national subsidies. The Indonesian government,
for example, subsidised pesticides up to US$150 million dollars per year prior
to 1987, when subsidies were stopped by Presidential decree(17). These practices
continue today in programmes such as the Japanese overseas development packages
(KR2), in which as much as 30% of the 'aid' package(18) is in the form of
pesticides that are distributed at no or low cost to farmers-regardless of
their need.
But pesticide use will probably increase given the absence of
innovative research and national policies to reduce use. Higher labour rates
with increasing industrialisation in Asia will eventually drive farmers to
switch from transplanted hand weeded systems to direct seeded herbicide
intensive systems such as in Malaysia. Higher fertiliser use for higher yields
will promote fungal pathogens and more fungicide use. Higher herbicide and
fungicide use will result in greater natural enemy mortality and the likelihood
of secondary or resurgent insect pests.
The International Rice Research Institute and national
research centres have not developed alternatives to the emerging situation,
although farmers have introduced some innovations. Ducks are being reared for
use as early weed control in rice-duck systems, and national rice-duck
associations now exist in Japan, Korea, Vietnam, and Thailand. Live mulches are
being tested in Thailand and Laos by farmers and Japanese volunteers. Rice and
mung bean are broadcast simultaneously so that the mung bean becomes a mulch,
while the rice is established and the field is flooded.
Water conflicts
Water quality and quantity is important for rice
production. There is however competition for similar demands from growing urban
populations. The conflicts are just emerging as urban dwellers begin to control
rural farm practices. One example is the recent establishment of a Green Belt
around the main watershed for Seoul, Korea. In this area, no livestock is
allowed and only organic agriculture practices will be permitted. Here,
thousands of farmers will have to change to organic agriculture in an area where
agriculture officials are pressed to boost yields and do not have the expertise
to support new regulations.
Extension and silver bullets
One remnant of the Green Revolution in Asia is the
World Bank-initiated 'Training and Visit' (T&V) extension system. Under
the top-down T&V, extension field staff are supposed to be expert
communicators, promoting adoption of centrally formulated technical packages
(e.g. seeds, urea and pesticides) by farmers. The main role of field level
extension staff is communication, so they usually lack technical field training
and skills to assist farmer innovation to overcome local problems(19). This lack
of expertise becomes a critical limiting factor for increasing yields.
The distribution of yield levels over a particular area is
usually skewed toward lower yields, with a few growers with good soil and water
producing better results. Current research efforts to make a Super Rice and
other varieties to 'break the yield barrier' primarily focus on optimal
production areas: increasing yields in already high yielding environments. The
average production level moves forward, but the skewness of the yield
distribution is increased. In fact, early IR varieties yielded more than 10
tonnes/ha in optimal environments(20) leaving other farmers behind.
An alternative approach would be to increase the low yields
of large numbers of farms. Raising yields on the low end of the yield
distribution usually entails better maintenance of irrigation, delivering inputs
on time, and improving basic farming skills. Unfortunately, many current
extension programmes are better set up to deliver 'silver bullets' to contact
farmers, rather than to provide local expertise for technical innovation and
local community action.
Ecosystem productivity v. grain output
There is a need for major rethinking about production
in rice systems. The efforts of most international centres with global mandates
and national research and extension programmes have been to focus primarily on
yield per hectare of grain harvest, using more fertilisers to increase yields
with the result that we are now heavily dependent on fertilisers for high rice
yields, and over-using pesticides. Yet new (and old) efforts are showing that
rice fields can produce more than just rice on a large scale. Rice-duck systems
have been mentioned above.
Rice-fish systems are widely practised in Indonesia,
Thailand, Bangladesh, and Vietnam(21). Several non-governmental organisations
are actively researching and training farmers and extensionists in rice-fish
systems. CARE in Bangladesh has also increased production on rice bunds. These
production methods are highly sensitive to misuse of fertilisers and pesticides
but do increase overall food production through intensive, sometimes mechanised
systems. Much greater effort must be given for development of these systems,
especially through local innovation which match local socio-economic constraints
and ecosystems.
Conclusion
Rice production has followed a route of chemical
intensification that has led to fertiliser and pesticides misuse, in which water
quality is threatened, and in which extension and research are locked into
'silver bullets'. The outlook for a sustainable agriculture in this fashion is
grimmer the further it is adopted. There are signs that different ways in which
local expertise and innovation can make incremental changes across all levels of
production, and a new rice ecosystem view in which rice field productivity of
over 400 million ha could be significantly increased. It is now time to decide
which path we will take, either the path in which the international community
drifts into a top-down chemical intensive waste land, or one in which
governments take notice of local innovation, and create a hospitable environment
in which local communities have access to expertise and resources.
| The army, navy and air force During the hundreds of farmer field school's (FFS) held in Indonesia, farmers have developed their own ecological analogies for rice ecosystems, especially about 'good guy' natural enemies in their fields eating pest insects. In one FFS in Bantul, south of the historic Yogyakarta in Central Java, one farmer explained: "In my field, I feel very confident that I will not be greatly distressed by pest insects. I know that I have the army, navy and air force! The army are the spiders and beetles that crawl around the plant searching for planthoppers and insect eggs. The navy are the water striders, and dragon fly nymphs that continuously search for the enemy in the water, In the air are the dragonflies and damselflies that can grab moths, and the spider webs that trap grasshoppers and rice bugs." In Korea, one person pointed out how early 'preventive sprays' actually only wipe out the 'police', just when the 'thieves' where migrating into the fields. This person was referring to the annual migration of rice brown planthoppers from China in July, just after most farmers apply a spray for stemborers thinking that they will be safe from pests, but actually creating a more dangerous situation. These analogies give farmers a way to re-interpret ecological concepts into daily life |
Kevin D. Gallagher has previously worked with the UN FAO Integrated Pest Management Programme in Indonesia and Philippines from 1988 to 1992 and is currently identifying and introducing new technologies for non-toxic, high production organic agriculture in Asia. Asian Sustainable Agriculture Research and Consulting, Seokchon Bldg. 401, 1551-5 Seocho-dong, Seocho-gu, Seoul, S. Korea 137-071.