Rice-growing Regions Research Articles

Cropping systems research for the Asian rice farmer

There has been a rapid increase in the availability of improved and short duration varieties, early crop establishment techniques, pest management alternatives, farm machinery and supplemental irrigation. To be useful to Asian rice farmers these new technological components need to be carefully combined to fit the prevailing production environment. This requires a holistic approach to agricultural research that is oriented towards the combination of crop enterprises encountered on, or suitable for, the different land types in rice-growing regions. In formulating such an approach, IRRI's cropping systems programme has tried to avoid complex computational and information processing techniques. Co-operation with representatives from national research organisations in south and southeast Asia (Cropping Systems Working Group, 1975) led to the formulation of a site-related cropping systems research methodology that emphasises decentralised research in the farm community. This methodology is conceptually based on the cropping system as an open, reactive system. The research activities therefore focus on the description and classification of the environment, on the design of improved cropping systems, on their on-farm testing and on methods for the formulation of production programmes.

The Green Revolution in South India and North Vietnam

Thanjavur district in southeast India, on the Kaveri River delta, and Thi Binh province in North Vietnam, on the Red River delta, are intensive rice-growing regions. Both export rice to deficit areas of their countries. Since 1965 both have received the new technology of the "green revolution" involving hybrid high-yielding varieties of paddy, chemical fertilizers and pesticides, electric or diesel pumpsets, and some use of tractors. I want to compare their governments' basic agricultural strategies, and the resulting yields, agrarian relations, and relationships to the world economy.This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website, where most recent articles are published in full.Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.

The green revolution in South India and North Vietnam

Thanjavur district in southeast India, on the Kaveri River delta, and Thi Binh province in North Vietnam, on the Red River delta, are intensive rice-growing regions. Both export rice to deficit areas of their countries. Since 1965 both have received the new technology of the green revolution involving hybrid high-yielding varieties of paddy, chemical fertilizers and pesticides, electric or diesel pumpsets, and some use of tractors. I want to compare their governments' basic agricultural strategies, and the resulting yields, agrarian relations, and relationships to the world economy.This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website, where most recent articles are published in full.Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.

The "Green Revolution" in South India and North Vietnam

Thanjavur district in southeast India, on the Kaveri River delta, and Thi Binh province in North Vietnam, on the Red River delta, are intensive rice-growing regions. Both export rice to deficit areas of their countries. Since 1965 both have received the new technology of the green revolution involving hybrid high-yielding varieties of paddy, chemical fertilizers and pesticides, electric or diesel pumpsets, and some use of tractors. I want to compare their governments' basic agricultural strategies, and the resulting yields, agrarian relations, and relationships to the world economy.This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website, where most recent articles are published in full.Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.

Insect Parasites in the Natural Control of Species of Rice Stem Borers on Luzon Island, Philippines

The egg and larval parasites of rice stem borers were reared from monthly collections of hosts from 5 major rice-growing regions of Luzon Island, Philippines. Adult parasites also were collected. Apanteles schoenobii Wilkinson, Eriborus sinicus Holmgren, Shirakia schoenobii Viereck, and Tetrastichus schoenobii Ferriere were recorded as most common parasites. Itoplectis naranyae Ashmead), Temelucha sp. nr. nigromaculta Cameron, and Brachymeria sp. collected during these studies are new records for the Philippines. Laboratory rearings of field-collected borer larvae failed to yield any dipterous parasites. Incidence of parasitism in general was very low, being only 3.5% for the entire Luzon Island, suggesting that entomophagous insects play a very limited role in the natural control of rice stem borers on the island. Among the various regions surveyed, Bicol had the highest incidence of parasitism (6.8%), followed by Neuva Vizcaya (4.3%), Central Luzon Plain (4.1%), and Isabela (1.1%).

The power of active individuals

We read that India has harvested 95 million tons of wheat this summer, 6 million tons more than the previous best harvest. Much credit is given to the U.S. foreign-aid program in which farm experts from the U.S. introduced high-yielding strains of wheat, helped build fertilizer plants, and overcame some of the natural suspicion and doubts of the people of the country by getting some of them to take part. This is not the first time that grain production has been increased significantly by the introduction of scientifically based methods and technological improvements. It was done with corn in Mexico under the leadership of the Rockefeller Foundation and that spirit has been carried into some of the rice-growing regions of the Philippines and other areas of the Orient. While such achievements are not a sign we have overcome broad problems of feeding the world's people, they allow certain spare comfort to be taken from what ...

Seasonal Fluctuations in Abundance of Various Rice Stem Borers on Luzon Island, Philippines12

Monthly samples of rice stem borers were taken from the 1965-66 wet- and dry-season rice crops from 5 major rice-growing regions on Luzon Island, Philippines. The samples showed that, of the 5 species of lepidopterous rice stem borers previously recorded from the island, Tryporyza incertulas (Walker) and the Asiatic rice borer, Chilo Suppressalis (Walker), were the most abundant. S’samia inferens (Walker) and Chilotraea polychrysa (Meyrick) were relatively rare, while T. innotata (Walker) was not encountered at all. The borers attacked the crop when it was very young and reached their peak just before or immediately after harvest. Their overall abundance seemed to depend on the age and quality of the rice crop rather than on the small variations in climate found among the rice-growing regions on the island. From transplanting to harvest, T. incertulas was the dominant species in the rice fields in all 5 regions, comprising about 70% of the borer population. In the stubble after harvest the other 3 borers, especially Chilo suppressalis , increased considerably in numbers while T. incertulas declined. However, there are areas like the farms of The International Rice Research Institute and the College of Agriculture, University of the Philippines, at Los Banes, Laguna, where the former is more abundant than the latter.