Subsistence Wet Rice Cultivation

Intensive- Where the farm size is small.

Extensive- large farm size in comparsion with the money spent or numbers working.

What is Wet Rice?

It has been estimated that half the world's population subsists wholly or partially on rice.

Wet rice is a variety of rice grown in partially flooded padi (paddy) fields.

Mostly grown by subsistence farmers in small intensively farmed fields.

Paddy cultivation: The Annual CycleEarly spring:

Plant seedsPrepare the ground –often with water buffaloTransplant seedlings into flooded paddy fieldsFertility rituals

Summer:Weed the seedlingsFertilize/cultivateControl the water level, gradually reducing

Fall:HarvestRice hulling and millingExploit other parts of the plantPrepare the soil for spring plantingCeremonies of thanks

Requirements for Paddy Cultivation: Flat (or terraced) land Impervious soil (to hold water) Warm, wet spring, hot summer (monsoon

climate) Control of water level Addition of fertilization Intensive labour Social cooperation This is type of farming is sustainable

Terraced Wet Rice Cultivation

BUNDS

The Green Revolution and HYV’s

The Green Revolution refers to the application of modern, western type farming techniques to LEDC’s.

LEDC governments attempted to move the populations from subsistence to commercial farming.

It began with the development of High Yielding Variety Seeds. (HYV’s).

New seeds are faster growing, disease resistant and shorter increasing yields by up to 6%.

New seeds require more water, fertiliser and pesticides. Used machinery to plough fields Set up irrigation schemes and projects Wet rice farming became less sustainable.

Developing New Rice Varieties IR8 - The first of the modern, high-yielding, semi-dwarf rices that sparked the Green

Revolution was developed by IRRI and released to stave off the mass famine that was predicted for Asia in the 1970s. It outproduced all existing rice varieties by a factor of two.

  IR36 -This early maturing variety had multiple pest resistance, and had been planted

to more than 11 million hectares by the 1980s - a world record. IR36's contribution to global food security was recognized when IRRI received the King Baudouin Award in 1982.

  IR64 -IRRI celebrated its 25th anniversary in 1985 by releasing IR64, whose excellent

grain quality, pest resistance and high yields made it the most widely planted variety of rice in the 1990s.

 'Super Rice'

In 1989, IRRI began to develop a completely new rice plant that could break the yield plateau reached by the modern high-yielding varieties. TIME magazine called the new plant type "one of the five top environment stories of 1994". Now going through a process of further refinement, "super rice' is expected to be in farmers' fields in 2003.

Successes and Failures of the Green Revolution:

SUCCESSES Yields increased Farmers had a better standard of living New industries making fertilisers

developed in rural areas

FAILURES

Many farmers can not afford machinery and fertilisers required

Machinery increases rural unemployment Rural to urban migration increased Increased yields make prices fall Farmers become poorer

The Green Revolution

What is meant by the term ‘Green Revolution’? What are HYV seeds Why did some LEDC countries feel that

introducing HYV’s was so important? Describe 3 advantages of the Green Revolution

to local farmers. Describe 3 disadvantages of the Green

Revolution to local farmers. Answer the question on the next slide…

Case Study: Intensive Wet Rice Cultivation in Java,

Indonesia

Terraces in the mountainous region of the Puncak (pronounced Punch-ak - this translates literally as ‘hills’)

These areas have both been cleared of the natural rainforest for centuries. The soils have remained fertile because they are above volcanic rocks which, when weathered, produce fertile soils (this is not true of all volcanic rocks – the neighbouring volcanic island of Sumatra has very poor soils).

The rate of weathering in this tropical environment is rapid enough to maintain the fertility of the soil despite the intensive cultivation there. The climate enables the people of this area to produce two crops of rice every year from the same land. Fields in which rice is grown have become known as ‘padi’ fields. Padi is the Malay/Indonesian word for rice which has not yet been harvested – hence the name (‘beras’ is harvested rice and ‘nasi’ is cooked rice).

Collecting the new rice seedlings from the nursery and bundling them up for transfer to the fields for careful transplanting

The padi fields are flooded after they have been ploughed, by sealing the gaps in the boundaries of the fields through which the water is drained. This is because this type of rice (wet rice) grows best in the early part of its life-cycle in swampy conditions. The seedlings have been raised in a ‘nursery’, a small plot of land set aside for this purpose, and in the lower photograph these delicate seedlings are being planted by hand. The workers are very skillful at planting the crop. They avoid damage to the seedlings and they space them at just the right density for optimum growth.

Terraces made from mud need a lot of maintenance helping to make this farming intensive.

Gap for draining field

Nursery where new seedlings are grown

The fields will remain flooded until pollination is finished and the heads of grain begin to form. At this time the rice, like all grains, needs drier conditions to ripen. Therefore the fields are drained by breaking open the small gap which was sealed earlier. It also needs to be in a clay soil so that the stems will be held strongly and the heads of grain will not droop and spoil. The clay soils of Java are perfect for this. While the rice is growing the farmers have to maintain the field boundaries to make sure the water is kept in the fields and keep the fields clear of weeds.

During this time they may be able to harvest two other important sources of food. Small fish will grow in the flooded fields and edible frogs will occupy them. The fish are especially easy to catch when the fields are drained. Flooded fields also provide grazing for ducks. These help to keep down the weeds.

When the rice is ready for harvesting the stems will be cut by hand using a sharp blade (scythe) and then threshed by hand. Threshing is like thrashing, and involves bashing the stems against rush matting to get the grains out (the grains fall through the matting onto the ground). The husks of the rice, which contain both the important grain and the unwanted casing around it, are then ‘winnowed’. This is usually a simple process which involves putting the rice into a very wide, shallow basket and tossing it into the air – a bit like tossing a pancake. The heavy grain returns to the basket while most of the lighter husks are carried away by the wind. Finally it is laid out to dry. Moisture in the grains could lead to mildew and rotting in storage. The rice is then ready for bagging and storing or sale.

Wet Rice Farming in Indonesia Read the information and study the photographs.1. Construct and complete a table like the one below. A start has

been made for you. There should be many more items in the ‘processes’ section than the other two.

2. How and why did the government develop a ‘Green Revolution’ in Indonesia?

3. Use a diagram or diagrams to help you to explain how people can farm the very steep slopes on Photograph A.

4. Describe what is happening in Photograph B. Homework There is a separate photograph showing two types of farming:

wet rice and a tea plantation. Produce an annotated diagram of this photograph to describe and explain the farming, settlement patterns and landscape of this photograph.

Inputs Processes Outputs

Water to flood the fields Planting the seeds in the nursery

Small fry from fishing the padi fields

Changes in Farming.

The Green Revolution

CAP.

Pg 106-109