Rice production in the cone of South America – what can we learn for

GRiSP-Asia?

Bas Bouman, Program leader Sustainable Rice production Systems

Head, Crop and Environmental Sciences DivisionInternational Rice research Institute, Philippines

Content

General and brief overview rice in South America

The Agronomy Revolution

A few words about the rice industry

Extension models

Reflections for GRiSP-Asia

Latin-America Rice:

26 Million t/y

6.5 Million ha(4% of global)

Uruguay

NE Argentina - Entre Rios- Corrientes

South Brazil- Rio Grande do Sul

Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul [hide]Climate data for Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul

Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year

Record high °C

39 36.5 37.4 35.1 31.6 29.4 31.8 33 35.6 34.4 39.2 39.6 39.6

Average high °C

27 26 26 22 19 17 16 18 19 21 24 26 21.5

Daily mean °C

23 22 21 18 14 13 12 13 14 17 19 21 17.5

Average low °C

19 18 17 14 10 9 8 9 10 13 15 17 13.5

Record low °C

10 9.8 5 2.7 1.2 −3 −2.7 −1 0.2 2.6 6 7.9 −3

Precipitation

mm (inches)

118 145 120 100 95 118 132 123 135 112 86 95 1,379

% humidity 77.4 79.9 80.5 82.3 83.6 84 84.9 83.2 81.8 79.5 76 75.5 80.7

precipitation days

11.7 11.5 10.3 8.9 9.2 10.5 11.4 9.7 10.8 10.6 10 9.5 124.1

Sunshine hours 251.2 204.7 213 189.5 177.7 146.2 149.9 160.8 199.6 234.5 265.9 196.2 2,389.2

Source: Federal University of Pelotas - UFPel. [17]

Some rice sector characteristics

Uruguay: 180,000 ha; 550-600 growers; all exportArgentina: 250,000 ha; all exportRio Grande do Sul: 1,100,000 ha; 18,500 growers

Large farms, average Uruguay 300 ha; small = 25 ha in Argentina and Brasil; large is > 1000 ha

All irrigated lowland

High yields: 6.5- 8 t/ha; yield potentials 12-13 t/ha?

Large machines, airplanes

Rice (1-2 year) - pasture (3-4 year) rotations

Kill pasture with glyphosate Ploughing, harrowing

ScrapingBunds along contour lines

Summer plus winter fallow

Spring dry seeding first rice crop

120-140 d duration

Seed density 100-170 kg/ha

50-70 kg N/ha

100% area under herbicide5% area under insecticide80-100% area under fungicide

100% area under irrigation

Picture: Gonzalo Zorilla, FLARPicture: Gonzalo Zorilla, FLAR

Picture: Neil Palmer, CIAT, 2012

Late winter/early spring: herbicides, maybe scraping and bund reshaping

Second year rice, no till (65%)

Winter fallow, or winter rye

Picture: Gonzalo Zorilla, FLAR

Year 3-6. Pasture and cattle grazing

The “Agronomy Revolution”

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112000

3000

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5000

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7000

8000

9000

Rio Grande del Sur

Uruguay

Argentina

Colombia

Chile

Paraguay

Gonzalo Zorilla, FLAR, 2012

Paddy yield (kg/ha)

Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

Extension focused on integrated and efficient management

Focus on a few fundamental points

New Clearfield varieties with similar yield potential

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114000

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8000Kg/ha

Source: IRGA statistics

Gonzalo Zorilla, FLAR, 2012

Cultivars

Cul

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5054,2

45,863,2

9,627,3

a) Maturity group b) CLEARFIELD cultivars

Rice varieties in Rio Grande do Sul, 2011-12

Sérgio Iraçu Gindri Lopes, IRGA, 2012

Before Clearfield: 4 t/ha After Clearfield: 8 t/ha

Only 50-70% use of certified/clean seed

Sérgio Iraçu Gindri Lopes, IRGA, 2012

Rice yield (t/ha), Rio Grande do Sul

Valmir Gaedke Menezes, IRGA, 2012

Valmir Gaedke Menezes, IRGA, 2012

Valmir Gaedke Menezes, IRGA, 2012

Shallow poorly-drained soils: too wet after winter to cultivate early

Summer tillage (fallow) or winter rye grass followed by minimum/zero till sowing early spring (60-65% in Uruguay; 70% in RGdS Brasil)

3 times application of herbicides (glyphosate)

Picture: Gonzalo Zorilla, FLAR

Uruguay

2000

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2008

2010

4.0

4.5

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6.5

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El Paso 144 TacuaríOlimar Otras

Varieties: 5-7% Clearfied) Yield

Use of certified/clean seed every yearGonzalo Zorilla, FLAR, 2012

Sowing date

Fertilization

Seed density

Pest, disease management

Weed control

Water management

Just “everything a bit better”…

Luciano Carmona, CIAT-FLAR, 2012

Rice industry - Uruguay

Instituto National de Investigacion Agropecuaria (INIA) – Research

500-600 farmers organized in Asociacion de Cultivadores de Arroz (ACA)

Millers organized in Gremial de Molineros Arroceros (GMA):

SAMAN: 47%Casarone: 14%Coopar: 14%Glencore: 11%

75% of area under rice price agreement system

Drying, milling, parboiling, storage, packing; processing (oil)

Millers are also the exporters

Need for consistent and high quality; same variety

Raul Uraga Berrutti, SAMAN, 2012

Raul Uraga Berrutti, SAMAN, 2012

Raul Uraga Berrutti, SAMAN, 2012

Value-adding; close supply-chain actors; millers/exporters ‘driving’ quality process

Physical loss: 12-25%Loss at market: up to 50%Farmers don’t value add

Postharvest management Asia

Laser leveling

Rice mill improvement Super bags

Quality tools

Drying system transfer

Min Combine transfer

Market info

Farmers’ seeds

Quality, Water, Labor

1. Uruguay: no government extension since early 1990s – farmers and millers have agronomists who interact with INIA

2. Argentina (Corrientes): INTA has a network of extensionists – doesn’t work because too few and too general (all crops)

3. Brazil (RGdS): IRGA has a well functioning network of extensionists; EMBRAPA?

RiceTec has after sale assistance (field days, farmer groups)

Extension systems

Alvaro Schwanke, RiceTec, 2012

Alvaro Schwanke, RiceTec, 2012

Valmir Gaedke Menezes, IRGA, 2012

Valmir Gaedke Menezes, IRGA, 2012

RiceCheck is a farmer participatory program which benchmarks farmer crops to identify practices (checks) for lifting yields and profits

RiceCheck

John Lacy, 2012

Rice yield Australia (t/ha)

John Lacy, 2012

FLAR

Gonzalo Zorilla, FLAR

1. Agronomy Revolution:• Importance of rotations

• Simple agronomy ‘checks’ (get things right); A few key checks: variety (Clearfield in Brazil), certified seed (Uruguay), timely sowing <= zero-tillage machine drilling

• No prescriptive technology push

• Intensive researcher-agronomist-farmer interaction; farmer learning groups: measure, monitor, record, analyze

Any lessons for GRiSP-Asia?

No internet or DSS use by farmers or

advisors for agronomy information

2. Poor drainage-rainfall-tillage => timely establishment => DSR versus mechanized transplanting => target domain DSR

3. DSR => risk weeds and weedy rice

• Herbicide tolerant varieties => resistance development => stewardship need

• Clean (certified) seeds (Uruguay), crop rotation, establishment rotation

2010: 2 Clearfield varieties in Malaysia

Soon to appear in Vietnam

4. Rice sector well developed

• Short value chain, highly value driven (export), millers important ‘drivers’

• Market demand: only few varieties, some ‘old’ => “consistency” important quality characteristic

Asia is different: poverty and staple food of the poor

=> Keep price of rice low

“Supermarket revolution”:

High price is driver for quality and efficiency

=> Opportunities for adding value in Asia?

Mekong Delta Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar?

“Middle Class” in Developing Countries Could Reach 730 Million Households By 2020, Up 104% From 2010 Levels20% of households in these countries are middle class. By 2020, this could increase to 36% and the impact on food consumption will be large

Developing countries with fastest growing “middle class”

“Middle class”: 20,000$ annual PPP

Source: Global Insight’s Global Consumer Markets data as analyzed by FAS/OGA

Courtesy: Michael J. Dwyer, Director of Global Policy Analysis, Office of Global AnalysisForeign Agricultural Service/USDA

Taiwan

Malyasia

South Korea

Philippines

Colombia

Vietnam

Turkey

Thailand

Mexico

Egypt

Russia

Indonesia

Brazil

India

China

0 25 50 75 100 125 150 175 200 225 250 275 300 325 350 375

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2010 levels

Proj gains by 2020

Households with real PPP incomes greater than $20,000 (in millions)

5. Topics for collaboration:

1. The threat of weedy rice => stewardship guidelines

2. Sustainable production: carbon, water footprint

3. Sustainable rotations => experimental platforms

4. Yield gap analysis => simulation modeling

5. Best Management Practices => joint framework for development and extension

Picture: Neil Palmer, CIAT, 2012

Gracias por su atención(Thanks for your attention)

Recent development: on-farm reservoirs, and rotate crops around the water (with summer fallows since land is plenty). All private investments!

Still only 5% of (rain) water resources used, 95% in rice

Picture: Gonzalo Zorilla, FLAR

Brazil, RGdS2011 Argentina, Corrientes

2008

Uruguay, 2011

IRRI and partners; web-based

Raul Uraga Berrutti, SAMAN, 2012