Rice is a staple food of Asia and a fastest growing food in some African and Latin American states. In the US and Europe, the increased in consumption of rice is mainly due to the immigration of Asian people.
Growing rice requires time, labor, proper care and management. Most rice are grown up to four months before harvest. Harvested rice is dried and gone through the process of milling to become the rice we buy in the market.
How to grow rice?
Planning
Old timer, see farming as a job, a hard labor intensive one, but other see it otherwise. It's actually a business, and with that mindset, it should be profitable because of capital, time, and labor a farmer put into it.
Planning include when to start, what seed to use and how it will be manage. In the Philippines, farmers start in the onset of rainy season (June) to take advantage of the rain. Rice needs a massive amount of water to grow. In selecting seeds, the factors to be consider are yield potential, maturity, and variety. Managing the crop includes weeds and pest control, water management and application of fertilizers.
Land Prep
Plowing and harrowing either using carabao (water buffalo) or machinery is how you prepare the land. This way the land is dig, mix and level for better crop management and thus increase yield.
Planting
Common methods of planting rice are transplanting, wet direct seeding and dry direct seeding. Those method depend on seasons, water availability and farmer's preference.
Transplanting involve establishing the crop in a "seed bed" before transplanting into the wider field usually at 18-25 days after sowing the seed. This is done manually but there's already available transplanting machine that can replace human labor.
In wet-direct seeding, the seed is pre-germinated before it broadcast manually into the wet field. Usually done after the main crop.
Direct dry seeding is the method most prefer in rainfed area or places without irrigation. Seeds is broadcast into the dry field. When heavy rain comes, the seed will germinate and grow.
Management
Rice needs nutrients to grow. It is the main factor of its yield. Main nutrients are nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium. Zinc, sulfur are also important micro nutrients. Those nutrients came from chemical form or organic sources. Control of weeds and pest is done by using herbicide and insecticide. Some practices of organic farming are incorporated into the traditional way and this prove to give a much better yield.
Harvesting
At aged 105-120 days (depend on the variety), rice become mature and the seeds are riped, ready for harvest. This is done manually or by using machine. The harvested rice paddy are sold, dried and put to stock in rice mill's warehouses. The rice paddy will undergo into milling process to become the rice we love to cook and eat.
Situation In The Philippines
Nowadays rice industry (includes farmers, stockholders, rice millers) facing a tough competition from other rice producing countries. Imported rice from Vietnam and China is prized much lower compare to the locally produced. The government is weighing its options of balancing the interest of the industry and its role of maintaining an affordable rice for all. To help the farmers, the government subsidised fertilizers, seeds and extended loan for them.
Rice is the staple food for billions of people. It is important to recognized the needs of farmers and its industry who produced this very important food. Research and development should continuously done for better seeds and yield to secure food for all.
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Waaah let's promote agricultureee!!