How to grow rice more profitably? Four key points to help growers increase their income

Rice is one of the most important food crops, with the longest history, and is different from upland rice, mainly distributed in China's Yangtze River Basin. For growers, how can growing rice achieve better returns and profits? Combined with market conditions, here are four key suggestions and new ideas for you.

1. Variety selection

The rice variety affects the selling price of the grain. It is recommended that farmers select and breed high-quality rice according to local conditions. First, check whether the local accumulated temperature zone, climate conditions, etc. are suitable for growing that variety. As the saying goes, “the land and water of one place nurture the people of that place”; the same rice variety will also differ in yield and quality under different climate conditions, so you should select and breed rice varieties suited to the local climate. In addition, as the consumption level of people in China rises, China's demand for high-quality rice will continue to increase in the future. Taking this year's northern rice as an example, the price of high-quality rice is more than 2 mao per jin higher than that of ordinary rice, and “high quality, high price” is obvious.

2. Field management

After selecting a good rice variety, field management should be strengthened to ensure the harvest. First, pay attention to weather and meteorological changes. For example, the rice-producing areas in the middle and lower reaches of China's Yangtze River are prone to high temperatures and drought every year, and farmers can store water in advance for drought resistance and apply fertilizer to strengthen seedlings to reduce losses. Second, manage scientifically and learn and exchange more with local seed and agricultural technology departments; for example, the timing and frequency of using chemical fertilizers and pesticides should be well controlled to strengthen rice disease resistance and yield-increasing ability.

3. Large-scale, intensive planting

Smallholder rice growers have low returns and poor risk resistance. It is recommended that farmers engage in large-scale, intensive planting. In particular, large grain growers and rice planting cooperatives can more easily form economies of scale, and at the same time they can join agricultural insurance to resist the risk of declining planting returns caused by factors such as natural disasters and the market.

Of course, we also see that Wuchang rice in China, Koshihikari rice from Japan, Thai fragrant rice, and others are deeply loved by the people. In the future, the development of rice in China needs farmers and enterprises, and enterprises and the market, to cooperate and communicate more closely, jointly build the brand effect of rice, and drive farmers to increase income.

4. Increase additional income

Contract planting and rice-fishery co-cultivation, which have emerged in recent years, have clearly helped farmers increase income. Contract planting means growing higher-quality rice according to the requirements of the contracting enterprise, and its price is higher than the market price of ordinary rice. Rice-fishery co-cultivation means establishing ecological fields and, on the basis of rice planting, adding the farming of fish, shrimp, crabs, etc., which reduces inputs of pesticides and chemical fertilizers while also increasing returns. Taking rice-shrimp farming in the south as an example, in 2018 the average return from planting rice alone was around 400 yuan per mu, while the average net return per mu of rice and crayfish co-cultivation fields could reach 1500-2000 yuan per mu, a clear increase in income.