Analysis of the Current Status and Existing Problems of Upland Rice Production

Upland rice, also known as dryland rice, is a type of cultivated rice with strong drought resistance, tolerance to poor soil, and suitability for dryland direct seeding and dryland management. It can be planted in any soil suitable for growing major dryland grain crops such as @#@245@#@ and corn. It does not require water layer management throughout the entire growth period, and its irrigation volume is only 1/4 to 1/10 that of paddy rice. Upland rice is more drought-tolerant and barren-tolerant than paddy rice, and has the water-saving characteristics of low input and high output.

I. Overview of World Upland Rice Production

Currently, the world's upland rice planting area is 0.18 billion hectares. In West Africa, upland rice accounts for more than 75% of the rice growing area; in the Americas, upland rice accounts for 65% to 75% of the rice growing area. At present, the main upland rice producing countries are: India with 0.1 billion hectares, accounting for 1/6 of the rice area; Brazil with 5.59 million hectares, accounting for 85% of the rice area; Bangladesh with 4.667 million hectares, accounting for 40% of the rice area; Indonesia with 1.067 million hectares, accounting for 10% of the rice area; Vietnam with 504,000 hectares; and China with 200,000 hectares.

II. Current Status of Upland Rice Production in China

China has a long history of upland rice cultivation and abundant upland rice resources. As many as 3,103 local upland rice varieties have been catalogued in the "Catalogue of Rice Germplasm Resources of China." Before the 1950s, upland rice was widely distributed in China as a minor grain crop. According to statistics, in 1955 China's upland rice planting area reached 333,000 hectares. From the late 1950s onward, with the improvement of water conservancy conditions and the increase in the yields of paddy rice, wheat and summer corn, upland rice was gradually replaced by paddy rice. The development of upland rice showed a slowing trend. The main reasons were insufficient yield-increasing potential of upland rice varieties, relatively poor economic returns, relatively lagging cultivation techniques, and a low degree of mechanization. The fundamental cause of these phenomena is that the quality of upland rice seeds cannot be guaranteed and the planting techniques are not fully matched.

In recent years, China's water resource shortage has become increasingly serious. With the new round of adjustment of the national planting structure and the needs of agricultural ecological structural adjustment in the Western Development Program, there is strong demand for developing dryland water-saving agriculture such as upland rice, prompting people to re-explore planting upland rice to solve the problems of rice supply and water-saving agriculture. In particular, after the introduction and successful trial planting of Brazilian upland rice in China, relevant departments and experts have attached great importance to upland rice. In view of the characteristics of widespread drought, many hills, serious desertification and severe water shortage in western China, the application of upland rice is of great significance for saving water resources, increasing grain output, reducing energy consumption and protecting the ecological environment.

III. Production Advantages of Upland Rice

Upland rice has the characteristics of drought tolerance, waterlogging tolerance, disease resistance, high quality and strong adaptability. When directly sown in dryland, 667 sq m can have more effective panicles. As long as suitable conditions are available, it can have the same yield-increasing potential as paddy rice. Compared with paddy rice, planting upland rice has the following advantages: First, it changes paddy field preparation to dryland preparation or no-tillage, saving a large amount of water for land preparation and reducing agricultural production costs; second, it broadens the scope of rice cultivation. Because paddy field rice cultivation is changed to dryland rice cultivation, irrigation volume is greatly reduced, and rice can be grown on dryland with irrigation conditions, greatly increasing the rice production area; third, it changes water layer management to no water layer management. Irrigation mainly meets the physiological water demand of rice plants, significantly improving water use efficiency. At the same time, because upland rice is managed without a water layer, the topsoil remains in an oxidized state, fundamentally eliminating the anaerobic conditions caused by long-term flooding in paddy fields and avoiding the damage to the atmosphere caused by toxic gases such as methane; fourth, because upland rice cultivation does not require maintaining a water layer and only implements moist management, it will not raise the groundwater level, has less seepage, and poses no threat of secondary salinization. At the same time, it also reduces seepage in the topsoil, alleviating pollution of groundwater and rivers and lakes caused by chemical fertilizers and pesticides seeping through the topsoil in paddy fields.

IV. Analysis of the Economic Benefits of Upland Rice Planting

After China's accession to the "WTO," rice is the only grain product among China's grains that benefits in the trade liberalization process. In 1998, China's rice exports reached 3.75 million tons, accounting for 19% of the world's total rice exports. With the development of world economic integration and liberalization, more and more households will consume rice, so the international supply of rice will increase significantly, and prices will be relatively stable.

V. Problems Existing in the Development of Upland Rice Production

1. Aging of upland rice varieties

The key to the development of upland rice lies in varieties. Compared with other crops, upland rice still has a relatively small planting area, insufficient investment in upland rice variety breeding, and slow variety replacement.

2. Lack of a certain regional character

Upland rice varieties have a certain suitable region. During the growth and development of upland rice, when drought develops to a certain degree, an appropriate amount of irrigation must be supplemented. Therefore, when planting upland rice, low-lying waterlogging-prone land or land with certain irrigation conditions should be selected. In production, upland rice production plans should be made according to local irrigation conditions, rainfall and other aspects. Upland rice planting should be relatively concentrated, gradually becoming scaled and systematic.

3. Incomplete comprehensive supporting techniques

Upland rice is an emerging planting industry. To develop upland rice, first, on the basis of selecting varieties suitable for local planting, research on supporting cultivation techniques for high-quality and high-yield upland rice should be strengthened. Technically, it should be further improved so that good varieties are matched with good methods, achieving the goals of high yield, high quality and high efficiency. Eliminating weeds is also an important link in developing upland rice, and to a certain extent affects the development of upland rice. In the planting and management of upland rice, comprehensive supporting techniques such as land preparation, sowing and chemical weed control should be emphasized.