Without been told a good seed is pure (of a chosen variety), full and uniform in size, viable (more than 80% germination with good seedling vigor), and free of weed seeds, seed-borne diseases, pathogens, insects, or other matter.
Make sure you choose seed of a suitable variety of rice that really suits your environment.
The Land preparation
for Rice cultivation
Make sure before the rice is planted,
the soil is in the best physical condition for crop growth and also the soil
surface must be level. The land preparation is all about plowing and harrowing
to ‘till’ or dig-up, mix and level of the soil.Without been told, tillage actually allows the seeds to be planted at the right depth, and also it helps with weed control. As a Rice farmer you can till the land yourself using hoes and other equipment or you can be assisted by draft animals, like buffalo, or tractors and other machinery.
Again, the land need to be leveled to reduce the amount of water wasted by uneven pockets of too-deep water or exposed soil. If the land is effectively leveled it will allow the seedlings to become established more easily, also reduced the amount of effort required to manage the crop, and increases both rice quality and yields.
The Rice crop
establishment
In Rice cultivation the two main
practices of establishing the crop plants are transplanting and direct seeding.One of the most popular plant establishment techniques in Rice is transplanting. In Rice farming the Pre- germinated seedlings are transferred from a seedbed to the wet field. This method actually requires less seed and is an effective method of controlling weeds, but it actually requires more labor. In some case the seedlings may be transplanted by either machine or hand.
The direct seeding actually involves the broadcasting dry seed or pre-germinated seeds and seedlings by hand or planting them with machine. In rain fed and deepwater ecosystems, dry seed is manually broadcast onto the soil surface and then incorporated either by ploughing or by harrowing while the soil is still dry. In irrigated areas, seed is normally pre- germinated prior to broadcasting.
The watering of the Rice
plant
One thing about Rice is that they are extremely sensitive to water shortages. To ensure sufficient water, most rice farmers aim to maintain flooded conditions in their field. This is especially true for lowland rice. Good water management in lowland rice focuses on practices that conserve water while ensuring sufficient water for the crop.In rain fed environments when optimal amounts of water may not be available for rice production, a suite of options are available to help farmers cope with different degrees and forms of water scarcity. It includes sound land preparation and pre-planting activities followed by techniques such as saturated soil culture, alternate wetting and drying, raised beds, mulching, and use of aerobic rice that can cope with dryer conditions.
The nutrient management in Rice
Make sure at each growth stage, the
rice plant has specific nutrient needs. This makes nutrient management a
critical aspect of rice farming.The unique properties of flooded soils make rice different from any other crop. Because of prolonged flooding in rice fields, farmers are able to conserve soil organic matter and also receive free input of nitrogen from biological sources, which means they need little or no nitrogen fertilizer to retain yields. However, farmers can tailor nutrient management to the specific conditions of their field to increase yields.
The Rice Crop health
Don’t forget that rice plant has a
wide array of ‘enemies’ in the field. Some of these include rodents, harmful
insects, viruses, diseases, and weeds. Farmers manage weeds through water
management and land preparation, by hand weeding, and in some cases herbcide
application. Understanding the interactions among pests, natural enemies, host
plants, other organisms, and the environment allows farmers to determine what
if any pest management may be necessary.Avoiding conditions that allow pests to adapt and thrive in a particular ecosystem helps to identify weak links in the pests' life cycle and therefore what factors can be manipulated to manage them. Retaining natural ecosystems such that predators and natural enemies of pests and diseases are kept in abundance can also help keep pest numbers down.
How to harvest Rice
This is actually a process of
collecting the mature rice crop from the field. Depending on the variety, a
rice crop usually reaches maturity at around 105–150 days after crop
establishment. Harvesting activities include cutting, stacking, handling,
threshing, cleaning, and hauling. Good harvesting methods help maximize grain
yield and minimize grain damage and deterioration.Harvesting can be done manually or mechanically:
Manual harvesting is common across Asia It involves cutting the rice crop with simple hand tools like sickles and knives. Manual harvesting is very effective when a crop has lodged or fallen over, however it is labor intensive. Manual harvesting requires 40 to 80 hours per hectare and it takes additional labor to manually collect and haul the harvested crop.
Mechanical harvesting using reapers or combine harvesters is the other option, but not so common due to the availability and cost of machinery. Following cutting the rice must be threshed to separate the grain from the stalk and cleaned. These processes can also be done by hand or machine.
Starting a commercial Rice farming can be very profitable if it is done in a proper way. To get a step by step guide on how to start commercial Rice farming you can purchase the book on AMAZON STORE. To purchase the Rice farming book click the button below.
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