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Adapting rice to saltier water

Adapting rice to saltier water

How rice farmers are coping with rising sea levels

Salt water in coastal rice fields is a problem that is certain to get worse as sea levels rise.

Sri Lanka has experienced an increase in temperatures and relatively low rainfall for an extended period over the last 20 years, leading to a decrease in ground water levels. At the same time, increased sea levels have also caused sea water intrusion into coastal lagoons and estuary systems, causing the destruction and slow change of existing habitats.

Practical Action's work has included farmer-led trials of traditional and modern rice varieties which are saline-tolerant, temperature-resistant and pest-resistant.

Indigenous rice

Forgotten types of indigenous rice can offer a home grown solution to the increasing soil salinity. There are around 2,000 traditional rice varieties in Sri Lanka. Many are very high in nutritional value and have medicinal properties, and most are resistant to extreme drought conditions, diseases and pests.

These varieties were traditionally grown using natural inputs such as organic manure, and no chemical fertilisers or pesticides were used. Farmers with Practical Action have worked on a number of trials on various rice varieties to see if they could withstand salinity.

Dehigahalanda, southern Sri Lanka

For rice farmers in Dehigahalanda, in the Hambantota district of southern Sri Lanka, increased salinity in their water-logged fields was a grave problem, with yields dropping steeply. Some were getting less than half the expected yield. The farmers could not find a viable solution for the creeping salinity - aggravated by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and a lack of fresh irrigation water - and feared that eventually their fields would be left barren.

40-year old S. Ranjith was one such farmer. Nearing desperation, his local farmers' organisation tried to appeal to various government institutions about their plight, but with little success.

Today Ranjith has managed to reverse his destiny. He is even producing seed paddy out of his one and a half acre field. The secret of his success does not lie in complicated engineering feats or advanced science, but in long-forgotten traditional rice varieties that have age-old ability to resist high salinity in soil and water.

Together with 16 other local farmers, Ranjith trialled ten different varieties of traditional rice through a programme of the National Federation of Traditional Seeds and Agri Resources and supported by Practical Action. For the first time, the farmers were given the choice of 'variety selection' and asked to score the different rice types according to duration of crop, plant height, grain quality and yield. Out of the ten, four varieties scored highest and were then promoted through farmer organisations as hardy, saline tolerant and high quality rice that were suited for coastal rice paddies.

Ranjith has cultivated his field for the third time with traditional varieties, shunning the hybrids promoted by the country's agricultural departments. His inputs are low-organic manure and less chemical pest control. Although traditional rice does not produce the yields of hybrid varieties, his profits remain high. Traditional rice is purchased at a higher price by the Federation and there is high consumer demand today for these rare rice types.

What's more, the application of organic fertilizer has begun to ease the soil salinity problem as well. "We were on the verge of abandoning our fields. The introduction of traditional rice has given a new lease of life to us and these fields," said Ranjith who is now a certified traditional rice grower and seed producer.

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Adapting Rice to Saltier Conditions

  • fact sheet
  • English

This brief outlines the approach of using indigenous verities of rice to develop salt tolerant crops for areas where soil salinity is an increasing problem.

Amruta Khatavkar, Published by Practical Action on 11/23/12

Comments

  • Reply

    Md. Alamgir said:

    said:
    Okay, It is well known to all that organic fertilizers keep the soil quality good and help to produce any crops with better quality in terms of taste, ingredient and nutrients. BUT have their any comparative study about this? Having a densely populated country like Bangladesh can we rely only on the local variety having low production? Then is it possible to make the nation self sufficient in food? Why Govt. of Bangladesh is encouraging all the scientists to introduce HYV in order to make the country independent in food security? Have any Private or NGO Research organization become able to find out local/indigenous variety which can produce same amount (in kg) in a cycle? Better we can motivate people to look after and take care the local variety like the HYV/Hybrid. We can use the recently introduced saline tolerant rice variety of BINA 7, BINA 8 and BINA 9. Otherwise, dependency on other nations for rice would be increased and the price of rice would be crossed Tk. 100/per kg in Bangladesh. We will be faced a great problem for food insecurity, because rice is our main food. Thanks and regards.
    on 19/4/11
  • Reply

    Hilary Warburton, Practical Action said:

    dgibbs said:
    Most of the rice research institutes have been working on producing salt-tolerant rice varieties in recent years, and there are now quite a few being tested or released for multiplication. The rice institutes (eg. BRRI, IRRI) will have information on yields under different conditions. We do not know of comparative studies between the yields of traditional rice varieties and the new HYVs under salty and other conditions, although there are studies of the characteristics of salt-tolerant traditional varieties. Overall, we cannot claim that traditional varieties will have higher yields than the new salt-tolerant varieties (after all, these will be bred from traditional varieties crossed with high yielding varieties). Some traditional varieties may well have a better taste and other good characteristics; some may perform better than other ordinary HYVs in salty conditions, and they are also essential to retain biodiversity. But the yields published for new varieties are high – eg 2.5-3.5 ton/ha in salty and up to 7.0ton/ha in normal conditions for the new IRRI variety. Md Alamgir mentions three new varieties and there is also the BR 47 variety available from BRRI (Bangladesh Rice Research Institute) in Bangladesh that is supposed to be salt-tolerant. If you need more information, try contacting BRRI directly. In terms of the price of seeds, it will depend partly on whether the new varieties are stable cross HYVs – so the farmers can save seed and replant the following season, or whether they are hybrids which will quickly lose vigour and will need to be purchased every season.
    on 25/7/11
  • Reply

    bob said:

    said:
    this seems a very good solution
    on 27/9/11
  • Reply

    millie said:

    said:
    sounds like a good idea. rice is the top food eaten in the world. Haha bob. funny name
    on 14/11/11
  • Reply

    yasamin said:

    said:
    I think that this is good information for people out there
    on 28/11/11
  • Reply

    James Lloyd said:

    said:
    this is a brilliant iniciative and could be used in many other LEDC's to combat food production issues in coastal areas.
    on 17/1/12
  • Reply

    sciency dude said:

    said:
    Adapting rice to saltier water is a very good idea. it will help us come when the world ends in 2012. smart thinking who ever thought of this!
    on 18/1/12

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