1. Rice production in the cone of South
America – what can we learn for
GRiSP-Asia?
Bas Bouman,
Program leader Sustainable Rice production Systems
Head, Crop and Environmental Sciences Division
International Rice research Institute, Philippines

2. Content
General and brief overview rice in South America
The Agronomy Revolution
A few words about the rice industry
Extension models
Reflections for GRiSP-Asia

3. Latin-America Rice:
26 Million t/y
6.5 Million ha
(4% of global)
Uruguay
NE Argentina
- Entre Rios
- Corrientes
South Brazil
- Rio Grande do Sul

4. Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul
[hide]Climate data for Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record 39 36.5 37.4 35.1 31.6 29.4 31.8 33 35.6 34.4 39.2 39.6 39.6
high °C
Average 27 26 26 22 19 17 16 18 19 21 24 26 21.5
high °C
Daily 23 22 21 18 14 13 12 13 14 17 19 21 17.5
mean °C
Average 19 18 17 14 10 9 8 9 10 13 15 17 13.5
low °C
Record 10 9.8 5 2.7 1.2 −3 −2.7 −1 0.2 2.6 6 7.9 −3
low °C
Precipita
118 145 120 100 95 118 132 123 135 112 86 95 1,379
tion mm
(inches)
% humid
77.4 79.9 80.5 82.3 83.6 84 84.9 83.2 81.8 79.5 76 75.5 80.7
ity
precipita
tion 11.7 11.5 10.3 8.9 9.2 10.5 11.4 9.7 10.8 10.6 10 9.5 124.1
days
Sunshin
251.2 204.7 213 189.5 177.7 146.2 149.9 160.8 199.6 234.5 265.9 196.2 2,389.2
e hours
Source: Federal University of Pelotas - UFPel.[17]

5. Some rice sector characteristics
Uruguay: 180,000 ha; 550-600 growers; all export
Argentina: 250,000 ha; all export
Rio Grande do Sul: 1,100,000 ha; 18,500 growers
Large farms, average Uruguay 300 ha; small = 25 ha
in Argentina and Brasil; large is > 1000 ha
All irrigated lowland
High yields: 6.5- 8 t/ha; yield potentials 12-13 t/ha?
Large machines, airplanes
Rice (1-2 year) - pasture (3-4 year) rotations

6. Kill pasture with glyphosate Ploughing, harrowing
Bunds along contour lines Scraping
Summer plus winter fallow

7. Spring dry seeding first
rice crop
Picture: Gonzalo Zorilla, FLAR Picture: Gonzalo Zorilla, FLAR
120-140 d duration
Seed density 100-170 kg/ha
50-70 kg N/ha
100% area under herbicide
5% area under insecticide
80-100% area under fungicide
100% area under irrigation

8. Picture: Neil Palmer, CIAT, 2012

9. Winter fallow, or winter rye
Late winter/early spring:
herbicides, maybe scraping
and bund reshaping
Second year rice, no till
(65%)

10. Year 3-6. Pasture and cattle grazing
Picture: Gonzalo Zorilla, FLAR

11. The “Agronomy Revolution”
9000
Paddy yield (kg/ha)
8000 Rio Grande del
Sur
7000
Uruguay
6000
Argentina
5000
Colombia
4000
Chile
3000
Paraguay
2000
2002
2000
2001
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
Gonzalo Zorilla, FLAR, 2012

12. Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
8000
Kg/ha
7500  Extension focused on
integrated and
7000
efficient management
6500
 Focus on a few
6000
fundamental points
5500
 New Clearfield
5000
varieties with similar
4500 yield potential
4000
20…
20…
20…
20…
20…
20…
20…
20…
20…
20…
20…
20…
Source: IRGA statistics
Gonzalo Zorilla, FLAR, 2012

13. Rice varieties in Rio Grande do Sul, 2011-12
50
45 a) Maturity group b) CLEARFIELD cultivars
70
50
40
Área cultivada (%)
Área cultivada (%)
60 54,2
50 63,2 40
Cultivated area (%)
45,8
35 40 30
30
20
30 20 27,3
10 9,6 10
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Sérgio Iraçu Gindri Lopes, IRGA, 2012 Cultivars

14. Before Clearfield: 4 t/ha After Clearfield: 8 t/ha
Only 50-70% use of certified/clean seed
Sérgio Iraçu Gindri Lopes, IRGA, 2012

15. Rice yield (t/ha), Rio Grande do Sul
Valmir Gaedke Menezes, IRGA, 2012

16. Valmir Gaedke Menezes, IRGA, 2012

17. Valmir Gaedke Menezes, IRGA, 2012

18. Shallow poorly-drained soils: too wet after winter to
cultivate early
Summer tillage (fallow) or winter rye grass followed by
minimum/zero till sowing early spring (60-65% in Uruguay;
70% in RGdS Brasil)
3 times application
of herbicides (glyphosate)
Picture: Gonzalo Zorilla, FLAR

19. Uruguay
Varieties: 5-7% Clearfied) Yield
100% 9.0
90% 8.5
80% 8.0
70% 7.5
60% 7.0
50% 6.5
40% 6.0
30% 5.5
20% 5.0
10% 4.5
0% 4.0
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
El Paso 144 Tacuarí Olimar Otras
Use of certified/clean seed every year
Gonzalo Zorilla, FLAR, 2012

20. Sowing date
Fertilization
Seed density
Pest, disease management
Weed control
Water management
Just “everything a bit better”…
Luciano Carmona, CIAT-FLAR, 2012

21. Rice industry - Uruguay
Instituto National de Investigacion Agropecuaria
(INIA) – Research
500-600 farmers organized in Asociacion de
Cultivadores de Arroz (ACA)
Millers organized in Gremial de Molineros
Arroceros (GMA):
SAMAN: 47%
Casarone: 14%
Coopar: 14%
Glencore: 11%
75% of area under rice price agreement system

22. Drying, milling, parboiling, storage, packing; processing (oil)

23. Millers are also the exporters

24. Need for consistent and high quality;
same variety
Raul Uraga Berrutti, SAMAN, 2012

25. Raul Uraga Berrutti, SAMAN, 2012

26. Raul Uraga Berrutti, SAMAN, 2012

27. Value-adding; close supply-chain actors;
millers/exporters „driving‟ quality process
Postharvest management Asia
Quality,
Water,
Labor
Laser leveling Min Combine transfer
Physical loss: 12-25%
Market info Loss at market: up to 50%
Farmers don‟t value add Drying system
transfer
Farmers‟ seeds
Quality tools
Rice mill improvement Super bags

28. Extension systems
1. Uruguay: no government extension since
early 1990s – farmers and millers have
agronomists who interact with INIA
2. Argentina (Corrientes): INTA has a network
of extensionists – doesn‟t work because too
few and too general (all crops)
3. Brazil (RGdS): IRGA has a well functioning
network of extensionists; EMBRAPA?
RiceTec has after sale assistance (field
days, farmer groups)

29. Alvaro Schwanke, RiceTec, 2012

30. Alvaro Schwanke, RiceTec, 2012

31. Valmir Gaedke Menezes, IRGA, 2012

32. Valmir Gaedke Menezes, IRGA, 2012

33. RiceCheck is a farmer participatory program
which benchmarks farmer crops to identify
practices (checks) for lifting yields and profits
Rice yield Australia (t/ha)
RiceCheck
John Lacy, 2012

34. John Lacy, 2012

35. FLAR
Gonzalo Zorilla, FLAR

36. Any lessons for GRiSP-Asia?
1. Agronomy Revolution:
• Importance of rotations
• Simple agronomy „checks‟ (get things right);
A few key checks: variety (Clearfield in
Brazil), certified seed (Uruguay), timely
sowing <= zero-tillage machine drilling
• No prescriptive technology push
• Intensive researcher-agronomist-farmer
interaction; farmer learning groups:
measure, monitor, record, analyze

37. 2. Poor drainage-rainfall-tillage => timely
establishment => DSR versus mechanized
transplanting => target domain DSR

38. 3. DSR => risk weeds and weedy rice
• Herbicide tolerant varieties => resistance
development => stewardship need
• Clean (certified) seeds (Uruguay), crop
rotation, establishment rotation
2010: 2 Clearfield
varieties in Malaysia
Soon to appear in
Vietnam

39. 4. Rice sector well developed
• Short value chain, highly value driven
(export), millers important „drivers‟
• Market demand: only few varieties, some
„old‟ => “consistency” important quality
characteristic

40. Asia is different: poverty and
staple food of the poor
=> Keep price of rice low
“Supermarket revolution”:
High price is driver for
quality and efficiency
=> Opportunities for
adding value in Asia?

41. Mekong Delta Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar?

42. “Middle Class” in Developing Countries Could Reach 730 Million
Households By 2020, Up 104% From 2010 Levels
20% of households in these countries are middle class. By 2020, this could
increase to 36% and the impact on food consumption will be large
Developing countries with fastest growing “middle class”
China 223
India 112
Brazil 12
Indonesia 11
Russia 9
Egypt 6
Mexico 5
Thailand 5
Turkey 4
Vietnam 3
Colombia 3
2010 levels Proj gains by 2020
Philippines 3
South Korea 2
Malyasia 2
Taiwan 1
0 25 50 75 100 125 150 175 200 225 250 275 300 325 350 375
“Middle class”: 20,000$ annual PPP
Households with real PPP incomes greater than $20,000 (in millions)
Source: Global Insight’s Global Consumer Markets data as analyzed by FAS/OGA
Courtesy: Michael J. Dwyer, Director of Global Policy Analysis, Office of Global Analysis
Foreign Agricultural Service/USDA

43. 5. Topics for collaboration:
1. The threat of weedy rice => stewardship
guidelines
2. Sustainable production: carbon, water footprint
3. Sustainable rotations => experimental
platforms
4. Yield gap analysis => simulation modeling
5. Best Management Practices => joint framework
for development and extension

44. Gracias por su atención
(Thanks for your attention)
Picture: Neil Palmer, CIAT, 2012

46. Recent development: on-farm reservoirs, and rotate crops
around the water (with summer fallows since land is
plenty). All private investments!
Still only 5% of (rain) water resources used, 95% in rice
Picture: Gonzalo Zorilla, FLAR

47. Brazil, RGdS
2011 Argentina, Corrientes
2008
Uruguay, 2011
IRRI and partners; web-based

48. Raul Uraga Berrutti, SAMAN, 2012