Heilongjiang rice farms shift to quality
Print Edition
ZHOU Houchao, a 52-year-old farmer in northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province, has finally welcomed a good harvest year, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, typhoons, and other difficulties.
But for Zhou and many farmers, a harvest is not their final goal. Good-quality rice is what they are after nowadays, as production and filling one’s stomach is not the top priority anymore.
China’s rice planting areas account for 20 percent of the total across the globe, with an annual output remaining above 200 million tons for years, nearly 40 percent of the world’s total output.
In the past, China solved the problem of feeding some 1.4 billion people. Now the pursuit of quality is driving more farmers to change their traditional planting and management methods.
Having farmed for over 30 years, Zhou recalled that he overused pesticides and fertilizers for more yield, but the soil was hardened, and organic matter was lost, so he could not sell his rice at a competitive price due to compromised quality.
As head of a local cooperative in Suibin County of Hegang City, Zhou took the lead in pursuing innovation in agricultural development.
A group of ducks is wandering in the yard of his cooperative. “These ducks live on rice fields in spring and summer, and their excrement can increase organic soil matter,” Zhou said.
“This year, I raised fish, ducks, and crabs in the rice fields, which is an example of organic farming and can effectively improve the quality of rice.”
Besides more than 20 hectares of fields with ducks, Zhou also put crabs and fish in over 47 hectares of paddies.
“The yield of organic planting is lower, and artificial weeding is required, but such rice is in short supply in the market, with the income up by about 3,000 yuan (US$450) per hectare,” he said.
At a Nongjiang farm in the eastern part of the province, Wen Xuequan improved the quality of his rice this year.
“The climate conditions were not suitable for growing high-quality rice in the past,” he said. Due to lower temperatures and cold well water for irrigation, Wen couldn’t grow better rice varieties before.
But this year, with a new irrigation project, his fields have access to river water nearby, warmer than the well water, which makes more varieties of rice possible.
As one of the first to use river water, Wen planted 47 hectares, and with good quality can earn 3,000 yuan more per hectare.
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