Butaleja, Pallisa adopt new technologies to grow rice

For many years, rice farmers in Butaleja and Pallisa districts practiced traditional broadcasting while planting rice, a method found to limit yields and lead to poor grains.

Broadcasting is sowing of seeds across an area by scattering without paying attention to spaces between them.

Most of them grew just enough food to survive, sometimes less. In using this method, farmers crippled their finances as their yields remained poor and low but the emergence of the modern technique of planting rice in rows by International Fertilisers Development Centre (IFDC), seems to have saved the day.

Experience
Mahamood Were, 58, a farmer under Manafwa Basin Rice Growers Cooperative Union says in Lwoba irrigation scheme, rice was grown in the old traditional way, by hands.

“The seeds were planted, germinated and the seedlings grew carefully until they reached a certain level of maturity, they were then transplanted by hands into flooded fields and were usually broadcasted with no space between the plants and this gave low yields,” said Were.

Were said they would plant 60kg of rice on an acre but only harvests 15 bags of rice at the end of the season, which was not economically sustainable.

He says the traditional broadcast planting of rice made rice growers poorer and that farmers used more rice seeds which in turn became very expensive.

“Traditional broadcast planting of rice normally results in poor seed to soil contact, exposure of seeds to predation from birds and small mammals, and the poor planting results in poor quality plants due to overcrowding, high population of weeds and competition,” says Were.

Reports from various farmers now indicate that there is finally a silver-lining on the formerly dark and impotent rice gardens as they are now successfully charting an easy and simple escape route from poverty after IFDC intervention.

Winning strategies
Baker Nasoma, the chairman of Manafwa Basin Rice Growers Cooperative Society in Lwoba Irrigation Scheme, says integrated soil fertility management strategies to keep the soils fertile.

Integrated soil fertility management (ISFM) is a set of agricultural practices adapted to local conditions to maximise the efficiency of nutrient and water use and improve agricultural productivity.

He says ISFM strategies centre on the combined use of mineral fertilisers and locally available soil amendments (such as lime and phosphate rock) and organic matter (crop residues, compost and green manure) to replenish lost soil nutrients.

“And this has gone a long way to improve both soil quality and the efficiency of fertilisers and other agro-inputs and in addition, ISFM has also promoted improved germplasm, agroforestry and the use of crop rotation and/or intercropping with legumes,” Nasoma said.

Did you know?
Field reports. Although rice schemes are huge, they are still small considering Uganda has about 500,000 hectares of land suitable for seasonal lowland rice production. According to the National Rice Development Strategy, Uganda is expected to produce up to 335,000 tonnes of rice in 2013 and 500,000 tonnes in 2018. New lowland rice varieties are expected to be released soon by NARO.

Technologies

Baker Nasoma, the chairman of Manafwa Basin Rice Growers Cooperative Society said farmers who have adopted ISFM technologies from IFDC have more than doubled their agricultural productivity and increased their farm-level incomes by 20 to 50 per cent.

Forming Partnerships
Using the guided line approach in rice growing increases not only yields, but partnership among farmers.

“The local farmers now assist each other transplanting rice into their paddies in turns,” added Nasoma.

“Farmers have learnt that if rice plants are spread out in rows and not planted very close together, they have more room to grow, they will get more sunshine and air and can produce more tillers unlike when planted randomly,” said Nasoma, a former banker turned farmer.

Better yields
Brenda Akuruchet, the IFDC communication specialist, said the organisation sensitises farmers how to improve their yields.
“We sought to increase the availability and use of new agricultural technologies to maximise and sustain rice productivity in Lwoba, Doko and Pallisa rice schemes,” said Akuruchet.

Akuruchet says in this method, farmers are asked to make sure the roots and base of the seedlings are inserted into the soil right under the loop or mark on the planting wire.

Procedure matters
“Plant the wet bed seedlings at a depth between one and a half to three centimetres and plant them at one and a half centimetres deep or just deep enough for the roots to come in contact with the soil in order to get good results,” Akuruchet says.
The IFDC deputy chief of party, David Hirst said they wanted to evaluate socio- economic challenges facing rice farmers in order to develop strategies to assist households improve their economic status, household food security and water management for irrigation.

Farmers speak

Were says IFDC has taught them to keep away from the traditional broadcast planting method where seedlings are transplanted without a definite distance or space between plants.

“We have been introduced to the straight-row method which follows a uniform spacing between plants and the seedlings are transplanted in straight rows,” says Were.

He explains that as farmers, they now have rice planting guides to have uniform spacing and that these guides are made of wire, twine, and wood that are set in the field before transplanting.
The straight rows have facilitated management practices such as hand or rotary weeding and application of fertilisers, herbicides, or insecticides and helped them achieve optimal plant spacing.

“With proper spacing farmers have increased their yields by 25 to 39 per cent over random planting,” says Nasoma.
“With proper spacing, you can save money on inputs, labour, and materials thereby making profits,” adds Nasoma.

Ketty Ichulet, a farmer in Olok village, Olok Sub-county in Pallisa District, one of the districts supported by IFDC, says planting seeds in rows or straight lines by drilling or dibbling has enhanced yield potential and improved convenience for activities such as weeding, nutrient application or harvesting.

“The 20cm by 20cm row planting is preferred to maximise light absorption. Before IFDC, I used to plant 30kg of rice in an acre of land but after training, I now plant 10 kilograms of rice on an acre and the yield is miraculous; 15 bags of rice each weighing 100Kg every season,” said Ichulet. She said it is clear everywhere that seeds have been reduced from planting 60 kg to only 20kg per hectare while yields have increased by more than 15 per cent.

“And other benefits include the reduction of time it takes rice to mature on a nursery bed, with crops maturing within less than 10 days earlier than the traditional rice planting,” Ichulet added.

She said rice farmers who have planted rice in rows can hardly be overwhelmed by pests and diseases since it’s very strong and less congested.

The Butaleja District agricultural officer Amina Bungo said IFDF has made an impact on the general agribusiness environment by introducing new varieties such as K9.