On the Rice Farming in the Shu Area During the Can Cong Period

The Bashu area was one of the most civilized agricultural areas in ancient China.Since the late Eastern Han Dynasty,it has been reputed as the“Land of Abundance”due to its abundant resources.Archaeological data show that the Shu area cultivated millet as early as the prehistoric period.The legend goes that Can Cong was the first ruler of the Shu area during the pre-Qin period,indicating that agricultural production at that time had made great progress compared with the prehistoric period.During this period,the agricultural pattern of the Shu area experienced profound changes,from dryland millet farming originating from the Western Sichuan Plateau to rice farming that is more suitable for Sichuan Basin,especially for the Chengdu Plain,where there are abundant rainfalls and high temperatures.Since then,rice farming has become a long-established farming tradition in the Shu area.The agricultural production tools and grain crop seeds unearthed from the Baodun site,where the archaeological remains of Can Cong Culture were discovered,show the prosperity of early agriculture in the Shu area.During the Baodun Culture period,the accelerated economic and social development in the Shu area promoted complicated and hierarchical changes in the social organization structure of settlements,which gradually evolved into early states.

Is Larger Scale Better? Evidence from Rice Farming in Jianghan Plain

Small-scale household agricultural production has been in conflict with China＇s agricultural modernization.In the context of vigorously promoting rural land circulation and moderate scale management nationwide,research on the relationship between farm size and scale efficiency has become increasingly important.In this paper,we use the ＂DEA-OLS＂ two stage method to analyze data from 368 surveys of rice farming households in the Jianghan Plain.The scale efficiency of rice farming was calculated,and the relationship between farm size and scale efficiency investigated.The results indicate that（1） the rice farm size is generally small in Jianghan Plain,with an average of 0.77 ha.The average scale efficiency is 0.88,and it is the main factor limiting an increase in comprehensive technical efficiency.Moreover,88.32% of households are in the stage of increasing returns to scale.（2） There is a stable inverted ＂U＂ type relationship between rice farm size and scale efficiency.Considering characteristics of the householder,the household and land quality,the maximum scale efficiency corresponds to a household with 5 ha of rice farm.（3） Among householder characteristics,age has a significant negative influence on scale efficiency,and scale efficiency is lower for a household whose householder is engaged in non-farm work than for one whose householder is devoted to farming.As for land quality,there was a significant positive effect of irrigation on scale efficiency.Among family characteristics,the application of a machine during the seeding process increased scale efficiency by 3.07%.Therefore,we suggest that local government should actively promote rural land circulation,implement a staged-scale management subsidy,and other forms of support for the purchase of agricultural machinery and technical popularization.Increased investment in irrigation improvements and mechanical facilities and encouragement of farmers to enlarge their farm size could improve scale efficiency and farming profit and lead to the development of moderate scale management.

Malaria among rice farming communities in Kilangali village,Kilosa district,Central Tanzania:prevalence,intensity and associated factors

Background:Malaria remains the most important cause of morbidity and mortality in Tanzania.However,its prevalence varies from area to area depending on various ecological,socio-economic and health system factors.This study was carried out to determine malaria prevalence and associated factors among rice farming communities in the Kilangali village of Kilosa District in Central Tanzania.Methods:A cross-sectional study was conducted in May 2015,involving randomly selected persons living in the six sub-villages of the Kilangali village,namely Mlegeni,Kisiwani,Makuruwili,Kwamtunga,Upogoroni and Chamwino.A finger prick blood sample was obtained for diagnosis of malaria infection using Giemsa-stained thick smears and a rapid malaria diagnostic test.Study participants were also screened for haemoglobin levels and a total of 570 children aged≤12 years of age were examined for spleen enlargement using the palpation method.Results:A total of 1154 persons were examined for malaria infection with mean age of 21.9±19.69 years.The overall malaria prevalence was 14.2%and 17.5%based on microscopic examination and rapid diagnostic test,respectively.Plasmodium falciparum accounted for the majority(89%)of the malaria infections.The overall geometrical mean parasite density was 20.5 parasites/μL(95%CI:14.6-28.8).Malaria prevalence and parasitaemia was highest among individuals living in the Mlegeni(23.9%)and Makuruwili(24.4%)sub-villages.Among the children examined for splenomegaly,2.98%(17/570)had it.The overall prevalence of anaemia was 34.6%.Malaria infection was associated with the age groups of 1-10 years(aOR=4.41,95%CI:1.96-9.93,P<0.001)and 11-20 years(aOR=6.68,95%CI:2.91-15.37,P<0.001);and mild anaemia(aOR=1.71,95%CI:1.11-2.62,P<0.014)and moderate anaemia(aOR=1.55,95%CI:1.01-2.39,P<0.045).Conclusions:Malaria was found at the study setting and its prevalence varied according to the demographic characteristics of the study participants and between sub-villages that are closely located.

Extent of Reduction of the Fallow Period and Its Impact on Upland Rice Production in the Nongowa Chiefdom of Kenema District in Eastern Sierra Leone

Slash-and-burn agriculture is the common practice for upland rice intercropping system in Sierra Leone and it has been blamed for the loss of forest vegetation across the country. Shortening of the fallow period in the Eastern region of Sierra Leone has implications on agricultural food production and the persistence of the remaining tropical rainforest. This study was therefore undertaken to assess: 1) the extent of reduction of the fallow period in the Nongowa Chiefdom of Kenema District;2) the causes of reduction in the fallow period;3) farmers’ perception of the relevance of fallow period and the implications of reduction of fallow period on crop production. The study revealed a drastic reduction of the fallow period in the chiefdom with a mean of 3.8 years which falls far below the country mean fallow period of 8.8 years as estimated by FAO. Farmers pointed out that the reduction of the fallow period was as a result of land scarcity due to competing land uses such as large scale commercial agriculture, logging, mining, charcoal burning and expansion of settlements. Farmers agreed that a fallow period of at least 10 years is necessary for upland rice production. Farmers were aware of the impact of reduction of the fallow period on upland rice production and were able to estimate rice yields based on the age of the fallow. Also, farmers have attempted to adapt to the constraints posed by shorter fallow periods by selection of rice varieties to suit the length of the fallow periods.

Analysis on Technical Efficiency of Rice Farms and Its Influencing Factors in South-western of Niger

The present study focused on analyzing the technical efficiency office farms in southwest of Niger. The data from January to March 2015 survey of 148 ms in three districts of south-western of Niger were analyzed by using DEA-Tobit two-step method. In the f＇ust step, data envelopment analysis （DEA） was applied to estimate technical, pure technical and scale efficiency. In the second step, Tobit regression was used to identify factors affecting technical efficiency. The results showed that rice producers in southwest of Niger could reduce their inputs by 52% and still produce the same level of rice output. The Tobit regression showed that factors, such as farm size, experience in rice farming, membership of cooperative, main occupation and land ownership had a direct impact on technical efficiency.

The Origin of Flooded Rice Cultivation

Rice cultivation has long been considered to have originated from seeding of annual types of wild rice somewhere in subtropics, tropics or in the Yangtze River basin. That idea, however, contains a fatally weak point, when we consider the tremendous difficulty for primitive human to seed any cereal crop in the warm and humid climate, where weed thrives all year round, instead of the accepted theory, we have to see a reality that vegetative propagation of edible plants is a dominant form of agriculture in such regions. The possibility is discussed that Job＇s tears and rice, two cereal crops unique to the region, might have been developed via vegetative propagation to obtain materials for medicine or herb tea in backyard gardens prior to cereal production. This idea is supported by the fact that rice in temperate regions is still perennial in its growth habit and that such backyard gardens with transplanted taro can still be seen from Yunnan Province of China to Laos. Thanks to detailed survey of wild rice throughout China for 1970-1980, it is now confirmed that a set of clones of wild rice exist in shallow swamps in Jiangxi Province, an area with severe winter cold. In early summer ancient farmers may have divided the sprouting buds and spread them by transplanting into flooded shallow marsh. Such way of propagation might have faster improved less productive rice through a better genetic potential for response to human interference than quick fixation in seed propagation, because vegetative parts are heterogeneous. Obviously, such a primitive manner of rice cultivation did include the essential parts of rice farming, i.e., nursery bed, transplanting in flooded field of shallow marsh like. Transfer from the primitive nursery to true nursery by seed may have later allowed rice cultivation to be extended to northern regions. In thus devised flooded cultivation there were a series of unique advantages, i.e.; continuous cropping of rice in a same plot, no soil erosion, slow decline of soil fertility, availability of minerals, and resulting in high yield per unit area, which have collectively attained the highly productive cereal cultivation in the warm and humid region. Rice cultivation in marsh is also favorable to raise fish culture, both of which constituted a nutritionally balanced base. Development of irrigation technology to construct flooded farms gave strong bases for stable rice-cultivating society, which in the end formulated the rise of ancient kingdoms of Yue and Wu in China in BC 6th -5th centuries. They were direct descendents of those people who had developed the unique rice cultivation from the era of Hemudu culture, which is dated back to 5 000 BC. Their movement to the south is considered to have established rice-cultivating communities in South China and Southeast Asia, while to the north it transferred the rice-based technology to ancient Korea and Japan and had established there a base for a civilized society.

The emergence, development and regional differences of mixed farming of rice and millet in the upper and middle Huai River Valley, China

Mixed farming of rice and millet is one of the basic agricultural modes in the upper and middle Huai River Valley(HRV). According to the latest data, this agricultural mode appeared during the middle and late Peiligang Culture(7.8–7.0 ka BP) in the upper HRV, and then became a common subsistence economy in the end of the Neolithic(5.0–4.0 ka BP) in both the upper and middle HRV. However, it is still not clear how this mixed farming developed in the upper HRV after its occurrence, nor are the regional differences in the development of mixed farming between the upper and middle HRV during the Neolithic completely understood. In this paper, flotation and starch analyses were conducted on samples from eight archaeological sites in the upper and middle HRV. The results indicate that the mixed farming of rice and millet first appeared in the later phase of the middle Neolithic in the regions of the Peiligang Culture, then developed quite rapidly in the late Neolithic(6.8–5.0 ka BP), finally becoming the main subsistence economy at the end of the Neolithic in the upper HRV. However, there are obvious differences in the emergence and development of agriculture between the middle and upper HRV. Rice farming was the only agricultural system during the middle Neolithic, lasting until the end of the Neolithic, when mixed farming appeared in the middle HRV. Furthermore, although mixed farming appeared in both the upper and middle HRV during the end of the Neolithic, the roles of rice, foxtail millet and broomcorn millet in the subsistence economy were not the same. In general, millet was more widely cultivated than rice in the upper HRV, but rice occupied the same or a slightly more prominent position in the middle HRV at the end of the Neolithic. These results are significant for understanding the process of agricultural development and transformation, as well as human adaptation to climatic and cultural variability duringthe Neolithic.

Biocultural Diversity of Sarangani Province, Philippines: An Ethno-Ecological Analysis

This paper discussed effects of lowland-associated influences on upland ecology, food security and biocultural diversity in the Sarangani farming communities of the Philippines. In the uplands of Sarangani Province, the conservation of traditional rice varieties, the centrality of rice in tribal life, and the continued observance of planting rituals attest to its cultural significance and convey a common desire for cultural preservation and community solidarity. Economic and socio-political pressures had transformed tribal communities, although vestiges of traditional farming systems are still being practiced in remote sitios（villages）. Changing land use patterns had also resulted in shrinking farm sizes and consequently in food insecurity in the Sarangani uplands. Extractive industries（i.e. logging, mining and charcoal making） and swidden farming were observed to cause widespread environmental degradation, while modern agriculture had undermined the capacity of indigenous peoples to survive because of their complete dependence on lands and resources. With the reality that cultural and biological diversities are inextricably linked, trans-disciplinary strategies coupling indigenous knowledge systems with scientific knowledge should, therefore, be instituted to save the Sarangani upland ecosystem, the indigenous peoples and their tribal resources.

Assessment of ecosystem services of rice farms in eastern India

Background:Rice is a major cereal crop and staple food of eastern India,and most farmers depend solely on rice for their livelihood.Rice farming provides both tangible and non-tangible benefits to ecosystems which need to be maintained and enhanced.These benefits are provided through ecosystem services(ES)that include both marketable and non-marketable.Methods:In this study,the rice farms in eastern India were valued by quantifying the economic value of the services under conventional method of rice cultivation and the gap of ecosystem services value and farm income per unit area were assessed.A stratified random sampling technique was used in this study for selection of agro-climatic zones,districts,blocks,gram panchayat,and study units(households).Soil sampling was also performed for assessing the regulating services(biocontrol of pests,carbon flow,soil erosion,nitrogen fixation),provisioning services(food and by-products),and supporting services(soil fertility,hydrological flow,nutrient cycling,and soil formation).Results:The results indicated that the total economic value of ecosystem services ranged from US$1238 to 1688 ha−1 year−1.The marketed(primary production)and non-marketed ecosystem services values ranged from 66–89 to 11–34%of the total,respectively.Valuation of some of the ecosystem services such as cultural services,biodiversity,and gas regulation,which may play a significant role in total ecosystem services,has not been made due to non-availability of data and appropriate methodology for rice ecosystem.Different values of parameters can explain the variability in ecosystem services among the agro-climatic zones in eastern India.Clustering of locations based on variability of ecosystem services helps in identifying intervention points for sustaining and improving ecosystem services,while permitting sustainable agro-ecological intensification.The highest total economic gap between ES value and farm income was found in the north central plateau zone(US$1063 ha−1 year−1)and the lowest in the north western plateau zone(US$670 ha−1 year−1).Conclusion:We suggest various measures to reduce the economic gap,including payments for ecosystem services for rice farming for sustainability of the ecosystem and agricultural development,while ensuring reliable farm income.

发展稻渔综合种养 促进产业提质增效

罗山县稻渔综合种养主要有稻虾共作、莲虾共作、芟白虾共作等形式,具有增收、稳产、减污、提质四大功效。罗山县主要以稻虾共作为主,通过政府引导、政策奖补、技术服务、保险优先、金融支持、打造品牌等一系列措施,促进稻渔综合种养产业稳步发展,助推脱贫攻坚。