On Tuesday, India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a series of new high-producing crop varieties, including herbicide-tolerant (耐除草剂的) rice that can be directly planted into the soil, cutting the huge expenses on water and farm workers.
In India, the world's biggest rice exporter, the traditional method of rice growing requires farmers to grow seeds in nurseries, and then wait for 20 to 30 days before transplanting the small plants by hand into the fields that are ankle-deep in water.
With the new seed varieties developed by the state-run Indian Agricultural Research Institute, farmers only need to water the field once to moisten (使湿润) the soil before planting the rice. Besides, the traditional method also uses a lot of water to control weeds as herbicides are costly and often do not distinguish between the rice and the unwanted weeds.
Government scientists said the new rice varieties contained a gene that would allow farmers to spray a common, inexpensive herbicide without worrying about any side effects. "Our focus is very high on new seeds that can be adapted to new conditions, especially in changing climates," Modi said.
Water conservation is likely to be the main attraction of the new rice varieties in India, where farmers rely heavily on monsoon (季风) rains. The traditional method uses 3,000 to 5,000 liters of water to produce 1 kg rice. The new varieties could cut water use by at least 50% to 60%, farmers and government officials say. "For farmers like us, the main concern was the management of water, and the new varieties take care of that concern," said Ravindra Kajal, who grows rice on his 9-acre farmland in the northern state of Haryana. India is also the world's biggest rice producer after China.
