MAPS

The where and how of rice

by Robert Hijmans ice is grown bunded fields that retain water to in more than assure flooded conditions, makes 100 countries. up about 44% of the global rice According to area. This is the dominant system the Food and at high latitudes (both north and Agriculture south), but also in southern India Organization and on the Indonesian island of of the United Java. Flooded rice is the most Nations (FAO), productive rice ecosystem, producing the global rice about 75% of the global output. area harvested Most of the rainfed rice fields are in 2005 was also flooded for at least part of the 153 million growing season. This agroecosystem, hectares. The amount of land used for commonly known as rainfed rice is less, in the order of 127 million lowlands, comprises about 45% of hectares, because in some fields the global rice area and is particularly farmers plant two, or even three, important in eastern India and rice crops each year. One hectare Southeast Asia. The remaining 11% of of double-cropped land therefore the worlds rice area is grown in the provides 2 hectares of rice area each upland ecosystem, which comprises year (areas referred to hereafter fields that are neither flooded nor are harvested areas, as opposed to irrigated. In Asia, this system has actual land areas). On this land, declined considerably in Thailand farmers produce 628,000,000,000 and China, but is still important. It kilograms of rough (unmilled) rice. is the dominant production system This averages in Africa and Brazil in out to about 95 Knowing where and how terms of area planted. kilograms for each rice is grown is crucial for The reality is always person on Earth. more complex, with assessing threats to and Almost half fields that are sometimes the global rice opportunities for production flooded, or receive very area is in India little supplementary and China and 89% is in Asia. Africa irrigation. In parts of northern and the Americas each have a little China, for example, rice is grown as a more than 5%. The eight countries normal (nonflooded) field crop, with with the most rice area are all in supplementary irrigation as needed, South and Southeast Asia (India, while some of the upland rice in China, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Brazil receives water from sprinkler Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, irrigation. It remains a challenge and the Philippines) and they have to adequately characterize rice 80% of the global rice area. agroecosystems and obtain accurate Rice production agroecosystems statistics about their distribution. are often classified according to The map on the next two pages the dominant water regime. For reflects the International Rice example, rice fields are distinguished Research Institutes (IRRI) current for being irrigated or rainfed, and best estimates based on subnationalfor being flooded or not flooded. level production statistics in riceIrrigated rice, typically grown on producing countries. While IRRI has
1. The work of the late Robert E. Huke, a professor of geography at Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, USA, and a visiting scholar at IRRI, has been particularly important and is the foundation for IRRI's current work. 2. Xiao X, et al. 2006. Remote Sensing of Environment 100:95-113.

Rice Today July-September 2007

Ariel JAvellAnA (2)

a long history of compiling such data for Asia,1 the Institute now considers all rice-producing countries, in collaboration with the International Center for Tropical Agriculture, the Africa Rice Center, and the International Food Policy Research Institute. The map for Africa is a first approximation, and consistency between the classifications used in Latin America and Asia needs improvement. Meanwhile, the technology for this type of work is changing: a recent paper by Xiangming Xiao and colleagues2 has shown how time series of satellite images from the MODIS sensor can be used to map flooded rice areas. Knowing where and how rice is grown is crucial for assessing threats to and opportunities for production, and hence for determining research needs. For example, to estimate the possible impact of a drought-tolerant rice variety on income and poverty alleviation, you need to know (along with many other things) how much rice is produced in areas affected by drought, what the current rice yields are, and how much yield increase to expect from the new variety. Trends of detailed rice area and yield data can also help us better understand ongoing patterns of change, and the implications for food security and research priorities.
Dr. Hijmans is a geographer in iRRis Social Sciences Division. 19