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Bolivia


General Information

· Main climates: Tropical Wet, Tropical Wet and Dry, Tropical at 1 000 m above sea, Subtropical at 1 000 m above sea, Tropical Steppe and Semiarid

· Total land area: 109 858 000 ha

· Internal renewable water resources: 300 km3

· GNP per capita, 1998: PPP$ 2 205

· Main food consumed: Wheat, Sugar & honey, Maize, Roots & tubers, Rice

· Rice supply, 1999: 21.5 kg paddy/capita/year

Basic Statistics


1985

1990

1995

2000

RICE





Harvested area (T ha)

112

109

129

161

Yield (kg/ha)

1535

1931

2032

1924

Production (T t)

173

211

263

310

Imports (T t)

19

1.32

0.27

NA

Exports (t)

NA

NA

NA

NA

OTHERS





Population (T)

5895

6573

7414

NA

Agr population (T)

2833

2931

3246

NA

Irrigated agr area (T ha)

125

125

128

NA

Fertilizer cons (t)

5800

5162

6769

NA

Agr tractors in use (units)

4750

5200

5500

NA

Producing Zones and Cropping Seasons

Rice is grown only in 9 provinces of the countries. The following table shows the harvested areas in the producing zones.

Production zone

Harvested area (% total harvested area)

Santa Cruz

56.19

Potosi

12.67

Lapaz

7.99

Beni

7.66

Cochabamba

5.47

Oruno

5.12

Pando

3.12

Tarija

1.26

Chiuquisaca

0.51

The main rice season takes place during the rainy season as shown in the following table.

Cropping season

Planting

Harvesting

Main season

10-11

2-3

Production Practices

The following figure shows rice is grown mostly under upland ecology during 1995-2000 period. The government recently built a pilot irrigated rice area near Santa Cruz.

Rice is planted under slash-and-burn shifting cultivation systems (locally known as chaqueado), in which rice is grown either as mono crop or in mixture with other crops, especially maize and cowpea. Direct seeding into dry soils is the main method of crop establishment. Fertilizer and other agro-chemicals are rarely used in rice production. The following table shows the rice varieties planted in the country.

· Irrigated rice varieties

Variety Name

Released period

Growth duration (days)

BLUEBELLE

NA

125

Jasaye

1998

135

Saavedra

1987

122

Sacia-1 (Tacu)

1993

125

Sacia-2 (Tari)

1993

125

Sacia-3 (Tutuma)

1994

130

Sacia-4 (Jisunu)

1994


Sacia-5 (Urupe)

1996


San Pedro

1987

130-135

CICA 8

NA

NA

CICA 9

1975-79


· Upland rice varieties

Variety Name

Released period

Growth duration (days)

BLUEBONNET 50

NA

NA

CATECO

NA

NA

DOURADAO

NA

NA

IR DOMINICANA

NA

NA

PICO NEGRO

NA

NA

Dourado and Pico Negro were widely planted during the 1980s.

Constraints and Issues of Sustainable Production

The following table shows the rice production costs.

Other information

Yield (t/ha)

Cost ($/ha)

Cost ($/t)

Upland, 1983-84

3.5

119

34

Drought stresses and declining soil fertility are major issues confronting rice production in the country. Sustainable increased rice production requires policy support to the development of irrigation infrastructure and input and credit supply.

Research and Development Institutes

· CIAT, Casilla de Correos 247, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia.

· Instituto Boliviano de Tecnologia Agropecuaria, Ministerio de AA.CC. y Agropecuarios, A.P. 5783, Avda. Camacho 1471, La Paz, Phone: (02) 374285,

· Instituto Boliviano de Tecnologia Agropecuaria, Estacion Experimental Agropecuaria de Los Llanos, A.P. 247, Avenida Ejercito 131, Santa Cruz de la Sierra,

· Departamento de Semillas, Avda. Camacho 1471, La Paz,

· Instituto Boliviano de Tecnologia Agropecuaria, Estacion Experimental de Chipiriri (Chapare), Avenida Oquendo, 6167, Cochabamba, Phone: 21543, CAOL, A.P. 469, Santa Cruz


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