China

General Information

· Main climates: Temperate Highland > 1 000 m above sea, Temperate Continental, Subtropical Humid, Temperate Steppe & Semiarid, Temperate Desert & Arid, and Tropical Wet and Dry.

· Total land area: 932 614 000 ha

· Internal renewable water resources 2,800 km³

· GNP per capita, 1998: PPP$ 3 051

· Main food consumed: Rice, Wheat, Meat, Maize, Roots & Tubers

· Rice supply, 1999: 135.9 kg paddy/capita/year

Basic Statistics

Producing Zones and Cropping Seasons

The rice-growing area extends from Sanya (18^o 09' N) in Hainan Province in the south to Mohe (53^o 27' N) in Heilongjiang Province in the north, with the highest altitude reaching 2 695 m above sea at Yongningba, Ninglang County, Yunnan Province. The following table shows the rice-harvested areas from different producing zones.

In the north China plain, rice is a summer crop. In Guandong and Guangxi, where rice can be grown year round if water is available, the early and late rice crops are popular. The rice-cropping season in most part of Yunan is generally long.

Production Practices

The harvested areas under different ecologies during 1995-2000 period are shown in the following figure.

In China, rice production ecologies are also classified based on topographical position and landform. Therefore, the irrigated rice is further classified into hilly land, lowland, mountain, plain, plateau-basin and saline-alkaline-land. Rice cultivation in China is very intensive. Farmers practice several rice-based cropping systems depending on prevailing agro-ecological conditions.

• The rice-fallow system is found in Beijing, Fujian, Hebei, Heilojiang, Henan, Jianshu, Jilin, Liaoning, Ningxia, Shaanxi, Shandong, Xingjiang, Yunnan and Zhejiang.

• The rice-wheat system is found in Anhui, Beijing, Guizhou, Hebei, Hubei, Jiangsu, Jianshu, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanghai, Shanxi, Sichuan, Yunnan and Zhejiang.

• The rice-rapeseed system is found in Guizhou, Jiangsu, Shaanxi, Shanghai, Shanxi and Zhejiang.

• The rice-other crops system is found in Fujian, Guizhou, Hebei, Hubei, Hunan, Shaanxi, Shanghai, Shanxi and Zhejiang.

• The rice-rice system is found in Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, and Zhejiang

• The rice-rice-other crops system is found in Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, and Zhejiang

Both indica ("Hsien") and japonica ("Keng") rice types are grown in China. The National Crop Gene Bank in the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) has conserved 64,269 accessions of rice germplasm. In addition to high yielding varieties, China was the first country to develop and deploy hybrid rice for commercial cultivation in 1976. At present, about half of the area sown to rice is planted annually to hybrid rice. Initially 3-line hybrid rice varieties were released for cultivation. Three-line hybrid varieties require a cytoplasmic male sterile line (or A line), a maintainer line (or B line) and a restorer line (or R line) to produce. Recently 2-line hybrid rice varieties were released for cultivation. Two-line hybrid varieties require only a genic male sterile line (or S line which is either Phoperiod-sensitive genic male sterile or Thermo-sensitive genic male sterile) and a restorer line (or R line) to produce.

· Hybrid varieties

· Pure-line (non-hybrid) Varieties

Land preparation is mostly done with tractors, although animal traction is still used in some locations. Transplanting, both manually and mechanically, is still the dominant practice for establishing rice crops. Recently farmers in a number of provinces to reduce the labour input and time involved in the establishment of rice crops have adopted the seedling broadcasting. In 1997, farmers in Beijing, Guangdong, Hebei, Hubei, Jiangsu, Jianshu, Jilin, and Liaoning provinces used seedling-broadcasting method. Farmers in some provinces such as Guangdong, Heilojiang, Ningxia, Shanghai and Xingjiang also practised direct seeding in rice crop establishment. Farmers usually applied high rates of inorganic and organic fertilizers to rice. Weed control is done either manually or with herbicide or both. Integrated pest management has been applied to reduce the level of insecticides used in rice production. Manual harvesting is dominant, while in threshing is mostly done mechanically. However, the use of combine harvesters is increasing. The following table shows the responses of rice to fertilizer application.

Constraints and Issues of Sustainable Increase Production

• Shortage of irrigation water.

• Low temperatures.

• Salinization/alkalization of rice soils.

• Insect pests (especially brown plant hopper and white-backed plant hopper) and diseases (especially blast, bacterial leaf blight and sheath blight).

• Weeds.

• Low economic return from rice production.

The following table shows some rice production costs.

Rice yield has been stagnating, while the harvested area showed a steady declining trend during the last five years. Sustainable increase in rice production requires technologies for efficient input application, including water, to economically narrow the gap between the potential yield of present varieties and farmers' yields, in particular in low yielding areas. The introduction of holistic rice integrated crop management would contribute to attaining this objective. Sustainable increase in rice production also requires the development and deployment of new rice varieties with higher yield potential under conditions of limited water supply and salinity. This could be achieved by crossing parents of distant relatives and using biotechnological tools.

Research and Development Institutes

· Beijing Seed Corporation, 16 Beitaipingzhuang Street, 100088 Haidian, Beijing

· Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, China National Rice Research Institute, Hangzhou, Zhejiang.

· Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Institute of Crop Breeding and Cultivation, Bai Shi Quiao Lu 30, West Suburbs, Beijing, Phone: 831-5336, Telex: (716) 222720, Fax: (86-1) 831-6545, Email: [email protected]

· Jiangsu cademy of gricultural Sciences, Economic Crops Research Institute Nanjing, Jiangsu

· Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, 510640 Guangzhou, Guangdong, Phone: (020) 759-7292, Fax: (86-20) 750-3358

· Hunan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hybrid Rice Research Centre, P.O. Box 410125, Mapoling, Changsha, Hunan, Phone: (731) 448780, Fax: (86-731) 448877

· Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry & Fisheries, Bureau of Foreign Affairs, 11, Nong Zhang Guan, Nan Li, 100026 Beijing, Phone: 500-3666, Telex: 22233, Fax: 500-2448

· Beijing Agricultural University, Beijing 100094, Fax: 86-10-258-2332

· Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science, Beijing 100081, Fax: 86-10-217-4142

· Crop Breeding and Cultivation Institute, Shanghai Academy of Agricultural Science, 35 Nan Hau Road, Shanghai 201106, Fax: 86-21-274-7266

· Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, Hubei, Fax: 86-27-781-5057

· Hubei Academy of Agricultural Science, Wuhan 430064, Fax: 86-27-884-1245

· Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Science, 141 Xiwai Dajie Beijing, Fax: 86-10-831-9534

· Rice Research Institute, Agricultural Science in Hei Long Jiang, Jianlusi City, Hei Long Jiang

· Rice Research Institute, Anhui Academy of Agricultural Science, Anhui 230031

· Rice Research Institute, Liaoning Academy of Agricultural Science, Sujiatun, Shenyang 110101 Liaoning Province, Fax: 86-024-981-2332

· South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, Fax: 86-20-551-1393

· Yunan Academy of Agricultural Science, Kunmin, Yunnan, Fax: 86-871-313-1910

· Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Science, Hangzhou 310021

· China National Rice Research Institute, 359 Tiyuchang Road, Hangzhou 310006, People's Rep. of China