Ecuador

General Information

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

· Total land area: 28 356 000 ha

· Internal renewable water resources: 314 km³

· Incoming water flow: km³

· GNP per capita, 1998: PPP$ 3 003

· Main food consumed: Oil & fat, Rice, Sugar & honey, Maize, Wheat

· Rice supply, 1999: 75.7 kg paddy/capita/year

Basic Statistics

Producing Zones and Cropping Seasons

The following table shows the rice-harvested area in different producing zones

There are two main rice seasons in a year.

Production Practices

The following figure shows the harvested rice area from different ecologies during the last five years.

Irrigated rice is dominant in Provincia del Guayas, while upland rice is dominant in Provincia de los Rios. Transplanting is widely practised in irrigated rice production, while direct seeding is the main method of crop establishment in upland areas. About 60 percent of the farmers cultivated less than 5 ha/farmer, while 3 percent of the farmers are large farmers, cultivating 100 ha or more per farmer. A number of improved rice varieties have been developed and released for cultivation. Among them INAP 415 was very popular during the early years of the 1990s; being planted to nearly 60 percent of the total area during the Wet season and 50 percent of the total area during the Dry season. About 13 percent of total rice area are under fully mechanisation from land preparation to harvest and the land preparation in 65 percent of the total rice area is mechanised. In the remaining rice areas most rice production activities are done manually. The fertilizer rates applied in rice production vary from farmer to farmer. Herbicides and insecticides, however, are widely used for weed and insect management. Recently Integrated Pest Management was popularized to reduce the level of insecticides and weedicides used in rice production. High yield (5 t/ha) are obtained in irrigated (bajo riego), mechanised land preparation, use of certified seed, insecticides and fertilizers, while in traditional system without mechanisation and external inputs yield was only 1.5 t/ha.

· Irrigated rice varieties

Released upland rice varieties include Brasileras, Canilla, Donato and Pico Negro.

Constraints and Issues of Sustainable Production

There are several constraints to sustainable rice production in Ecuador. Following are the majors:

• Irrigation infrastructures are still weak.

• Inadequate equipment for land preparation and harvesting.

• Insufficient control of water in rainfed areas.

• Blast, Hoja blanca.

• Weed competition and insects: sogota, hidrelia and manchado.

• Reduction of public support to rice research and extension activities.

• Under-developed private seed industry.

The following table shows the rice production costs.

Research and Development Institutes

· Direccion y Subdireccion Generales, Casilla 2600, Calle San Javier 295 y Orellana, Quito,

· Phone: 527644, Estacion Experimental, Pichilingue

· Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Agropecuarias A.P. 17-01-2600 Av. Eloy Alfaro y Amazonas, Edificio MAG - 4 Piso, Quito, Phone: 541997 Telex: 2532 Fax: (593-2) 504240

· Instituto Nacional de Investigacion Agropecuarios (INIAP), Km 26 via Durán-Tambo, Guayas, Apartado 7069 Guayaquil, Ecuador.

· Programa de Arroz, INIAP. Ministerio de Agricultura y Ganaderia, Francisco Pacheco No. 2081, Quito, Equardor; Tel 595157.

· Programa Nacional de Semillas, A.P. 430, Quito, Telex: 2291

· Universidad de Guayaquil, Guayaquil

· Estacion Experimental Boliche, Casilla 7069, Km.26 al Oeste de Guayaquil, Via Duran Tambo, Boliche, Guayaquil, Phone: 710967