Rice developed by China bears fruit in Dubai

Planting program turns 3.6 hectares of arid desert into green paddy field

Agricultural scientists from China who set a rice production record in a desert in Dubai recently are expanding trial planting to look for even more productive strains that suit local palates.

The average annual yield - 9.4 metric tons a hectare - has already more than doubled that of previous rice cultivation efforts in Dubai led by India and Pakistan, according to Cheng Yunfeng, manager of Wuhan Haidao International in Hubei province, which oversees the trial planting program.

He said it was even similar to high yield varieties intended for conventional arable land.

The program, running from November to June, turned 3.6 hectares of barren, arid desert on the outskirts of Dubai into green paddy field.

The rice variety that works the magic is known as saltwater-tolerant rice, a rice species developed in China that can cope with heavy salt content and submergence.

The original, wild crop, discovered on the coast of South China's Guangdong province in the 1980s, has been developed into a family of saltwater-tolerant strains. Trial cultivation across China maximized desirable traits before the project embarked overseas.

"The success of our first trial in Dubai is a crucial step in promoting saltwater-tolerant rice across the Middle East and even around the globe," Cheng said.

A decade-long cooperation plan was signed in mid-July to further expand trial planting and encourage commercial adoption across the United Arab Emirates, he said.

Trying to grow rice in gravelly desert soil is a huge undertaking in itself. In Dubai, a shortage of freshwater compounded the challenge and thwarted decades of attempts to grow crops on a mass scale in the city.

"Underground water used for irrigation in Dubai has an average salt content of 1.6 percent, almost equivalent to the water in the South China Sea," Cheng said. "That would kill tender seedlings for sure.

"To address the issue, we first used the traditional approach of diluting water to about 0.6 percent (salt content). More importantly, we adopted a dry, direct-seeding method that could reduce demands for irrigation water.

"There is no need to apply the dry-seeding approach in our planting base in Wuhan, since the city has sufficient fresh water. But in foreign lands, it's crucial to upgrade techniques to adapt to local conditions."

The bold move to switch seeding approach meant intense manual labor was needed to complete sowing quickly.

"We transported two rice-sowing machines from China to speed up the process," Cheng said.

But every cloud has a silver lining. Dubai also provides the benefits of warm temperatures and abundant daytime sunlight that foster the growth of rice.

"In the past year, we have collected a certain amount of data and information that will help us determine optimal sowing seasons in the future and assess how different agricultural practices, including irrigation and use of fertilizers and pesticides, affect eventual output," Cheng said.

In future trial planting, the company aims to isolate productive rice strains while further enhancing their resilience and fine-tuning the texture to the palates of local residents, who prefer fluffy rice to sticky rice.

Contact the writers at wangxiaoyu@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily Global 08/05/2019 page3)