New Rice Cultivation Method in Iran Optimizes Water Use, Reduces Greenhouse Gases
“In this project, rice was cultivated in the form of seedlings. After separating and disinfecting the broken seeds by salt water solution, the seeds were germinated and then seeding was carried out, and after four leaves of the seedling are grown, the operation of transferring the seedling to the main land was carried out,” said Mostafa Yousefian, the manager of the project.
“In this plan, to decrease the amount of irrigation by the method of incomplete drying of the roots, the cultivation method was chosen in the form of atmospheric and piles. To prepare the land, we first plowed the surface of the field with a tractor to a depth of 20 cm, and after that, a light irrigation was carried out to germinate the weed seeds in the soil. Then, to control the weeds, the surface of the ground was sprayed with pesticides,” he added.
“The correct use of water that is provided to the farmer is of great importance because although the effect of activities that improve the efficiency of water use may be insignificant, the volume of water saved through this method is significant at the macro level,” Yousefian said.
In a relevant development last February, engineers of a technological company in Iran had implemented a system based on space technologies which can be used to estimate the amount of cultivated areas of five strategic crops and the actual annual needs to the products.
“For the smart management of cultivation of strategic crops, we have on agenda the design and implementation of three under-development systems upon an order by the Iran Space Agency,” said Zahra Toufaninejad, the managing director of the company.
She said that one of these systems has been developed to monitor the cultivated areas and the rate of transpiration and evaporation of the rice product, noting, “Another system monitors the cultivated area of wheat, canola, corn and sugar beet by using satellite images.”
These systems will be provided to the Iranian Agricultural Ministry after being approved and finalized by the Space Agency.
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