Dr. Hossieni: What to expect from the on-farm control of the rice nutritional requirements on the pilot farms across the northern rice-growing area of the country
Dr. Maryam Hossieni Chaleshtori, Director General of the Rice Research Institute of Iran, together with Dr. Shahram Mahmoud Soltani, an academic member of the RRII and the member of on-farm control of the rice nutritional requirements committee visited the farmer field in Lahijan city in Guilan province on July 7, 2021.
In the on-farm meeting with the farmer, experts of the local agricultural center, Dr. Hossieni mentioned that by initiating the rice price crisis in 2007-2008, the price of rice in the world market suddenly rose. This became a big problem for most of the developing countries, including Iran, because the marginalized households in these countries eat rice as their staple food. Before the crisis happened, the market was in good condition and there were no drastic changes in the consumption and production of rice. The ministry of Jahad-Agriculture plays an important role in creating and implementing policies to increase rice grain yield per hectare. One of the pioneer government programs for rice food sufficiency programs was the on-farm control of rice nutritional requirements on the pilot farms across the northern rice-growing area of the country. The academic members of the soil and water department of the rice research institute of Iran were the backbone of this program through pre-season soil sampling and analyzing macro and micronutrient recommendations and on-farm collaboration with selected farmers.
Dr. Shahram Mahmoud Soltani, an academic member of the RRII and the member of on-farm control of the rice nutritional requirements committee reported the history of the selected farm such as how to choose, soil sampling, physical and chemical analysis of soil, the proper recommendation for macro and micronutrients and foliar application program by glycine amino acid chelate of Zinc and Iron.
Eng. Haghi, the in-charge agricultural expert of the abovementioned farm briefly explained all agricultural operations that improve and enhance the rice growth and development in the selected farm. Also, the pioneer farmer of the visited pilot said the performance of the rice plant in his farm was better than the last growing season. He predicted that the farm grain yield would have an acceptable increase compared to last year. Dr. Hossieni also asked the experts of the project to collect accurate data of morphological and physiological characteristics, especially white rice, so that the analysis of the field condition can be done well.