Breakthrough in rice cultivation

It was the biggest surprise in the life of Ahmed Khalfan Sultan Al Suwaidi, a policemen by profession, to see his dream come true.

As the performance of growing paddy without the usual flooding of the fields was explained by him, this breakthrough may solve the problem of rice imports which is talk of the town these days.

Holding long rice ears in his hands while he explained to this reporter, Suwaidi claimed that his successful experiment may lead to self-sufficiency in rice which is at present imported in large quantities from several countries.

With the help of a professional and experienced farmer from Bangladesh, Suwaidi managed to grow rice seedlings on sand land covered by borrowed mud from Ras Al Khaimah. Now the 250-square-metre green house have vigorous growth of paddy.

“I am extremely delighted to have made this breakthrough. You know many may be sceptical about the idea of growing paddy on this desert land, but with determination, patience and technology, we can do a lot in this area,” jubilant Suwaidi said at his farm in Rahba, a suburb of Abu Dhabi where the late president, Shaikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, had ordered setting up of 1,000 farms for citizens to encourage them to join agricultural sector and help in greening the desert. Rice seedlings were imported from Bangladesh. They were planted three month ago and surprisingly with no large amount of water.

“Unlike what sceptics may believe, we did not need large amount of water for irrigation. The clay layer have prevented water leakage,” he explained.

The rice nursery bed looked greener than other plants in the farm, though compared with clay soil, sandy soil has higher temperature in summer due to its relatively low heat capacity.

According to experts, the sandy rice field, compared with the common rice field, does not only save water and fertiliser, but also does have higher productivity.

The seedling raising on sand and mud mixture in plastic shed does not only enable adequate seedling supply, but also elongate the growth time and the green house afforded by plastic shed makes it possible to raise rice seedling with low temperature. Seedlings should be transplanted under suitable temperature condition.

Suwaidi said as water-saving rice cultivation technique needs high investment input, with financial support to import technology and equipment, the project promises a successful large-scale cultivation of rice in the country.

At present, Suwaidi’s farm is irrigated by the Abu Dhabi Municipalities and Agriculture Department. He, however, said the project was still cost-effective.

“This project, if expanded, will not only lead to self-sufficiency in rice but will rather be a profitable investment,” he noted.

Alongside rice, Suwaidi is growing a wide range of vegetables and fruits including onion, cabbage, cauliflower, tomatoes and date palm. He also has a large section for poultry housing a large variety of birds kept in well looked-after cages in a healthy environment.

At a time when the problem of rice importers in UAE is getting complicated, the success at Suwaidi’s farm may indeed come as a welcome respite to many.

“I think there will be no need for import of such large quantities of rice in future if we can advance cultivation of this largely-consumed cereal,” said Suwaidi whose proposals include more intensive and integrated farming across the country.