A Chinese agriculture specialist says a Barbados-China pilot project has harvested its first upland rice for food security.
Hunan Linshi Agricultural Services and the Barbados Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (BADMC) at Fairy Valley, Christ Church, have been growing dry-soil-adapted upland rice in recent months.
Allan Wng of Hunan Linshi Agricultural Services claimed it took 110 days to harvest rice during a project trip. He observed that the first harvest taught critical lessons and that initiatives were ongoing to speed up the second harvest with fewer labor.
Wng believes Barbados would reduce its rice imports once it masters large-scale rice planting.
He said: “I think this project is good for Barbados and good for food security, and we hope that after three or four years, Barbados can harvest rice and not import.”
Wng said China’s food farming skills, especially traditional methods for corn, rice, and wheat, helped them succeed.
He acknowledged Chinese agricultural pioneer Yuan Longping with hybrid rice and improved planting methods.
These Chinese government-supported ideas were quickly accepted and promoted. Wng stressed that China’s hybrid rice technological success has been shared with other food-insecure Asian and African nations.
According to UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates, each person needs 350 grams of grain daily. Wng highlighted that one acre of upland rice could feed 15.4 people for a year, boosting Barbadian food security.
Barbados has few water resources, so they planted upland rice during the rainy season to use rainwater for irrigation. Rice paddies are not needed to develop upland rice.
Wng said: “As we all know, Barbados has insufficient water for rice production, so we plant upland rice in the rainy season. We use rainfall to irrigate highland rice, which saves Barbados’ water and feeds us.
