DOCSLIB.ORG

Climatic Change and Rice Yield and Production in Japan During the Last 100 Years Masatoshi YOSHINO* Abstract

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Climatic Change and Rice Yield and Production in Japan During the Last 100 Years Masatoshi YOSHINO* Abstract Geographical Review of Japan Vol. 66 (Ser. B), No. 1, 70-88,1993 Climatic Change and Rice Yield and Production in Japan during the Last 100 Years Masatoshi YOSHINO* Abstract First, general trends of rice yield and production and changes of air temperature , precipita tion and sunshine hours in Japan during the last 100 years are described. In yield , three periods can generally be recognized: Period 1, from the end of the 19th century to about 1915 , Period 2, from about 1915 to about 1945, the end or just few years after the 2nd World War , and Period 3, after the end of the 2nd World War. Secondly, fluctuation of climatic conditions and its effects on the paddy rice yield during the last 104 years were studied statistically in order to evaluate the different impacts according to period . By applying the principal component analysis method, their distributions, periodicities and relations to monthly mean air tempera ture, monthly total precipitation, and monthly total sunshine hours were studied . The first component has a significant correlation to all three climatic elements in July , and air tempera ture and sunshine hours in August and precipitation and sunshine hours in September . In the second part of this study, we classify the 104 years into three periods according to interannual changes of paddy rice yield. For these three periods , the general trends and fluctuations are described and the relationship between the yield and climatic elements are analyzed for five regions respectively. Key words: Climate change, Climate fluctuation, Climatic impact , Agroclimate, Paddy rice yield. tamed much data related to the present theme . I. INTRODUCTION Along with an international project on an as sessment of climatic impact on agricultural pro Climate changes and fluctuates over various duction in the case of global warming in the 21 time scales. In order to analyze the relationship st century, Japanese cases have been studied between climatic change/fluctuation and agri (YOSHINOet al., 1987). On the other hand, gener cultural yield/production during the last 100 al trends and fluctuations of the rice yield in years, the present paper first describes the gen Japan in the last 100 years have been analyzed eral trend of Japanese agriculture and second by UCHIJIMA,Z. (1981). the climatic conditions, particularly change/ Besides those written in English, numerous fluctuation, cycles, and abnormal weather oc comprehensive studies have been published in currences in Japan. In the next part of the Japanese. Due to considerations of space, the study, the impact of such climatic conditions on history of research on the present theme has paddy rice production are dealt with. not been discussed here, but its beginnings Just 20 years ago, research status and prob were as early as the last decades of the 19th lems in agricultural climatology (YosHINo, century. In the 1930's and 1940's, there already 1974), crop-weather relationship (HANYU, 1974) existed many books and monographs as well as and meteorological hazards (UEMURA et al., articles on this subject. Among others, the most 1974) in Japan were summarized. An interna comprehensive studies were made by DAIGO tional symposium on "Climatic change and food (1943, 1944, 1945). production" was held in Tsukuba in 1977 and Based on the review of previous studies, we its proceedings (TAKAHASHIet al., 1978) con now turn to the analysis of regional differences * Aichi University , Toyohashi 441, Japan Climatic Change and Rice Yield in Japan 71 in tendencies for long year series. In order to paddy rice cultivation had already spread up to contribute to these problems, an attempt was the southwestern part of Hokkaido, north made to analyze them by division into three Japan, in the Yayoi period, 2,500 years B. P. stages of development of rice cultivation. However, the irrigation system including drain age and flood control ("Water-control stage") II. GENERAL TRENDS OF PADDY RICE had been established in about AD 645 as shown YIELD IN THE LAST 100 YEARS in Fig. 1 (TAKASEet al., 1969). From the end of the last century, Japanese agriculture entered Modern archeology has made it clear that the "Inputs stage", by actively introducing fer Fig. 1. Historical development of irrigation and rice production in Japan compared with other rice-cultivat ing countries (TAKASEand KANo,1969). Lines in the lowerpart show the year-by-yearchanges of paddy yield in Japan (LineA) and in other countries,Australia, china and Thailand. II, III and IV indicatethe "Water-controlstage", "Inputs stage", and "cultivation-methodstage" in the respectivecountries. The upper part of figure,Line B shows the changeof farm land in Japanand Line Cnumber of irrigationdams in Japan. 72 M. YOSHINO Fig. 2. Geographical distribution of rice yield by country in relation to latitude (TAKASEand KANO,1969). ADB:Asian DeveiopmentBank. tilizer, new varieties, pesticides etc., and from shown in Table 1 (YAMADAet al., 1969). The 1950, it entered the "Cultivation-method stage". total yield in this country was about one third Rice yield in Japan is among the highest in that of India. the world. In Fig. 2, rice yield is shown in ac The trends in rice and other field crops pro cordance with latitudes (TAKASE et al., 1969). duction during the last 100 years show contin Rice yield is scattered widely in relatively uous increase in general, but with drastic higher latitudes, 31•‹ or more, but the average change in sericulture and livestock production values are increasing strikingly from 11-20•‹ to as shown in Fig. 3 (HAYAMI,1975). The total 31•‹ or more. Among the highest group, Japan is production, output and gross value added in the third or fourth counted from Spain as the agriculture have also increased continuously as top. The paddy production of Japan ranked shown in Fig. 4 (HAYAMI,1975), even though second or third in Asia about 30 years ago as the effect of the 2nd World War is striking. Climatic Change and Rice Yield in Japan 73 Table 1. Paddy Production in Asiaa (YAMADAet al., 1969) a) All statistics were provided by the respective governments, except those marked with an asterisk, which were taken from FAO Document No. CCP: RI 67/7. Table 2 shows the distribution of farms by size of cultivated land area, from 1908 to 1990. As is clearly shown, small scale family farms are predominant, which is still true in the 1980's (KAT5UKI,1993). That is to say, the struc ture of rural organization has been fairly con sistent during the years of the statistics. HAYAMI (1975) mentioned that, because of the heavy burden of taxes and rent, coupled with a lag in productivity growth in agriculture rela tive to the nonfarm sector, the level of income and consumption of farm households lagged behind urban households. This situation might be reflected in the consistent technical improve ments in agriculture in Japan, but the farm sizes remained in a similar percentage distribu Fig. 3. Trends in agricultural production by com tion. Because the small size farms are generally modities. considered to be more sensitive, due to the Adjusted to 1934-1936constant pricesshown by 5-year economically weak background of farmers, to averages(HAYAMI,1975). such unfavorable conditions as anomalous weather, these farm size characteristics should wider year-to-year fluctuation over recent be taken into consideration. Increase of part years. This is because production has already time farmers during recent years should also be reached the higher stages and the area of fields considered quantitatively, but related problems and yield cannot be drastically increased. In need to be considered in further studies. contradistinction to this, the United States and YOKOYAMA(1990) described Japanese rice Australia put large machinery into rice cultiva production as similar to that of European coun tion and produced for export at lower cost, tries, with a slowly increasing tendency to particularly since the 1970's. For example, the 74 M. YOSHINO Fig. 4. Trends in total production, total output, and gross value added in agriculture. Adjusted to 1934-1936 constant prices shown by 5-year-averages (HAYAMI,1975). Table 2. Distribution of Farms by Size of Cultivated Land Area a) Percentage distribution is shown in parentheses. Source: Institute of Developing Economies, One Hundred Years of Agricultural Statistics in Japan (Tokyo, 1969), p. 116; and Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fishery, Statistical Research Division: World census of Agriculture Report on Farmhouseholds and Population, and Agriculture census and Agricultural Investigation. Data from 1908 to 1970 is also available from YAMADAet al. (1969). percentage of total farmers in the U. S.A. accord ing to harvested area for below 40ha is 27.5%, III. CLIMATIC CHANGE, FLUCTUATION for 40-100ha 33.9%, for 100-200ha 24.2%, for AND ABNORMAL WEATHER DURING 200-400ha 10.9%, and above 400 ha 3.5%. THE LAST 100 YEARS These figures are quite different from the values shown in Table 2. It is particularly strik Annual mean air temperature increased 0.4 ing that farms smaller than 1ha are still domi 0.5•Ž/100 years as the average for the whole nant, 67-68%, in Japan (JINNOUCHI,1992). country as shown in Fig. 5. If we look at it regionally, the trends vary. The maximum Climatic Change and Rice Yield in Japan 75 Fig. 5. Year-by-year changes of air temperature, precipitation and sunshine hours in Japan 1900-1980, annual mean or total. (Data sources: Japan Met. Agency, 1984). around 1960 is striking in the respective parts Islands, however, show a remarkable increase of Japan, though the trends in the 1970's are not with certain periodicity of about 24-25 years. the same. Precipitation shows very complicated fluctu Precipitation shows more complicated fea ations.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Rice Production in Japan
    )33. 6OL (11& #0& #)4+%7.674' 14)#0+<#6+10 1( 6*' 70+6'& 0#6+105 14)#0+5#6+10 &'5 0#6+105 70+'5 2174 .ŏ#.+/'06#6+10 '6 .ŏ#)4+%7.674' 14)#0+<#%+¦0 &' .#5 0#%+10'5 70+&#5 2#4# .# #)4+%7.674# ; .# #.+/'06#%+¦0 4QOG 4QOC Contents Table des matières Índice Technical Editor/Rédacteur technique/Editor técnico: Preface v A. Ferrero and F. Vidotto Nguu Van Nguyen, AGP, FAO, Rome Préface Weed management in European rice Editing, layout, desktop publishing and graphics/ Prefacio fields 44 Rédaction, mise en page, édition électronique et graphiques/Redacción, compaginación, composición Lutte anti-adventices dans les champs electrónica y elaboración gráfica: de riz d’Europe Ruth Duffy, Rome GLOBAL OUTLOOK El control de malezas en los arrozales PERSPECTIVES MONDIALES de Europa The International Rice Commission (IRC), which PERSPECTIVAS MUNDIALES works within the framework of FAO, was established L. Zelensky, N.N. Malysheva, T.G. Mazur, on 4 January 1949 with the object of promoting national and international action in respect of C. Calpe G.D. Los and A.R. Tretyakov production, conservation, distribution and Review of the rice market situation Rice genetic potential and its application consumption of rice. Matters relating to trade are in 2007 1 in rice breeding for stress tolerance 52 outside the purview of the Commission. Examen de la situation du marché du riz Le potentiel génétique du riz et ses Membership of the Commission is open to all FAO en 2007 applications à la sélection de variétés Member Nations and Associate Members who accept Examen de la situación mundial del arroz résistantes au stress the constitution of the IRC.
    [Show full text]
  • REFLECTIONS on YIELD GAPS in RICE PRODUCTION: HOW to NARROW the GAPS 26 by Mahmud Duwayri, Dat Van Tran and Van Nguu Nguyen
    BRIDGING THE RICE YIELD GAP IN THE ASIA-PACIFIC REGION Edited by Minas K. Papademetriou Frank J. Dent Edward M. Herath FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS REGIONAL OFFICE FOR ASIA AND THE PACIFIC BANGKOK, THAILAND, OCTOBER 2000 This publication brings together edited manuscripts of papers presented at the Expert Consultation on "Bridging the Rice Yield Gap in Asia and the Pacific", held in Bangkok, Thailand, 5-7 October, 1999. The Consultation was organized and sponsored by the FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific in collaboration with the Crop and Grassland Service (AGPC), FAO Hqs., Rome, Italy. The Report of the Consultation was brought out in December 1999 (FAO/RAP Publication: 1999/41). The designations employed and the presentation of material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. Reproduction and dissemination of material in this information product for educational or other non-commercial purposes are authorized without any prior written permission from the copyright holders provided the source is fully acknowledged. All rights reserved. Reproduction of material in this information product for resale or other commercial purposes is prohibited without written permission of the copyright holders. Applications for such permission should be addressed to Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, Maliwan Mansion, 39 Phra Atit Road, Bangkok 10200, Thailand.
    [Show full text]
  • The Structure of Rice Production in Japan and Taiwan Hiroshi FUJIKI** Kyoto Institute of Economic Research, Kyoto University
    The Structure of Rice Production in Japan and Taiwan* Hiroshi FUJIKI** Kyoto Institute of Economic Research, Kyoto University Sakyo, Kyoto, 606-01, Japan * Forthcoming to Economic Development and Cultural Change. **This paper is a revised version of a part of my dissertation ( “A Study of Japanese Ricemarket Liberalization” ［Ph.D.diss., University of Chicago, 1993］). I thank my thesis advisers; Yair Mundlak, Nancy Stokey and especially D. Gale Johnson who suggested the original ideas shown in this paper. I thank Chaw-hisa Tu for providing me with Taiwanese data and useful discussion on the Taiwanese economy. I am grateful to two anonymous referees for their helpful comments on the earlier version of this paper. The Structure of Rice Production in Japan and Taiwan Hiroshi Fujiki Kyoto Institute of Economic Research, Kyoto University I. Introduction This paper points out the failure of Japanese agricultural policy through an international comparison with Taiwanese agricultural policy. More specifically, the paper focuses on a comparison between Taiwanese rice production costs and those in the Non-Hokkaido region of Japan. There are many similarities between Taiwanese rice production and rice production in the Non-Hokkaido region of Japan; the farm size distribution, the variety of rice produced, and the degree of mechanization. It is also well known that the average cost of Japanese rice production decreases with farm size, as Hayami and Kawagoe for example, have shown.１ But Taiwanese rice production costs remain almost constant with respect to the scale of operation as Kuroda has confirmed.２ This paper argues that differing the government policies throughout the process of mechanizing rice production in these two very similar economies is one of the major reasons why we find such a difference in the cost structure of production.
    [Show full text]
  • Department of Agricultural Economics
    Staff Paper Series Staff Paper P70-1 January 1970 ELEMENTS OF INDUCED INNOVATION: A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE OF THE GREEN REVOLUTION By Yujiro Hayami Department of Agricultural Economics University of Minnesota Institute of Agriculture St. Paul, Minnesota 55108 P70-1 January 1970 i,,, ELEMENTS OF INDUCED INNOVATION: A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE OF THE GREEN REVOLUTION* . Yujiro Hayami * The research on which this paper was based was suppcmted by a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation. The author wishes to thank R. E. Evenson, B. F. .JOhf16tO~$ Simon Kuznets, L. R. Martin? R. R. Nelson, Kazushi Ohk.awa, ~. L. Peterson$ P. M. Raup, Shujiro Sawada, V. W. Ruttan and Saburo Yamada for suggestions and comments. He is indebted to Barbara Miller and Hideo Kobayashi for data collection and computation. ELEMENTS OF INDUCED INNOVATION: A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE OF THE GREEN REVOLUTION by Yujiro Hayami The dramatic appearance and propagation of high yielding varieties (HYV) of rice and wheat in Asia since the mid-1960’s have been heralded widely as a “green revolution”. It is generally regarded as a highly successful demonstration of how the systematic application of scientific methods can be employed to create a new technology capable of transforming the traditional agriculture of the great mass of peasants in Asia. Of particular significance is the fact that the green revolution demonstrates the process of international transmission of “ecology-bound” agricultural technology from developed countries to less developed countries through the transfer of the scientific knowledge embodied in scientists rather than through the direct transfer of known technology. It reinforces the growing recognition that advanced agricultural technology (e.g., HYV’S) existing in the temperate zone developed countries is not transplantable to tropical and sub-tropical regions without the adaptive research of high caliber scientists.
    [Show full text]
  • Promotion of Rice Production and Dissemination in Africa
    JICA Seminar on Promotion of Rice Production and Dissemination in Africa February, 2004 AICAD, Nairobi, Kenya Japan International Cooperation Agency Overview of the Seminar Purpose The Tokyo International Conference on African Development Ⅲ(TICADⅢ) was held in September 2003. During the conference, wide-ranging discussions were held in order to embody the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD), emphasizing the importance of agricultural development for alleviation of poverty through economic growth. Prior to TICADⅢ, at the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in 2002, the Japanese government expressed its support for dissemination of New Rice for Africa (NERICA) to African nations where a shortage of food is a major concern. On the other hand, in December 2003 the General Assembly (UN) designated 2004 as the Year of Rice for people to understand the important role of rice for food security and alleviation of poverty in line with Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). In this connection, the necessity of assistance to Africa was stressed and it was urgently needed to discuss how to promote support for production of rice, particularly NERICA. In the context stated above, JICA decided to hold a two-day seminar on “Promotion on Rice Production and Dissemination in Africa”, at the African Institute for Capacity Development (AICAD), Nairobi, Kenya on 10 – 11, February in 2004 (See attached paper. In addition to JICA agricultural experts and their counterparts in African countries, JICA invited participants from authorities involved in NERICA-related countries, NGOs and International organizations. The seminar aimed to identify the current situation and problems on rice and to share ideas on rice development cooperation among the participating countries/organizations.
    [Show full text]
  • Evaluation of Agricultural Policy Reforms in Japan ORGANISATION for ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION and DEVELOPMENT
    Evaluation of Agricultural Policy Reforms in Japan ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT The OECD is a unique forum where the governments of 30 democracies work together to address the economic, social and environmental challenges of globalisation. The OECD is also at the forefront of efforts to understand and to help governments respond to new developments and concerns, such as corporate governance, the information economy and the challenges of an ageing population. The Organisation provides a setting where governments can compare policy experiences, seek answers to common problems, identify good practice and work to co-ordinate domestic and international policies. The OECD member countries are: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, the Slovak Republic, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States. The Commission of the European Communities takes part in the work of the OECD. OECD Publishing disseminates widely the results of the Organisation’s statistics gathering and research on economic, social and environmental issues, as well as the conventions, guidelines and standards agreed by its members. Corrigenda to OECD publications may be found on line at: www.oecd.org/publishing/corrigenda. © OECD 2009 You can copy, download or print OECD content for your own use, and you can include excerpts from OECD publications, databases and multimedia products in your own documents, presentations, blogs, websites and teaching materials, provided that suitable acknowledgment of OECD as source and copyright owner is given. All requests for public or commercial use and translation rights should be submitted to [email protected].
    [Show full text]
  • Development of Herbicides for Paddy Rice in Japan
    Weed Biology and Management 18, 75–91 (2018) REVIEW PAPER Development of herbicides for paddy rice in Japan KENSHIRO HAMAMURA* 1Japan Association for Advancement of Phyto-Regulators (JAPR), Tokyo, Japan The history of the development of herbicides for mechanized paddy rice production in Japan can be characterized by a combination of products with several ingredients, by large availabil- ity in formulation, and by application methods for labor saving in accordance with natural and social conditions of the country, for instance, around 40% of national land located in hilly and mountainous areas, small size paddy fields consolidated in approximately 0.3 ha on average and so on. As for combination products, one-shot herbicides that can control both annual and perennial weeds, including grasses, sedges and broadleaved weeds, mainly with sulfonylureas have been a major means of rice production since the 1980s. One-shot herbi- cides have been improved by using newly developed chemicals with excellent herbicidal effi- cacy, such as acetolactate synthase (ALS), 4-hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase (4-HPPD), protoporphyrinogen oxidase (PPO) and very-long-chain fatty acid elongase (VLCFAE) inhibitors, and by combining ingredients that are effective against sulfonylurea-resistant (SU- R) biotypes of lowland weeds. The latest type of one-shot herbicides can control noxious species such as Eleocharis kuroguwai as well as other ordinal species. Regarding herbicide for- mulation, “1 kg granule,”“Jumbo,”“Flowable,”“Diffusion granule” and so on have been developed to save farmers the troubles of applying herbicides. As for application methods, “at-transplanting application,”“at-irrigation inlet application” and utilization of radio- controlled helicopters or boats were put into practical use as labor-saving technology.
    [Show full text]
  • Soil Physics and Rice
    books (JPEG Image, 685x1023 pixels) - Scaled (73%) http://books.google.com/books?id=3tOQn26nyMQC&pg=PP1&img=1&z... 1 of 1 10/1/2009 8:32 AM SOIL PHYSICS AND RICE 1985 INTERNATIONAL RICE RESEARCH INSTITUTE LOS BAÑOS LAGUNA, PHILIPPINES P.O. BOX 933, MANILA, PHILIPPINES The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) was established in 1960 by the Ford and Rockfeller Foundations with the help and approval of the Government of the Philippines. Today IRRI is one of the 13 nonprofit international research and training centers supported by the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). The CGIAR is sponsored by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, the International Bank for Reconstructionn and Development (World Bank), and the United Nations development Programme (UNDP). The CGIAR consists of 50 donor countries, international and regional organizations, and private foundations. IRRI receives support, through the CGIAR, from a number of donors including the Asian Development Bank, the European Economic Com- munity, the Ford Foundation, the International Development Research Centre, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, the OPEC Special Fund, the Rockefeller Foundation. the United Nations Development Programme, the World Bank, and the international aid agencies of the following government,: Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Den- mark, Fed. Rep. Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and United States. The responsibility tor this publication rests with the International Rice Research Institute. Copyright © International Rice Research Institute 1985 All rights reserved. Except for quotations of short passages for the purpose of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in retrieval systems, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, with out prior permission of IRRI.
    [Show full text]
  • Rice Policies in Japan from 1965 to 1980, Employing a Partial Equilibrium Model
    Evaluation of the Japanese Rice Policy Reforms under the WTO Agreement on Agriculture Daisuke Takahashi1 and Masayoshi Honma2 1 University of Tokyo Address: 1-1-1 Yayoi, Bunkyo-ku Tokyo, 113-8657, Japan. E-mail: [email protected]. Corresponding Author. 2 University of Tokyo Address: 1-1-1 Yayoi, Bunkyo-ku Tokyo, 113-8657, Japan. E-mail: [email protected]. Contributed Paper prepared for presentation at the International Association of Agricultural Economists Conference, Beijing, China, August 16-22, 2009 Copyright 2009 by the authors. All rights reserved. Readers may make verbatim copies of this document for non-commercial purposes by any means, provided that this copyright notice appears on all such copies. Abstract This study aims to quantitatively evaluate the rice policy reforms in Japan since 1995. First, we review the development of the Japanese rice policy reforms since the Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture and the transition of the representative indices that measure the level of agricultural protection, such as the producer support estimate (PSE) and the aggregate measure of support (AMS). Next, a quantitative evaluation of the volume of transfers facilitated by the rice policies is carried out by employing the standard framework of welfare analysis. The changes in social welfare are simulated when the ex ante and ex post policies related to rice, namely, direct payment per output, purchase of rice by the government, and acreage control, are abolished and when the import tariff on rice is abolished. In addition, we calculate the average transfer efficiency (ATE) of the rice policies during the analysis period and draw the surplus transformation curve (STC) along with the changes in the acreage control rate.
    [Show full text]
  • Early Trends, Current Status and Future Prospects of Farm Mechanization in Asia
    76 October, 2019 AgricEngInt: CIGR Journal Open access at http://www.cigrjournal.org Vol. 21, No. 3 Early trends, current status and future prospects of farm mechanization in Asia Muhammad Usman Khan1,2, Tanzeel U. Rehman2* (1. Department of Biological Systems Engineering, Washington State University, Tricities, Washington 99354, USA; 2. Department of Farm Machinery and Power, Faculty of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad 38000, Pakistan) Abstract: During the last five decades, Asia has made considerable development in the field of agricultural machinery. During the year 1960 the condition of mechanization was very poor and most of the farm operations were performed manually. A positive correlation between the farm power availability and the productivity was observed during past three decades for several Asian nations including China, Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh. The previous trends have shown that Pakistan, India and Bangladesh have experienced only the selective farm mechanization which was found to be initially limited to the use of heavy tractors only. In addition to the full-scale tractors, China, India and Bangladesh have adopted the power tillers and small-scale tractors to co-op with the fragmented small farms, however, in Pakistan the current inclination is towards to the bigger tractors. Asian countries like Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Cambodia have relatively low mechanization index and lags behind the other neighboring Asian countries. At present, the farm machinery sector has become much better and Asia now has the largest sales of farm machinery in the world. The sales of farm machinery are even better than North America which is the pioneer in this sector.
    [Show full text]
  • Energy Efficiency of Intensive Rice Production in Japan
    sustainability Article Energy Efficiency of Intensive Rice Production in Japan: An Application of Data Envelopment Analysis Kiyotaka Masuda Department of Biological Resources Management, School of Environmental Science, The University of Shiga Prefecture, 2500 Hassaka-cho, Hikone, Shiga 522-8533, Japan; [email protected]; Tel.: +81-749-28-8331; Fax: +81-749-28-8573 Received: 23 October 2017; Accepted: 3 January 2018; Published: 6 January 2018 Abstract: Intensive rice production has contributed to feeding the world’s growing world population, but it has also increased fossil energy consumption. This paper examines the effect of increasing the scale of rice farming on the energy efficiency of intensive rice production in Japan. A data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach is used to calculate energy efficiency scores and identify operational targets. A window analysis technique is applied to the 2005–2011 statistical data, with nine scales of rice farming, ranging from <0.5 ha to ≥15 ha. Six energy inputs (fossil fuels, electricity, chemical fertilizers, pesticides, agricultural services, and agricultural machinery) and the weight-based rice yield are selected as the DEA inputs and the DEA output, respectively. The results show that the energy efficiency scores range from 0.732 for farms of 1 ha to <2 ha, to 0.988 for farms ≥15 ha. Overall, increasing the scale of rice farming in Japan improves energy efficiency because of a great reduction in the energy consumed per unit area by agricultural machinery and agricultural services. These findings suggest that increasing the scale of farming is an effective way to enhance the energy efficiency of highly mechanized rice production in developed countries, such as Japan.
    [Show full text]
  • The Sustainability of Rice Farming
    The Sustainability of Rice Farming The Sustainability of Rice Farming D. J. Greenland Visiting Professor Department of Soil Science University of Reading, UK Former Director of Scientific Services CAB INTERNATIONAL Former Deputy Director General (Research) International Rice Research Institute Philippines CAB INTERNATIONAL in association with the International Rice Research Institute CAB INTERNATIONAL CAB INTERNATIONAL Wallingford 198 Madison Avenue Oxon OX10 8DE New York, NY 10016-4341 UK USA Tel: +44 (0) 1491 832111 Tel: +1 212 726 6490 Fax: +44 (0) 1491 833508 Fax: +1 212 686 7993 E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] © CAB INTERNATIONAL 1997. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronically, mechanically, by photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owners. Published in association with: International Rice Research Institute PO Box 933 1099 Manila The Philippines A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library, London, UK ISBN 0 85199 163 7 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Greenland, D.J. The sustainability of rice farming/D.J. Greenland. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-85199-163-7 (alk. paper) 1. Rice. I. Title. SB191.RSG724 1997 338.1'73184—dc21 96-46785 CIP Typeset in Photina by AMA Graphics Ltd Printed and bound in the UK by Biddles Ltd, Guildford and King's Lynn Contents Preface ix 1 The Importance of the Sustainability of Rice Farming 1 1.1 The
    [Show full text]