PARTICIPATORY RESEARCH, THE BASIS FOR A MORE SUSTAINABLE RICE IN CHILE
In the Ñuble region, located a little over 400 km south of Santiago, the southernmost rice in the world, in the hands of researchers, extensionists and producers, continues to seek sustainable solutions to adapt to climate change and markets, a of the keys: participatory research groups.
Over a decade ago, Nelso Badilla started to produce rice with traditional sowing methods, with puddling and pre-germinated crops. But a few years later, with the region facing a historic drought, he switched to the minimum tillage system and dry sowing. At present, he is continuing to adapt to this system, although he has had to tackle additional problems of labor shortages and increased input prices. But Nelso is not alone in his work, as he is part of the participatory research group (PRG) in which he has joined innovative rice farmers focusing on more sustainable processes, in a project funded by the Regional Government of Ñuble called “Climate-Smart Rice.” Of the 57 hectares that he has sown with rice, he has allocated 2,500 square meters to establish a practice plot where he can try new varieties and a practice that saves up to 50% water, called SRI (System of Rice Intensification), an intensive crop system that makes it possible to do intensive dry sowing. On his land, with some twenty rice farmers, he regularly participates in training in genetics, mechanization and monitoring for plant development, as these plants are in their reproductive process during the southern summer.
