Growing paddy rice in upland fields

It is not a paddy field, but the paddy rice planted in it is developing splendidly.

The secret lies in the under-film drip irrigation system, an efficient and environmentally friendly system developed by Xinjiang Tianye (Group) Co Ltd.

The State-owned enterprise in Shihezi, a city in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, spent eight years overcoming the problem of growing paddy rice in upland fields.

It carried out field experiments for five consecutive years beginning in 2004, successfully tested the system in small fields in 2008 and set up large-scale demonstration projects in 2009. In February 2011, its mechanized direct seeding rice drip irrigation technology was granted a national invention patent.

Chen Yifeng, research director of the Agricultural Research Institute of the Tianye Group, said compared to the traditional method of planting rice in a paddy field, the rice drip irrigation system can save more than 60 percent of water, which makes it perfect to be applied in dry areas.

"By applying the technology, the yield of rice can reach 59.53 kilograms per hectare, while the average yield of rice in China is about 26.67 kg per hectare," Chen said.

In addition to saving water, the technology also can save fertilizer and the labor force, as farmers can control the system on an app, even from a long distance.

"Israel is leading the world in developing drip irrigation technology, but its technology has not been adopted as widely as ours due to its high costs," Wang Yongqiang, vice-director of the Agricultural Research Institute, said.

Tianye Group has become the world's largest production base of water-saving, under-film drip irrigation equipment.

He said with Tianye Group's technology, the total cost of drip irrigation equipment and plastic film used in the field is about 6.67 yuan per hectare.

In addition, the water-saving droppers are recycled annually, which allows farmers to replace the old ones with new ones at very low prices every year.

Not only having a 200 mu (13.33 hectares) demonstration field in Shihezi, the system also has been introduced in other provinces, such as Northeast China's Heilongjiang, North China's Shanxi, and East China's Shandong and Jiangsu.

The various kinds of water-saving drip irrigation systems developed by Tianye Group have been promoted in 17 countries, according to the company.

Song Xiaoling, chairwoman of Tianye Group, said the company will further expand to markets involved in the Belt and Road Initiative, to promote its products and technologies.