Increasingly dry weather: How can rice still be grown?
Over a year ago, I first heard of the “climate-friendly rice cultivation” model at a knowledge-sharing session on community practices for agricultural responses to climate change. Last month, together with fellow farmers from Panzhihua in Sichuan, Wuhu in Anhui, and Fuyuan in Heilongjiang, I visited project sites in Kunming, Pu’er, and Honghe managed by the Sili Ecological Alternative Technology Centre (hereafter referred to as “Sili”) to see how this technology takes root across diverse rural settings.
At first glance, this is a technique that employs aerobic cultivation for rice; by reducing the duration and area of soil flooding, it aims to lower emissions.
However, “greenhouse gas emissions reduction” was not the primary topic of conversation for the farmers throughout the trip. Instead, the hot topics were the tillering capacity of the rice, yield performance, and how deep wells would need to be dug in drought-stricken villages under this water-saving model. Rather than “climate change”, the farmers were more concerned with whether this technology could simply grow better rice while using less water.
Uncle Li comes from Lianhe Village in Hongge Town, Yanbian County, Panzhihua. Recently, the villagers have begun to realise the importance of reintroducing rice cultivation for food security and autonomy. However, years of intensive vegetable farming have heavily depleted groundwater resources; combined with the droughts brought about by climate change, water has become increasingly scarce. Meanwhile, Brother Wang from Wuhu had already adopted water-saving, drought-resistant rice varieties a few years ago; in the last two years, the drought in his home of Xihe Ancient Town has intensified at the start of the year, and summer temperatures have become increasingly extreme.
Fuyuan is China’s easternmost point, located in the delta where the Heilongjiang and Ussuri rivers meet. While there is no urgent anxiety over water usage, Brother Zhu, a local villager, has felt the government’s guidance on water usage through subsidies. Local rice producers receive 60 yuan more per mu in subsidies if they use surface water for irrigation rather than groundwater.
Heading south from Kunming, the climatic characteristics and soil conditions changed from city to county. The “climate-friendly rice cultivation” practices we witnessed took on different forms. “Mitigation action based on adaptation,” summarised Zuo Zhi, Executive Director of Sili, when describing their approach to promotion.
What exactly is climate-friendly rice cultivation? In a context where rice production costs are rising and market prices have little room for increase, how can farmers—who are already reluctant—be encouraged to adopt this new model? And what constitutes “adaptive” action? Throughout the journey, Sili’s practice provided a direction for these questions.
I. Climate-Friendly Rice Cultivation
It is late August; the heading rice is growing from the ridges, releasing a scent of rice fragrance. Each ridge is covered with transparent plastic film, with scattered water in the furrows. The varieties used are conventional japonica rice: Shengnong 4, Shengnong 7, and Yunjing 37, bred by the Shengnong Rice Crop Research Institute of Yunnan Province and the Grain Crop Research Institute of the Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Sciences.
“The irrigation water mainly stays in the furrows; for the most part, the beds are dry,” says Zhao Hao, the project lead for Sili’s climate-friendly rice cultivation. Standing by the promotional sign, he introduces this water-reducing method of ridging and furrowing, also known as ridged furrow irrigation moist planting.
In agriculture, ‘ridging’ refers to piling soil into raised strips above the ground to form planting beds of a specific height and width, known as the bed surface. ‘Furrowing’ involves digging channels lower than the ground between the ridges to facilitate drainage. This dry-farming ridging model is similar to the “double-ridge triple-furrow technique” I saw in the dry vegetable-growing areas of Lanzhou. Both involve planting crops on the ridges and covering them with plastic film. In arid and semi-arid vegetable-growing regions, ridging and furrowing help conserve water. The furrows collect rainwater or irrigation water, while the film on the ridges reduces soil moisture evaporation and suppresses weeds.
Within the context of climate change, ridging and furrowing are regarded as a climate-friendly rice cultivation model because they eliminate the need for extensive flood irrigation, thereby reducing the potential for methane emissions from paddy fields.
In traditional flood-irrigated fields, continuous flooding causes soil oxygen depletion, creating an anaerobic environment. In such conditions, soil microbes continuously decompose organic matter—such as straw and root remains settled underwater—releasing small molecules in stages. These molecules are eventually converted into methane by methanogens and released into the atmosphere.
While ridging and furrowing help reduce methane emissions, they also improve field management efficiency and reduce labour intensity.
Villagers I met in the Wagong community told me that when this 100-mu demonstration field was not using the ridging and furrowing model, it required 15 people for field management, including spraying and fertilising; this year, that number has dropped to six. Since water use is reduced, people can walk directly into the fields, making operations easier than managing traditional paddy fields.
In another experimental demonstration base in the Wagong community, Sili also employs upland rice direct seeding technology to grow traditional local varieties. This eliminates the need for manual seedling nurseries and transplanting; seeds are planted directly onto ridges covered with plastic film or other mulch to suppress weeds and preserve entropy.
This dry-farming technique requires no field flooding, aligning with the characteristics of climate-friendly rice cultivation. However, in terms of yield, upland rice produces approximately 300kg per mu, which is 200kg less per mu than flood-irrigated rice.
Yet, the direct seeding model is more labour-efficient than transplanting, and upland rice is more drought-tolerant, making it better suited to the current situation in Yunnan, where drought trends are becoming more severe.
According to data from the 2024 *Yunnan Provincial Climate Bulletin*, Yunnan has experienced below-average precipitation for six consecutive years. Drought persists to varying degrees across the province, particularly during the winter and spring. Over the past five years, the distribution of drought has spread from the core arid regions of central Yunnan and its eastern and southern areas towards the northwest, west, and south of the province.
Two months ago, in Yongning Town and Youmi Village in Lijiang, I met small-scale farmers beginning to experiment with upland rice direct seeding; drought was the primary reason they were willing to try.
II. Who to partner with for promotion?
There is generally low willingness among smallholders to grow staple crops like rice. In terms of pricing, the market value of rice is far lower than that of economic crops such as fruits and vegetables. In terms of investment, farmers face rising costs for agricultural inputs and labour. Given this, when faced with more severe drought during the transplanting season, the simplest and most effective choice is to abandon rice and devote limited land and energy to higher-yield crops, or move to the city for work.
“Without subsidies, it is difficult to make money from rice cultivation; there is no reason to ask them to bear such a heavy social responsibility [regarding climate change],” says Zuo Zhi. Faced with this reality, Sili chooses to cooperate with various grassroots organisations, with agricultural technology stations currently being one of their primary partners.
Such institutions often have more motivation and a stronger demand to promote rice cultivation.
As grassroots executors of administrative departments, agricultural technology stations are tasked with ensuring food production and are responsible for technical promotion. In particular, since 2022, the Yunnan Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs has begun promoting upland cultivation techniques for hybrid rice within the province to cope with increasingly severe spring droughts. These factors form the basis of Sili’s cooperation with county- and village-level agricultural technology stations.
“In Yunnan, we have very distinct dry and rainy seasons, and rainfall during the rainy season has decreased in recent years. Specifically, the transplanting period in March and April still falls within the dry season; there is very little precipitation, and seedlings simply cannot be planted,” explained a staff member from the Shiping County Agricultural Technology Station in Honghe Prefecture to visiting farming friends. This is one of the arid counties in Yunnan Province that first began promoting water-reducing rice cultivation.
Behind the staff member were the contiguous experimental fields of Doudiwan Village in Yilong Town; last year, these rice fields, using ridged furrow irrigation moist planting, yielded approximately 700kg per mu. Along the banks of Yilong Lake, about 3,400 mu of rice are grown using this model, with Sili providing the technical support.
An agronomist from the town’s agricultural technology station told us that they had to put in a great deal of effort to convince villagers to allocate land for rice cultivation in order to meet grain production quotas.
“Land rent here in Shiping is 4,000 yuan per mu,” Zhao Hao added. If the land were used for vegetables, the output value could reach between 10,000 and 20,000 yuan per mu. Some vegetable varieties can be harvested four or five times a year and are shipped to developed markets in Beijing and Southeast Asia, potentially driving the annual value per mu even higher.
To encourage villagers to grow rice, the technology station not only provides essential agricultural inputs such as seeds and organic fertilisers free of charge but also offers centralised aerial spraying and machine harvesting services. Furthermore, they provide ecological compensation to rice farmers in the region, amounting to 1,500 yuan per mu.
Upon hearing this, Uncle Li exclaimed, “Back where I’m from, a subsidy of a few dozen or a hundred yuan is already considered a big deal!” In Panzhihua, he had almost never heard of such a substantial subsidy.
In terms of local earnings per mu, this amount might not seem vast. However, as a subsidy for rice production, it is a significant sum. This funding comes from Shiping County’s ecological subsidies for the protection of the Yilong Lake basin. Yilong Lake is one of Yunnan’s nine major plateau lakes; as a lakeside village, Doudiwan also bears the responsibility of protecting this fragile ecosystem.
Rice cultivation thus serves a dual purpose: it meets the technology station’s grain security goals and aids in the basin protection of Yilong Lake.
Fertilisers not absorbed during potato production accumulate heavily in the soil. Without the rice to absorb them, a large amount would be washed into the lake by rainwater, increasing the risk of eutrophication in Yilong Lake. Rotating with rice not only meets food security needs but also contributes to the ecological protection of the lake.
III. Action Based on Adaptation
Nor are all regions situated along plateau lakes. In areas without ecological protection mandates, the technology stations are primarily concerned with how to successfully meet grain production quotas. “During the promotion process, we look for various points where we can align our work with government policy,” said Zuo Zhi.
Staff at different agricultural technology stations vary in their understanding of policy and their approach to implementation. Some regions focus on solving the basic problems of rice cultivation, while others prioritise conservation tillage. Whenever they enter a new area, they must find a point of consensus that fits the local context, promoting techniques in a way that is tailored to local realities.
Technically, Sili is exploring new models to balance the interests of producers. In their demonstration zone in Kunming’s Wagong community, we saw dry rice intercropped with citrus trees. Zhao Hao explained that this design is primarily intended to offset the low returns of dry rice, allowing the fruit trees to supplement the farmers’ income. Additionally, intercropping fruit trees in dry rice fields does not trigger issues regarding the legal reclassification of land use.
Beyond partnering with agricultural technology stations, Sili is also attempting to collaborate with social organisations active throughout Yunnan. These organisations often possess extensive community experience in Yunnan’s villages and inevitably deal with the agricultural production of smallholders. Through these partnerships, Sili reaches individual small farmers scattered across the mountains of Yunnan who still wish to cultivate rice.
We saw this collaboration model in Qielong Zhongzhai. The partnership between local villager Che Zhixiong and Sili was primarily facilitated by “Country’s Eye”, an organisation that has worked in the village for a long time. This is a social organisation that encourages villagers to use imagery to document their daily production and lives.
Che Zhixiong is one of the villagers partnering with Country’s Eye in Qielong Zhongzhai. After returning to his hometown, he continued to manage his family’s terraced fields. Che feels that the terraces and rice cultivation are indispensable parts of Hani culture.
In recent years, however, local rice production has faced challenges from labour outflow and water scarcity. While water issues can be optimised through technology, this led Country’s Eye to contact Sili for a partnership.
This is the first year of their collaboration, and Sili has designed various schemes for the terraced fields at Che Zhixiong’s home.
Based on the local characteristics—where water is scarce on the mountains and plentiful below—they implemented dry rice direct seeding on the higher terraces, moist-planting via ridge-and-furrow irrigation in the middle, and maintained traditional flooded cultivation at the lowest point. In each model, both local heirloom and hybrid varieties were planted simultaneously to serve as comparative experiments.
Standing beside rice plants that grew taller than a person, Zhao Hao told the fellow farmers and visitors, “Yuan Longping’s ‘dream of cooling beneath the rice’ has been realised here.”
This small plot of towering rice is a local heirloom variety called ‘Hongniaoniaoneng’, which can reach heights of up to two metres. “We found that traditional heirloom varieties have an incredible capacity for drought resistance; this crop has relied entirely on natural rainfall, and we haven’t added a single drop of water,” he said.
Among the several heirloom varieties tested in Qielong Zhong village, Hongniaoniaoneng has shown the best yield performance. Through sample yield measurements, Sili technician Qin Yuchao estimated that this variety has significant potential for yield increase under the ridged furrow irrigation model. The dry-seeded plot of Hongniaoniaoneng we visited has already demonstrated this potential compared to traditional flooded planting.
In Qielong Zhong village, other rice varieties have also shown varying degrees of yield increase after adopting dry-land or moist cultivation methods.
On the morning we left Qielong Zhong, Che Zhixiong took us to a nearby cliff. Below lay vast stretches of terraced fields, prompting the farmers to exclaim in wonder: “Wow! Just look at that!” From a visitor’s perspective, it would be a genuine tragedy if such unique topography and planting traditions were not preserved.
However, without proper maintenance and compounded by drought, the landscape of the terraces can be destroyed.
Standing on high ground, Zuo Zhi pointed into the distance. “If you look closely, you’ll see that many terraces have already been converted to maize.” He explained that without long-term water conservation and the seasonal reinforcement of field bunds by farmers, heavy rains and flooding can easily cause the terraces to collapse.
From a purely technical standpoint, the ridged furrow irrigation model can, to some extent, balance the conflict between farmers’ water scarcity and the need for terrace maintenance. Zuo Zhi believes this is a reflection of how ‘climate-friendly rice cultivation’ adapts to local needs—accounting for environmental changes while respecting the requirements of local cultural heritage.
This year, Sili has added seven or eight more project sites across Yunnan, similar to those in Qielong Zhong village and Yilong Town.
Yet, Qin Yuchao cautioned that the yields of dry-seeded upland planting can be affected in some areas by pests, diseases, weeds, and poor management. Whether direct seeding or ridged moist cultivation is better for a specific variety is not always certain. “It still depends on the specific circumstances of the land and the local environment.”
IV. Beneath the Climate Shell, Rice Cultivation is a Solid Technical Discipline
For producers, the adoption of a technique depends on whether it meets practical needs—such as whether it can increase yields, reduce water usage, or if the rice itself shows better resistance. While it originated within the macro-context of mitigating climate change caused by greenhouse gases, Sili is gradually finding a local context for its promotion in Yunnan. However, this work is only just beginning; how it will be further optimised and whether it can adapt to more regions remains to be seen.
Although overall drought is the broader trend in Yunnan, Kunming saw an extraordinary amount of rain during this year’s rainy season. In the upland rice experimental fields of the Wagong community in Wuhua District, the newly installed sprinkler irrigation facilities have temporarily gone unused. “Last year’s rainy season was exceptionally dry, and we tried everything we could, only for it to rain this much this year,” Qin Yuchao lamented. More volatile climate changes are bringing further uncertainty to their adaptation experiments.
Editor: Pei Dan