New drip irrigation for rice can cut water use by 70%
Netafim’s irrigation solution for rice paddies also reduces methane emissions to nearly zero, helping to mitigate climate change.
Photo of a flooded rice paddy by Sergio Capuzzimati on Unsplash
Netafim is one of Israel’s best-known success stories. The company was started in 1965 and became the world leader in drip irrigation systems, especially for arid farmlands.
Now Netafim is now debuting a system for rice, the staple food of more than half the world’s population.
Rice is traditionally grown by flooding paddies with water. Cultivating rice uses up to 40 percent of the world’s freshwater and is responsible for 10% of manmade emissions of the greenhouse gas methane, according to the UN-backed Sustainable Rice Platform.
Netafim (Israël) développe un système goutte à goutte pour la culture du riz
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Rice is the staple food for more than half the global population, but its cultivation uses 30-40% of the world’s freshwater and is responsible for 10% of manmade emissions of greenhouse gas methane, according to the U.N.-backed Sustainable Rice Platform.
Vietnamese farmers grow rice in a flooded paddy. Photo: Bloomberg
Netafim, a company that pioneered drip irrigation decades ago to grow produce like potatoes and melons across Israel s challenging arid landscape, has just finished a pilot scheme using its technology on 1,000 hectares (2,470 acres) of rice fields in locations from Europe to southern Asia.
At one such location, at La Fagiana farm in northeast Italy, two fields, side-by-side, grow a high quality rice for risotto. One is flooded, covered entirely by up to 15 cm of water to maintain temperatures and keep away weeds.
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12/15/2020
By Ari Rabinovitch
JERUSALEM, Dec 15 (Reuters) - An Israeli company has
developed a drip irrigation system for growing rice to replace
the flooded paddies that have supplied the world with rice for
generations but cause a surprising level of damage to the
environment.
Rice is the staple food for more than half the global
population, but its cultivation uses 30-40% of the world’s
freshwater and is responsible for 10% of manmade emissions of
greenhouse gas methane, according to the U.N.-backed Sustainable
Rice Platform.
Netafim, a company that pioneered drip irrigation decades
ago to grow produce like potatoes and melons across Israel s
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