Riz pluvial

Upland rice is a type of rice grown on dry soil rather than flooded rice paddies. It is sometimes also called dry rice. Today nearly 100 million people depend on upland rice as their daily staple food. Almost two-thirds of the upland rice area is in Asia, with Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Northeastern India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand and Vietnam being important producers. Upland rice is grown in rainfed fields prepared and seeded when dry, much like wheat or maize. Ecosystems involving upland rice are often relatively diverse, including fields that are level, gently rolling, or steep, at altitudes up to 2,000 meters and with rainfall ranging from 1,000 to 4,500 mm annually. Soils range from highly fertile to highly weathered, infertile, and acidic, but only 15 percent of total upland rice grows where soils are fertile, and the growing season is long. Many upland farmers plant local rice that does not respond well to improved management practices, such as intensive farming using artificial fertilizers—yet they are well adapted to their environments and produce grains that meet local needs. Although the rice technology of the 1960s and 70s focused on irrigated rice, research also studied the cultivation of upland rice. Researchers produced cultivars adapted to poor soils and with improved pest resistance and drought tolerance. Some have outyielded traditional rice by more than 100 percent in evaluations. Scientists at national agricultural research systems have crossed these improved strains with local cultivars, introducing hybrid varieties of rice. New challenges are emerging in the world's upland rice farming areas, where poverty is already a problem. These farmers try to make a living from farming on deficient soil and that makes it hard to grow their crops. Population growth, the demands of urbanism and industry, and the increasing adoption of high-value cash crop farming in the surrounding lowlands are leading to strong competition for upland terrain. The uplands have traditionally suffered from drought, infertile soils, weeds, and plant diseases.