The earthquake and tsunami in Japan earlier this year caused serious damage to farmland, destroying a number of rice paddies, amongst other things, by inundating them with seawater. However, a recent cultivation trial done by B&L Corporation in Ishinomaki in Miyagi has succeeded in producing 5,400 kg of rice per hectare in ruined paddy fields. Using an agricultural preparation called Farm-A, the system focused on introducing a concentrated, matured liquid made from Stevia to revive the paddies.
The concentration of salt in ordinary paddy fields is 0.1-0.3%. In the paddy fields used for the trial, the salt concentration was 1.3-1.6%, which is so high that rice seedlings would normally die if transplanted there. But by spraying Farm-A liquid, diluted 700-1,000 times, made it possible to transplant seedlings and harvest rice as usual.
Paddy fields in the trial district usually yield about 4,800 kg of rice per hectare, but using Farm-A, the harvest was about 5,400 kg. According to B&L, this was due to the bioactive effect of stevia.
B&L will promote the use of Farm A next year by farmers in Ishinomaki who are struggling with salt damage. The company also plans to use Farm A for other crops on a trial basis. Additionally, B&L will provide its technologies to many farmers struggling with salt damage in parts of Japan that were not affected by the earthquake, and because salt damage is a growing problem worldwide, the company intends to proactively collaborate on salt damage prevention using its technologies.
+ B&L Corporation
Via Dig Info TV
