Introduction

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lena Kaufmann
Keyword(s):  
Paddy Field ◽  
Crucial Role ◽  
Southern China ◽  
Paddy Fields ◽  
Land Resources ◽  
Key Factors ◽  
Rice Farmers ◽  
Migration Strategies ◽  
Family Land ◽  
Farming Village

This introduction introduces the basic predicament being faced by rice farmers in post-reform China: the conflicting pressures to both migrate into cities and yet preserve their family land resources in the countryside. It posits that paddy fields play a crucial role in shaping farmers’ migration strategies. More generally, it proposes that socio-technical resources and related skills are key factors in understanding migration flows and migrant-home relations. Furthermore, the chapter proposes a socio-technical approach to investigating this paddy field predicament and explains how this approach contributes to existing literature at the intersection of the literature on agriculture, migration, and skill. Finally, it introduces the main field site, a rice-farming village in southern China, and briefly discusses the data and sources.

scholarly journals Rural-Urban Migration and Agro-Technological Change in Post-Reform China

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lena Kaufmann
Keyword(s):  
Technological Change ◽  
Paddy Fields ◽  
Urban Migration ◽  
Key Factors ◽  
Rice Farmers ◽  
Farming Community ◽  
Household Members ◽  
Rural Urban Migration ◽  
Farming Households ◽  
Staying At Home

How do rural Chinese households deal with the conflicting pressures of migrating into cities to work as well as staying at home to preserve their fields? This is particularly challenging for rice farmers, because paddy fields have to be cultivated continuously to retain their soil quality and value. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork and written sources, this book describes farming households' strategic solutions to this predicament. It shows how, in light of rural-urban migration and agro-technological change, they manage to sustain both migration and farming. It innovatively conceives rural households as part of a larger farming community of practice that spans both staying and migrating household members and their material world. Focusing on one exemplary resource - paddy fields - it argues that socio-technical resources are key factors in understanding migration flows and migrant-home relations. Overall, this book provides rare insights into the rural side of migration and farmers' knowledge and agency.

scholarly journals Urbanization dramatically altered the water balances of a paddy field dominated basin in Southern China

2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 1941-1972 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Hao ◽  
G. Sun ◽  
Y. Liu ◽  
J. Wan ◽  
M. Qin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Paddy Field ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Southern China ◽  
Large Population ◽  
Rice Paddy ◽  
Paddy Fields ◽  
Area Index ◽  
Water Balances ◽  
Rice Paddy Fields

Abstract. Rice paddy fields provide important ecosystem services (e.g., food production, water retention, carbon sequestration) to a large population globally. However, these benefits are declining as a result of rapid environmental and socioeconomic transformations characterized by population growth, urbanization, and climate change in many Asian countries. This case study examined the responses of streamflow and watershed water balances to the decline of rice paddy fields due to urbanization in the Qinhuai River Basin in southern China where massive industrialization has occurred in the region during the past three decades. We found that streamflow increased by 58% and evapotranspiration (ET) decreased by 23% during 1986–2013 as a result of an increase in urban areas of three folds and reduction of rice paddy field by 27%. Both highflows and lowflows increased significantly by about 28% from 2002 to 2013. The increases in streamflow were consistent with the decreases in ET and leaf area index monitored by independent remote sensing MODIS data. The reduction in ET and increase in streamflow was attributed to the large cropland conversion that overwhelmed the effects of regional climate warming and climate variability. Converting traditional rice paddy fields to urban use dramatically altered land surface conditions from a water-dominated to a human-dominated landscape, and thus was considered as one of the extreme types of contemporary hydrologic disturbances. The ongoing large-scale urbanization in the rice paddy-dominated regions in the humid southern China, and East Asia, will likely elevate stormflow volume, aggravate flood risks, and intensify urban heat island effects. Understanding the linkage between land use change and changes in hydrological processes is essential for better management of urbanizing watersheds.

Functional soil organic matter fractions in response to long-term fertilizer management in a double-cropping paddy field of southern China

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Haiming Tang ◽  
Chao Li ◽  
Lihong Shi ◽  
Li Wen ◽  
Kaikai Cheng ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Organic Matter ◽  
Soil Organic Matter ◽  
Paddy Field ◽  
Southern China ◽  
Rice Paddy ◽  
Chemical Fertilizer ◽  
Protection Mechanism ◽  
Rice Paddy Field ◽  
Double Cropping

Abstract Soil organic matter (SOM) and its fractions play an important role in maintaining or improving soil quality and soil fertility. Therefore, the effects of a 34-year long-term fertilizer regime on six functional SOM fractions under a double-cropping rice paddy field of southern China were studied in the current paper. The field experiment included four different fertilizer treatments: chemical fertilizer alone (MF), rice straw residue and chemical fertilizer (RF), 30% organic manure and 70% chemical fertilizer (OM) and without fertilizer input as control (CK). The results showed that coarse unprotected particulate organic matter (cPOM), biochemically, physically–biochemically and chemically protected silt-sized fractions (NH-dSilt, NH-μSilt and H-dSilt) were the main carbon (C) storage fractions under long-term fertilization conditions, accounting for 16.7–26.5, 31.1–35.6, 16.2–17.3 and 7.5–8.2% of the total soil organic carbon (SOC) content in paddy soil, respectively. Compared with control, OM treatment increased the SOC content in the cPOM, fine unprotected POM fraction, pure physically protected fraction and physico-chemically protected fractions by 58.9, 106.7, 117.6 and 28.3%, respectively. The largest proportion of SOC to total SOC in the different fractions was biochemically protected, followed by chemically and unprotected, and physically protected were the smallest. These results suggested that a physical protection mechanism plays an important role in stabilizing C of paddy soil. In summary, the results showed that higher functional SOM fractions and physical protection mechanism play an important role in SOM cycling in terms of C sequestration under the double-cropping rice paddy field.

scholarly journals The Value of a Decrease in Temperature by One Degree Celsius of the Regional Microclimate—The Cooling Effect of the Paddy Field

Atmosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 353
Author(s):  
Ya-Wen Chiueh ◽  
Chih-Hung Tan ◽  
Hsiang-Yi Hsu
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Surface Temperature ◽  
Paddy Field ◽  
Research Area ◽  
Paddy Fields ◽  
Cooling Effect ◽  
Field Temperature ◽  
Bare Land ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Difference

In the face of climate change, extreme climates are becoming more frequent. There were severe droughts in Taiwan in 2020, 2014–2015, and 2002. In these years, the paddy fields were kept fallow to save water and transfer agricultural water to non-agricultural use. On the other hand, with global warming, the existence of paddy fields may be one of the natural solutions to regional temperature mitigation. This study used remote sensing to quantify the difference in temperature between paddy fields and urban areas. The result of overall surface temperature deductive analysis revealed that the temperature in the whole Taoyuan research area was 1.2 °C higher in 2002 than in 2003 because of fallowing of the paddy field, while in the Hsinchu research area, it was 1.5 °C higher in 2002 than in 2003, due to the same reason described above. In terms of the difference in land use, for the Hsinchu research area, the surface temperature deductive result showed that the average paddy field temperature in 2002 was 22.3 °C (sample area average), which was 7.7 °C lower than that of the building and road point and 4.3 °C lower than that of the bare land point. The average paddy field temperature in 2003 was 19.2 °C (sample area average), which was 10.1 °C lower than that of the building and road point and 8.3 °C lower than that of the bare land point. Then this study evaluated the economic valuation of the paddy field cooling effect using the contingent valuation method. Through the paddy field cooling effect and in the face of worsening extreme global climate, the willingness to pay (WTP) of the respondents in Taiwan for a decrease of 1 °C with regard to the regional microclimate was evaluated. It was found that people in Taiwan are willing to pay an extra 8.89 USD/per kg rice/year for the paddy for a decrease in temperature by 1 °C in the regional microclimate due to the paddy field. Furthermore, this study applied the benefits transfer method to evaluate the value of a decrease of 1 °C in the regional microclimate in Taiwan. The value of a decrease of 1 °C in the regional microclimate in Taiwan is 9,693,144,279 USD/year. In this regard, the economic value of 1 °C must not be underestimated. In conclusion, more caution is needed while making decisions to change the land use of paddy fields to other land uses.

scholarly journals Effects of Contemporary Land Use Types and Conversions from Wetland to Paddy Field or Dry Land on Soil Organic Carbon Fractions

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 2094
Author(s):  
Di Zhao ◽  
Junyu Dong ◽  
Shuping Ji ◽  
Miansong Huang ◽  
Quan Quan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Organic Carbon ◽  
Soil Organic Carbon ◽  
Constructed Wetland ◽  
Paddy Field ◽  
Heavy Fraction ◽  
Light Fraction ◽  
Paddy Fields ◽  
Dry Land ◽  
Natural Wetlands

Soil organic carbon (SOC) concentration is closely related to soil quality and climate change. The objectives of this study were to estimate the effects of contemporary land use on SOC concentrations at 0–20 cm depths, and to investigate the dynamics of SOC in paddy-field soil and dry-land soil after their conversion from natural wetlands (20 and 30 years ago). We investigated the dissolved organic carbon (DOC), light fraction organic carbon (LFOC), heavy fraction organic carbon (HFOC), and other soil properties (i.e., moisture content, bulk density, pH, clay, sand, silt, available phosphorous, light fraction nitrogen, and heavy fraction nitrogen) in natural wetlands, constructed wetlands, fishponds, paddy fields, and soybean fields. The results indicated that the content of DOC increased 17% in constructed wetland and decreased 39% in fishponds, and the content of HFOC in constructed wetland and fishponds increased 50% and 8%, respectively, compared with that in natural wetlands at 0–20 cm. After the conversion of a wetland, the content of HFOC increased 72% in the paddy fields and decreased 62% in the dry land, while the content of DOC and LFOC decreased in both types. In the paddy fields, LFOC and HFOC content in the topmost 0.2 m of the soil layer was significantly higher compared to the layer below (from 0.2 to 0.6 m), and there were no significant differences observed in the dry land. The findings suggest that the paddy fields can sequester organic carbon through the accumulation of HFOC. However, the HFOC content decreased 22% after 10 years of cultivation with the decrease of clay content, indicating that paddy fields need to favor clay accumulation for the purpose of enhancing carbon sequestration in the paddy fields.

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) germplasm with better seedling emergence under direct sowing in flooded paddy field

2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 352-358 ◽  
Author(s):  
Junichi Kashiwagi ◽  
Koji Hamada ◽  
Yutaka Jitsuyama
Keyword(s):  
Paddy Field ◽  
Oryza Sativa L ◽  
Seedling Emergence ◽  
Screening Method ◽  
Paddy Fields ◽  
Rice Germplasm ◽  
Geographical Regions ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Cultivation Practice ◽  
Direct Sowing

AbstractDirect sowing of rice in a flooded paddy field is a beneficial cultivation practice for water use and labour efficiency, compared to the transplanted cultivation. However, a drastic reduction in seedling emergence under flooded paddy fields is a serious constraint especially when the seeds fell at deeper soil layers. Suitable rice germplasm for the direct sowing in flooded paddy fields could ensure the success of this cultivation practice. Instead of laborious field-based screening systems, a pot-based screening method was adopted for simplicity and efficient evaluation of seedling emergence of a subset of world rice germplasm (n = 75) at different sowing depths. As a result, two rice genotypes, ‘Vary Futsi’ (landrace from Madagascar, non-glutinous, subspecies Indica) and ‘Dahonggu’ (landrace from China, non-glutinous, subspecies Indica), with consistently better seedling emergence were identified from a wide range of rice germplasm. These genotypes could serve as excellent parents for the breeding program in developing new rice cultivars with the improved seedling emergence in flooded paddy fields. There were no significant differences in the seedling emergence rate in flooded paddy conditions among the groups from various agro-geographical regions.

scholarly journals Evaluation of Water-Storage and Water-Saving Potential for Paddy Fields in Gaoyou, China

Water ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 1176 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chuanjuan Wang ◽  
Shaoli Wang ◽  
Haorui Chen ◽  
Jiandong Wang ◽  
Yuan Tao ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Southern China ◽  
Financial Burden ◽  
Water Shortage ◽  
Water Saving ◽  
Paddy Fields ◽  
Balance Model ◽  
Agricultural Water ◽  
Average Water ◽  
Agricultural Water Resources ◽  
Water Fee

In China, the stress on agricultural water resources is becoming increasingly severe. In response, a range of water-saving irrigation (WSI) policies and practices have been promoted to improve irrigation efficiency. In this study, a water-balance model in paddy fields was calibrated and validated using a 2-year field experimental dataset collected from an irrigated area in Gaoyou, China, in 2014–2015. The model was used to assess the effects of WSI practices and provides options for implementing water-price reforms. Results show that paddy fields effectively retain rainfall with utilization rates greater than 70% for both shallow wet irrigation (SWI) and shallow humidity-regulated irrigation (SHRI) scenarios. The estimated average water-saving rates from 1960 to 2015 using SWI and SHRI are 33.7% and 43%, respectively, which represent considerable reductions in water consumption. The benefits of WSI practices combined with water management policies are also evident. For example, conversion of irrigation water to industrial water yields a 3-year average water fee of 205.2 yuan/ha using SWI and 20.6 yuan/ha using SHRI, considerably reducing farmers’ financial burden for agricultural water supplies. In conclusion, we recommend the adoption of SWI and SHRI practices in southern China as a means of partially alleviating China’s water-shortage problem.

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