No News Is Bad News
For image info, go to https://news.cgtn.com/news/3d3d414f33417a4e78457a6333566d54/share_p.html (China's magic sea rice turns desert into oasis)
Yakety-yak Parliament
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKdbijITXFI (UNBELIEVABLE! Chinese Planting 8200 Acres Upland Rice In The Largest Dsert | Dubai Scientist SHOCKED)
9,625 views 17 Oct 2023 #china #dubai #rice
Chinese Planting 8200 Acres Upland Rice In The Largest Desert Dubai Scientist SHOCKED Rice paddies flourishing in the scorching heat of the desert sun - it sounds like a mirage or an oasis-induced hallucination. But in China's Kubuqi Desert, once an arid wasteland, verdant rice fields now span 8,200 acres thanks to an agricultural feat once deemed impossible. This improbable green rice revolution has left scientists worldwide in awe and transformed the livelihoods of local farmers. How did China turn a desolate desert into a thriving rice producer against all odds? The ingenious solutions and perseverance of researchers have shattered notions about the limitations of agriculture. Like stumbling upon an endless green sea in the sands, this agricultural triumph reveals that with human ingenuity, not even the harshest environments are unconquerable.
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 20, 2023: Malaysia’s 222-seat Parliament ar filled with Members of Parliament (MPs) who are only good for yakety-yak.
Otherwise, they are also super clowns who behave like clowns with some debating at the top of their voice, as if the loudest wins.
Take for example in Parliament today. Cha Kee Chin (PH-Rasah) urged the Unity Government (UG) to implement more proactive approaches in efforts to increase rice production and support local padi cultivation to ensure a continuous and sufficient supply of rice in the country.
If that all MPs are good for? Don’t Cha and others know that China is already cultivating rice on 8,200 acres of desert land?
Why don’t the UG approach China (who is reported willing to share their secret with the rest oif the world) form help in rice cultivation technology?
No News Is Bad News reproduces below a report on what transpired in Parliament today and a South China Morning Post article on China’s rice cultivation technology. Also view the above video link for more:
Dewan Rakyat: Reduce reliance on rice import, support local production, urges Cha
Thursday, 19 Oct 2023
11:07 PM MYT
NATION 9h ago
KUALA LUMPUR: The government has been urged to implement more proactive approaches in efforts to increase rice production and support local padi cultivation to ensure a continuous and sufficient supply of rice in the country.
Cha Kee Chin (PH-Rasah) who raised the matter during the debate session for the Supply Bill 2024 (policy level) in the Dewan Rakyat on Thursday (Oct 19) said it was high time for the government to reduce reliance on the import market, especially when it comes to obtaining rice.
"We should not put an 80% target for local rice production by 2030, instead we should aim that by 2035, 100 per cent of rice in the country should be locally sourced...that’s the goal that we should strive for by implementing all our efforts.
"We must reduce reliance on imports. We must remember that even though we have the means to buy (rice from) foreign countries...once they have a shortage of their produce, they will restrict exports to other countries, and we will become victims," he said.
Cha, who is also the chairman of the Special Select Committee on Domestic Trade, Entrepreneurship, Cost of Living and Agriculture also urged the government to empower smart agriculture that was being implemented in Japan to ensure sufficient food supply for the people.
"Japan has a stable sale supply and the capability to provide 100% or more of its rice to a population of 125 million people of which more than 50% of its farmers are aged 60 and above.
"They are ageing (but) the farmers do not use it as an excuse and their productivity remains high because they use smart agriculture," he said.
Also raised during the debate session were issues involving rare earth elements (REE), public higher education institutions (IPTA) tuition fees and the tourism sector.
Regarding REE, Datuk Seri Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man (PN-Kubang Kerian) wanted the government to provide expertise in the exploration of REE to ensure that the states with reserves of the minerals can fully utilise it.
He said seven states have been identified to have huge REE reserves that can contribute to the country’s revenue, adding that without the expertise the reserves would be encroached upon, the minerals stolen and smuggled out.
In the education sector, Datuk Seri Sh Mohmed Puzi Sh Ali (BN-Pekan) proposed the use of the waqf system to help reduce tuition fees at IPTAs, especially for the benefit of B40 students.
According to him through the system, universities can earn returns on the investment of endowment funds to cover operational and development costs while not relying entirely on government funding.
"This is the best concept which is being implemented in foreign countries such as at Harvard University, which has an endowment fund of USD49.5bil.
"The government can also help to implement donation matching or tax exemption for all waqf contributors," he said.
He said the initiative required an allocation from the government only at the initial stage as in the long run it would save government funds.
Meanwhile, Datuk Radzi Jidin (PN-Putrajaya) proposed a task force involving relevant ministries and agencies to implement efforts in boosting the tourism sector, saying that efforts should focus on high-value tourism as well as encouraging foreign tourists to spend money while in the country.
The government should also considered special incentives for specific segments such as health and eco-tourism, he added.
The Dewan Rakyat sitting continues on Monday (Oct 23). - Bernama
China food security: advanced rice thriving where most vegetation dies – the salt deserts of Xinjiang
· China’s genetically modified rice doesn’t mind a bit of salt in the soil, and the grain is said to be making salinated land arable for other seasonal crops such as cotton
· Beijing has been casting the spotlight on Xinjiang for its achievements in bolstering the nation’s self-sufficiency drive
Luna Sunin Beijing
Published: 8:00am, 17 Oct, 2023
On the rim of Xinjiang’s desert, in a region where the soil is so salty that most vegetation refuses to grow, China is touting rising outputs of salt-tolerant rice as further evidence that its food-security drive has taken root.
Beijing expects rising yields of genetically modified crops, especially in remote and rural areas where arable soil is rare, to help serve as a long-term solution to ensuring that the nation’s 1.4 billion people are kept fed.
After an on-site inspection on Friday, an official survey group said that the final yield of salt-tolerant rice in Aksu – in the inland Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, at the edge of the Taklimakan Desert in western China – was estimated to be 573.8kg (1,265 pounds) per mu, according to Xinhua, using a Chinese unit of area equal to 15 hectares, or 37 acres.
The per-unit yield was nearly 150kg higher per mu higher than the average output in salt-tolerant rice fields. It was not clear how long they have been growing rice in that region, but the assessed fields were said to have been recently reclaimed from fallow land.
China’s genetically modified giant-rice harvest feeds into food-security drive
7 Oct 2023
China’s main rice-producing regions are located in the southern and northeastern provinces, where the geography and seasonal climates are favourable for rice cultivation.
Rice production remains limited in Xinjiang, which is more known as the nation’s largest cotton-producing region and as a major producer of fruits. However, China has been growing less cotton in Xinjiang since the US’ Uygur Forced Labour Prevention Act went into effect.
And amid Beijing’s self-sufficiency drive in recent months, party mouthpieces have been playing up Xinjiang for its local-level achievements. In August, they touted a technological breakthrough in seawater aquafarming in Xinjiang, with freshwater fish, king prawn, abalone and lobsters grown at a fishery on the edge of the desert.
Rice cultivation in the region serves to not only feed locals, it is also the primary grain crop being used in soil-reclamation efforts across saline-alkali lands – also known as salt deserts – where severely salinised soil impedes vegetation growth.
2-metre ‘giant rice’ twice as tall as other varieties nearly ready for first harvest in China
The utilisation of these salt deserts was highlighted during a July 20 meeting of the Central Economic and Financial Affairs Commission chaired by President Xi Jinping.
Salt-tolerant rice, also known as sea rice or saline-alkali tolerant rice, has been a research and development priority in China for years due to the country’s significant issues with soil salinity and alkalinity in various regions.
Rice cultivation also serves to wash away salts and counteract soil alkalinity, and rice is part of a rotation system with other crops such as cotton. This helps prevent desertification, reduces soil salinity, and mitigates pest and disease issues, Xinhua said.
The salt content in the Aksu soil where the rice is being grown had exceeded 0.3 per cent, with a pH level above 8.5, classifying it as heavily saline-alkali soil, Xinhua added.
How extreme rainfall is taking a growing toll on China’s rice crops
11 May 2023
China is the world’s largest rice-producing country, with an output of 208 million tonnes (416 billion pounds) last year, or about a quarter of global production.
Its rice imports sank by 55.8 per cent in the first eight months of this year, to 2.02 million tonnes, amid global price increases.
China plans to grow nearly 90 per cent of its grain, including rice, wheat, corn and soybeans, by 2032 amid the national food-security push.
In August 2023, the State Council said China needs to develop various non-traditional arable land resources, and “overcome the natural constraints of traditional arable land scarcity”.
“The country should coordinate the use of reserve arable land, forests, grasslands, rivers, lakes and seas to diversify food sources,” the cabinet said.
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