1. TRAINING ON RICE
PRODUCTION

2.  A household is “Food Secure” when HH has the
ability to access sufficient food needed at all
times to live an active and healthy life.
Sufficient food is in quality and quantity.
 Quality: fresh, good condition, correct balance of
nutrients, variety
 Quantity: right amount of required calories
(2100kcal/person/day)
Thus a household can be considered “Food
Insecure” when it is unable to meet such needs at all
times.

3. Food has to be Available through
production, markets, etc.
Food is Accessible when Household is
able to get food through their own labor
(livelihood), purchase, exchange,
humanitarian aid or through their own
production.

4. For the focus our discussion we will look @ one of
the Availability means to be Food Secure:
PRODUCTION
HOW DO WE GO ABOUT
MAKING OUR FARMS TO
GET GOOD HARVEST?

5. A Successful farmer will seriously take the
followings into consideration:
Soil & Site Selection
Seeds Selection
Land preparation
Sowing Techniques
Weed Control
Soil Fertility Management
Integrated Pest Management
Pre-Harvest, Harvest & Post Harvest

6. Farm located in a safe place;
 Farm located near a source of water;
Soil suitable for rice production (texture
and depth)
LOWLAND
Clayey texture soils (have good water
holding capacity)
Soil should not be high in iron (iron toxicity)

7.  The seed should belong to the proper variety
which is proposed to be grown;
 The seed should be clean and free of mixture
of other seeds;
 The seed should be mature, well developed
and plump in size;
 The seed should be free of obvious signs of
age or bad storage;
 The seed should have high germinating
capacity (avoid pre-germinated materials)80-
90%;

8.  Identify portion of the field that has uniform
growth and maturity;
 Ensure that the portion is correctly weeded
and protected from pest attacks;
 Harvest it separately and process (thresh, fan
and dry) it;
 Store the seeds separately from other grains
in the warehouse ( cool and dry place) or
Kitchen;
 Remove seeds and dry periodically in shade,
test viability after every drying.

9. Bad Practice Good Practice
Using grain as seed Use good quality seeds with no
insect damage, no sign of infection
with blast disease and no
contaminants like (weed seeds,
stones, and other seed types) with
high (above 80%) viability.
Seeds from unknown / unreliable
source
Get seeds from known sources:
Central Agricultural Research
Institute (CARI);
Reputed and registered Seed
companies like (Arjay Farm, BRAC,
Greenstar, etc.);

10. Duration of lowland rice
varieties
Name of rice varieties
Early maturing (<90–100 days) Not available now in Liberia
Medium maturing (100–120
days)
NERICA L 19, WITA 4, FKR 19
(FKR 19 not in iron toxic
condition), etc.
Late maturing (>120 days)
Gissi (Low management
requiring local variety)
Iron toxic areas SUAKOKO 8; avoid FKR 19

11. Proper and timely land preparation is a pre-
requisite to good seedlings establishment,
weed control, pest management and
increase crop yield. It will:
Ensure easy penetration of young seedling
roots into soil;
Minimize weed competition;
Enable good soil aeration;
Enable water and nutrients (food for crop) to
reach the roots without much difficulties

12. BAD PRACTICE GOOD PRACTICE
Avoid preparing big nursery at a
time
Nursery size should match with
land preparation schedule

13. After brushing, clearing of field and
building/repairing water control structure,
activities involved are:
 Plowing: it is best to do two plowing and one
puddling. The first is done at least 15-20
days before transplanting.
 The second comes 7-10 days after the first
plowing
During the interval soil clods will soften and
many weed seeds will germinate. Break up
remaining clods and incorporates weeds
further into the soil.

14.  Puddling : it should take place 7-10 days
after the second plowing and the day before
the transplanting. It’s usually done with the
bare feet, bush poles are often use to break
up remaining clods, further incorporate
germinating weeds and do leveling.
 Leveling: it is important to have the farm
leveled after plowing and puddling. The soil is
move around until leveled in all direction. It
improves water control and easy
transplantation.

15. Bad Practice Good Practice
Too small plot size results high bird
damage;
Plot (Size of land should be big
enough to produce food for at least 3
- 4 months of the farm family,
Too far (long walking time) from
village results less frequent visits to
fields;
Maximum 30 – 40 minutes walking
distance from home / village.
Stagnant water may harbor leeches
and snails and cause health hazards;
Good water retention capacity,
preferably year round free flowing
water available;
Oily brown patches means iron toxicity
Avoid susceptible varieties like FKR
19, as this variety is not suitable for
iron toxic soil condition.
Poor vegetation around indicates poor
soil health
Good clayey soil with good health of
surrounding vegetation

16. Bad Practice Good Practice
Wide spacing encourage weeds and
inefficient sun light use
20 cm X 20 cm spacing for most
medium duration like NERICA varieties
Older than 21 days seedlings will reduce
tiller production and result in low yield
Seedlings of 14 to 21 days old seedlings
produce higher number of productive
tillers

17. VAREITY QUANTITY OF
SEED
DENSITY AND
SPACING
CALENDAR
(Traditional variety):
Usually it is 5 – 6
months duration and
farmers usually
transplant for
establishment
Use good quality seeds
@ 30 - 35 kg /ha for
nursery
Transplant in lines for
easy weed
management;
About 35 – 40 hills per
sq m area after
transplanting (spacing
15 cm X 15 cm)
Time of transplanting
July / August (time
adjusted in such a way
that the crop mature
when land is not too wet)
(Improved variety):
Usually it is 3.5 – 4
months duration and
farmers usually
transplant for
establishment
Use good quality seeds
@ 30 - 35 kg /ha for
nursery
Transplant in lines for
easy weed management;
About 35 – 40 hills per
sq m area after
transplanting (spacing
20cm X 20cm)
Time of transplanting
not before July / August
(time adjusted in such a
way that the crop
mature when land is not
too wet)

18. PROPER SPACING OF SEEDS
OR SEEDLINGS

19. Effects of weeds in the field:
Serve as alternative host for insect and
diseases which will later attack the rice
crop;
Produce seeds that mix with rice at
harvest, reducing the quality;
Compete with rice for light, water, nutrients
(food for the crop), air and space;
Make harvesting difficult.

20.  Traditionally, weeds are removed from the
field by the use of hands or small hoes. It is
labor intensive and time consuming, but pays
off with better yield.
 Weed control may also be done by using
herbicides. Though expensive method, it is
employed by farmers that can afford the cost
of herbicides most commonly by using
knapsack sprayers.

21. Do weeding operations before the weeds
produce seeds to multiply
Do timely weeding at least two times, first
weeding 2-3 weeks after planting and
second weeding 5-6 weeks after first
weeding;
Do all your weeding activities during the
vegetative growth of the rice crop.

22. There are 3 primary nutrients that rice
plant needs for healthy growth and high
yield, Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P) and
Potassium (K).
Effects of the primary nutrients on rice plant:

23. Nitrogen (N) Phosphorus (P) Potassium (K)
Increases the vigor and enhances
the growth of the rice
Greatly activates root
development in the young rice
plant
Present in most soil,
Importance Increases the vigor and enhances
the growth of the rice
Greatly activates root
development in the young rice
plant
Present in most soil,
Vegetative phase
-Makes leaves greener
- Stem and roots and number of
tiller increase
- Enable seedlings to grow fast to
escape seedling blight disease
-Promotes tillering by making the
nitrogen readily available to the
plant
-Promotes early flowering
-Increases the size and weight of
grains,
-Increases the protein content of
the grains, Decreases the
occurrence of diseases such as
blast
Reproductive phase
-Increases the size and number of
filled grain
-improves crop quality
-Increase the food value of the
crop
-Strengthen seed germination
capacity
-Promotes early grain ripening
Deficiency
-Small size of plant
- Low number of tiller
- Yellowish color of younger
(inner) leaves
- Orange color of older (outer)
leaves
- Small, straight, stiff upper leaves
-Small size of plant
- Low number of tiller
- Bluish green color of leaves
- Purple color of lower part of
Culm (stem)
-Deep, dark green color of the
leaves spreading from the tip
- Irregular dead spot on the leaves
and panicles

24. In Liberia in many lowlands are excess iron causing iron toxicity is a serious problem. It is
In Liberia many lowlands are excess iron causing iron toxicity is a serious
problem. It is recognized by oily brown patches in the field and abnormal and
stunted growth of rice plants with rusty leaf color. The plants produces very little
or no yield if timely care is not take
Bad practice Good practice
Use any variety Use iron toxicity tolerant rice variety like Suakoko 8.
In any virgin swamps / lowlands where history of the
land is not known, it is advisable to start with a iron
toxicity tolerant variety.
Avoid FKR 19 which is not Iron toxicity tolerant

25. Rice pest can be placed in two categories:
 Invertebrate pests (insects): case worm, stem
borer, army worm, grasshoppers, rice bug,
mole cricket, green leafhopper…
 Vertebrate pests (rodents, birds and large
animals): birds, ground hog/cutting grass,
rats/mice, monkeys, deer and bush cow…

26. Use of pesticide is NOT recommended:
 It requires in depth assessment / thresholds
 It is dangerous for health,If not used properly, it
can damage the crop

27. If you choose to use pesticide, when to spray?
Only if pests is of concern (threshold)
Do not spray in the rain (less effective)
At least 65 days after planting/transplanting
With the wind, not against

28. GRAIN
INSECT
LEAF
INSEC
TSTEM
INSECT
ROOT
INSECT

30. 1. Pests/rodents eat the rice
• Loss of germination
• Loss of nutritional value
2. Pest/rodents can damage:
• Rice bags
• Tarpaulin sheets

31. Pest control include three different methods:
cultural
practices, biological and chemical methods. Cultural
practices are a prevention method while biological
and chemical methods are curative.
 Cultural practices : weeding, brushing around the
farm, fencing, cleaning bunds and canal, etc
 Biological method uses some insects or other
living organisms to control pests in the rice farm

32. Diseases are generally present in any rice field.
 Leaf blast, brown spot, leaf scald, sheath rot and false
smut are some known diseases of rice in Liberia with
fungus as the pathogen.
Therefore the best control method for disease is prevention
by containing it at a level economically tolerable. That is
through good field maintenance (weeding the field,
brushing around the field, etc.)

33. SPOTS ON
THE LEAVES
STRANGE STRUCTURE
OF GRAINS

34. FALSE SMUT LEAF BLAST

35. Get your kitchen or store room ready
before harvest
Get your mats or tarpaulin on hand before
the harvest
Buy your cutting knives early enough
before harvest
Regularly visit the farm so that harvest will
not take you by surprise

36. Identify the store Room/kitchen for
your rice !

37. When 80-85% of the grains have turned
from green to yellow color
Too early for harvest Good for harvest

38. When rice is ripe, harvest should be on time. If harvesting is
delayed, the quality and quantity is reduced.
Farmers should begin to harvest when the following conditions are
evidence:
 When the field as a whole reaches a maturity rate of 75-80%,
with 90% spikelet on each panicle is fully ripened.
 When 80% of the panicles are straw dust color and the grains in
the lower portions of the panicles are in the hard dough stage.
 Where the grains during this stage will be in texture and look
golden.
 When the moisture level is reduced.
Before harvest starts, make sure there is adequate and safe
storage for the rice and is pest free.

39. THANKS