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OPPORTUNITY
 

1.    WE CAN IMPROVE RICE YIELDS

Sterling Rice will help farmers produce higher rice yields immediately by implementing a new higher yielding rice system. Most of South East Asia is known for ‘Over-application’, because farmers try to ensure higher yields by simply applying more and more fertilizer - until it quickly becomes too much and start working against them. Sterling Rice will show farmers how to change their existing system by keeping a closer eye on soil-quality, fertilizer quality and make better use of the soil-science behind it all – as this will all contribute to immediate higher yields. In Malaysia, Sterling Rice has already had great success taking farmers from 3.5t per 1.2 hectare (3 acres) plot to 9.34mt per hectare. 

2.    WE CAN CONVERT FARMERS TO NON-CHEMICAL FERTILIZERS

Sterling Rice will help farmers move away from the use of dangerous chemical fertilizers and start a much more environmentally friendly process by using only non-chemical soil inputs. When using large amounts of fertilizer, farmers not only run the danger of making their own fields too toxic; but most of these fertilizers and pesticides actually end up being wasted, leaching through the soil into our water tables and becoming an environmental concern instead. In many parts of the world, thought to be pristine, chemical fertilizers are wreaking havoc on nature. Sterling Rice will show farmers how to stop using the poisonous chemicals and instead use non-chemical products with very high effectiveness. Some people believe using non-chemical is less productive, but with a return to nature, Sterling Rice will demonstrate how non-chemicals can outperform chemicals outright.   

This becomes even more of a necessity when countries, in order to produce more rice, simply add more ‘poorly managed’ land to the overall production. Unfortunately, as rice operations grow in South East Asia and countries are able to increase rise production overall, the result is that rice yields are still dropping, more wasted fertilizers end up leaching through the ground, there is more pollution and individual farmers are now earning even less than before.  

3.    WE CAN CONVERT FARMERS TO RICE+FISH CO-CULTURE

Sterling Rice will help farmers add a second revenue stream to their rice operation. This will greatly improve the income of farmers around the region as we as the livelihoods of their communities. Once a paddy is no longer toxic, then it is clean enough to add a second revenue stream, such as aquaculture; and in our case, we like to introduce Carp or Tilapia in order to specifically be able to efficiently combat the Golden Apple snail at the same time, which is a really difficult and very costly pest for paddy farmers around the world to deal with.

Rice fish systems have been in use for 2000 years and it is still practiced in pockets – but modern farming has taken over and its chemical requirement is literally robbing farmers from adding a logical second revenue stream to their rice operation. Rice+Fish co-culture farming is based on a mutually beneficial symbiotic relationship between the rice and the fish that is developed when introduced into the same ecosystem – and it carries many social, economic and environmental benefits.

MULTIPLE BENEFITS FOR THE FARMER
 

The impact of better higher yields, as well as the elimination of chemicals in the rice fields across South East Asia, is totally self-explanatory. It is such a major step forward is the modernization and improvement of the region’s rice industry that will have to be considered a total game changer – not to mention that it changes a farmer’s life to make a decent living.   
 

As for the convertion of rice fields into Rice+Fish farming, it has simple benefits such as risk reduction through diversification of the farming system, which may be a strong attraction to many farmers and their families; but along with reducing the emission of greenhouse gases, integrated Rice+Fish co-culture systems also has proven beneficial effects on farm income and the overall improvement of liveslihoods across entire communities. Unlike monoculture, a Rice+Fish co-culture program can be highly viable, environmentally friendly and low-cost; as well as a low-risk additional economic activity offering increased income and for rural farming communities to be able to produce a more complete diet (carbohydrates and protein) from the same land. 
 

A sustainable intensification of agricultural production systems such as Rice+Fish could permanently contribute to food security, improved nutrition, added income generation, as well as the prevention of malaria (as mosquito larvae are predated by fish), conservation of biodiversity through reduction of pesticides, pest regulation by fish predation and the establishment of beneficial carbon and nutrients cycles. Fish also provide plant protection by eating insect pests, improve water quality by increasing oxygenation and implementing such systems is recorded as increasing rice yields by up to 10 (ten) percent. 
 

The extra production of fish provides both more food for the family, as well as additional income through sales at market. The Rice+Fish system can also offer farmers the opportunity to charge premium prices for their by branding of either ‘Non-chemical’ or ‘Non-Chemical’ farm products. In addition, there will be promising agro-tourism developments dowstream, as the cleaner farm lands will bring back  tourists into the area and produce aditional benefits to the local community. There will be many more family hotels in the villages and it is a way of adding more value to agriculture and comunities.
 

It is particularly important to emphasize the importance of Rice+Fish farming, as fish in rice fields, actually, have contributed so much in the past - and it can continue to contribute  towards food security and poverty alleviation of many people in rural areas today. Sadly, only a few million hectares have to date been converted to Rice+Fish culture. This low adoption rate is primarily due to the introduction of high yielding rice varieties, involving the heavy use of pesticides, and that has really impeded the culture of Rice+Fish farming.