Flood-resistant rice | Bangkok Post: learning

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Flooding in the deep south destroyed many rice crops, but one rice strain, specially bred to survive floods, survived.

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Deluge-proof rice strain triumphs by Assawin Pakkawan and Pikul Kaewhawong

Recent heavy flooding wiped out rice crops throughout Phatthalung, but one hardy variety - Sang Yod - withstood the deluge.

Floods cannot kill Sang Yod saplings once they have sprouted, said Jakkrit Samakkhi, chairman of a community enterprise group belonging to the Bang Kaeo Natural Farming Learning Centre in Bang Kaew district.

Mr Jakkrit said Sang Yod rice fetched a handsome price, particularly when it was labelled with geographical indications (GI), which specifies the place of origin of a particular crop.

The GI label can raise the price of Sang Yod to 20,000 baht per tonne - more than the 15,000 baht per tonne usually fetched for rice.

Mr Jakkrit said the GI label on Sang Yod indicates that it has been organically grown, which he said means it is of superior quality.

He said Sang Yod is grown on more than 20,000 rai across Phatthalung and that is expected to expand by 400 rai this year.

Sawai Suwannapayak, chairman of the Phatthalung Rice Millers Association, said political will is needed to promote the production of GI-labelled Sang Yod.

The rice deserves wider recognition, but it won't receive it without the support of the provincial governor.

Phraiwan Choomai, a technical officer at the Phatthalung Agriculture Office, said all 11 districts in the province were affected by floods.

However, the province's rice fields helped retain some of the flood water, mitigating the impact of the inundation. About 29,000 rai of the 250,000 rai of paddy rice fields in the province were destroyed by the floods.

Mr Phraiwan said many rice crops would actually benefit from the soil nutrients brought in by the floods.

However, nationwide the recent flooding is likely to result in a shortage of rice seeds for planting the second-season crops in January and February.

Wichian Phuanglamchiak, vice-chairman of the Thai Farmers Association (TFA), said many rice breeding centres on the Central Plains, which produce the seeds, were damaged by the floods.

The centres would not be able to distribute enough rice seeds to farmers, said Mr Wichian.

He said local farmer representatives in the Central region urged the government to distribute indigenous rice breeds with tall stems and better suited to surviving floods.

The rice should grow to three to five metres high in order to escape the inundation, he said.

(Source: Bangkok Post, Deluge-proof rice strain triumphs, 14/11/2010, Assawin Pakkawan and Pikul Kaewhawong, link) 

deluge - a sudden, very heavy rainfall or a sudden flow of a large amount of water ฝนตกหนัก น้ำปริมาณมาก
deluge-proof - will survive flood
rice strain - one kind or type of rice
triumph - win
wipe out - destroy
hardy - strong and survives easily (where others might die)
variety - one kind or type of something ประเภท
withstand (verb, present tense) - oppose, resist, continued to exist when there was force destroying it ทนต่อ
withstood (verb, past tense)

saplings - young trees ต้นอ่อน
sprout - beginning to grow for the first time
community - local people living in one particular area ชุมชน
enterprise - an organization, especially a business กิจการ, บริษัท,อุตสาหกิจ,วิสาหกิจ
fetch - the buyer gets a certain price when the good is sold
fetched a handsome price - be sold for a high price
indicate (verb) - show
indication (noun) - information that is shown 
label (verb) - put identifying information on an object (example: label the product)
label (noun) - identiying information put on a product (example: the product label)
organically grown - crop grown with organic farming methods
organic farming - farming without chemical fertilizers and pesticides and genetically modified organisms, organic farmers rely on crop rotation, green manure, compost, biological pest control to maintain soil productivity and control pests (See Wikipedia) การเพาะปลูกแบบชีวภาพ

superior - higher
expected - believe will happen คาดว่า (จะเกิดขึ้น)
expand - to become larger ขายตัวออกไป

promote - make become interested in something (start doing something, start buying something)
recognition - be known for something (here known for "being a logistics hub")
wider recognition - have more people know about something
deserves wider recognition - more people should know about something
support - help, by giving money, for example สนับสนุน
technical - requiring special detailed knowledge (example: computers, electronics, manufacturing)
officer - a high level person in an organisation with special responsibilities (a government officer, a police officer, an army officer)
retain - to keep รักษา
soil retain water - when water does not "drain" from or leave soil (after flooding, for example)

mitigate - reduce negative effects or impact
impact - an effect or influence ผลกระทบ
inundation - flooding น้ำท่วม
paddy - rice after it has been harvested from the field ข้าวเปลือก
benefit - to get help or an advantage from something ผลประโยชน์
nutrients - a substance in food that living beings (humans, animals, plants) need to grow (vitamins, protein, minerals) (See Wikipedia)
soil nutrients - chemicals and substances that soil needed to grow crops in the soil
nationwide - throughout a whole country ทั่วทั้งประเทศ
shortage - when there is not enough of something การขาดแคลน

breeding - the keeping of animals or plants in order to produce more animals or plants from them การผสมพันธุ์สัตว์เพื่อขยายพันธุ์
distribute - to give something to a group of people แจกจ่าย
local - in or related to the area that you live, or to the particular area that you are talking about ท้องถิ่น
urged - advised someone very strongly about what action should be taken วิงวอน
indigenous - naturally existing in a place or country rather than arriving from another place เกี่ยวกับชนพื้นเมือง
breeds - particular types of plants พันธุ์
stem -  the long part of a plant that holds up a flower or the rice grain ลำต้น
suited - the right thing to do something or achieve some goal; appropriate ; suitable ; fitting ; proper  เหมาะสม
inundate (verb) -  to flood; to submerge ท่วม, ทำให้จมลงใต้น้ำ
inundation (noun) - flood; to submerge น้ำท่วม

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