ABSTRACT
Rice is a common and essential food plant in Asia, and from the 1960s to recent years, rice yields have increased remarkably. Since the ‘green revolution’ programme launched in the late 1960s, application of chemical fertilizers has dramatically increased because of governmental encouragement to succeed in the food self-sufciency goal. Chemical fertilizer consumption in the agriculture sector reached ve times the level of 1975 in 1990 and increased slightly afterwards in Japan and Indonesia. In Indonesia, since the economic crisis, in 1998 the government reduced the subsidy on fertilizers and therefore the cost of agriculture input has increased; thus farmers have reduced the use of chemical fertilizer and started improving their application methods, and organic fertilizer has presently become more favourable. A similar situation occurred even in Japan: with an increase in chemical fertilizer price due to increasing oil prices, most farmers have evinced interest in using organic
CONTENTS
14.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 321 14.2 Rice Production and Their Sustainability in Japan .............................................................. 322
14.2.1 Country Facts and Agricultural Practices at a Glance ............................................. 322 14.2.2 Rice Production and Sustainable Farming System Using Cover Crops ................... 323
14.2.2.1 Soil Residual N Scavenging ....................................................................... 323 14.2.2.2 Reducing or Eliminating Fertilizer Use..................................................... 324 14.2.2.3 Landscape Management ............................................................................ 326
14.2.3 Sustainable Rice Production Practices in Japan ....................................................... 326 14.3 Rice Productions and Their Sustainability in Indonesia ...................................................... 328
14.3.1 Country Facts and Agricultural Practices at a Glance ............................................. 328 14.3.2 Rice Production and Farming System in Indonesia ................................................. 331 14.3.3 Organic Rice Production and Sustainable Agriculture ............................................ 332 14.3.4 Organic Rice Production Practice in West Java, Indonesia ...................................... 334
14.4 Conclusions ........................................................................................................................... 336 References ...................................................................................................................................... 338
fertilizer. ‘Bochashi’ is the traditional way of making compost using agricultural subproducts and waste in Japan, and this technique has spread widely to other Asian countries, including Indonesia.
