Climate change threatens Japanese rice fields

Japan is trying to find ways to mitigate the effects of warming Earth phenomenon on rice in the country. Many people worry that extreme weather changes - as scientists have predicted - can affect rice production and quality - the staple food of Japanese people.

Flowering cereal crops such as corn, wheat and rice are easily damaged by weather changes. The study is being carried out by Japanese government scientists, suggesting that if the trend of climate change continues, rice yields and quality can be lost.

According to Toshihiro Hasagawa, a researcher at the National Institute of Environment and Agriculture, global warming can affect rice in many ways . Rice itself is inherently sensitive to changes in temperature at any stage of growth, especially at the end of the growth process. The period of pollination in this food crop lasts only 1 hour and the temperature is too hot to ruin this process. Many tests conducted in the laboratory show that if the temperature is warmer than 360C, the pollination process will fail. In fact in the field, there are many other factors that affect pollination such as wind speed and direction or altitude.

Study the impact of greenhouse gases on rice in Japan.(Photo: BaoCanTho)

So far, according to research by sunrise scientists, the main impact of global warming on rice is the changing surface of some rice grains due to overheating. However, if the temperature in Japan continues to heat up, the flavor of the rice grain will be affected unless the farmer applies measures to protect the rice from the impact of burning sun. ' It would be a shame if Japanese high quality rice loses its characteristic delicious aroma due to the impact of climate change ', Junji Mori, a Japanese confidant.

Although admitting rice flavor is an important issue, Hasagawa and his colleagues believe that Japan has more than 1,000 varieties of rice and each variety has many different lines. Currently, agricultural experts are looking for rice varieties with high heat resistance. They are investigating whether different varieties bloom at different times of the day when temperatures are low, which could be the solution.

Recently, the Institute of Environment & Agriculture has chosen a field to study the change of rice when the greenhouse gas emissions increase. At the same time, the Institute also considers methods to reduce methane - one of the ' culprits ' causing global warming - to accumulate in rice fields. 1/4 of the methane released in Japan comes from rice fields, and that's why the country has to cut methane, Hasagawa said.

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