Rice innovations are technologies and practices extensively adopted so as to change production practices and productivity. This paper documents the changes in rice productivity, policy and institutions in the last 100 years and identifies the technological change that may have affected rice productivity. One hundred years has totally changed rice production practices and improved productivity. Technical innovations that helped improved rice productivity include irrigation, pest management notably, the management of locust outbreaks, fertilization, modern varieties, farm mechanization, improved rice milling and crop rotation. Irrigation increased productivity and the total annual area planted to rice. More technologies associated with irrigated lowland rice cropping were developed and disseminated subsequently rice productivity in irrigated areas is higher than in other areas.
A Century of Rice Innovations
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