Re: Rice paddi and biodiversity

[David James <>]

At 08:48 5/01/99 +1000,  wrote:
>     There is an article in the December-October ECOS, pages 10-21 
>     published by the CSIRO, titled Reinventing Rice. It covers new strains 
>     of rice and urges Asian farmers to protect biological diversity by 
>     swapping chemicals for intergrated pest management.
>     
>     Hope that this is of some little help
>     
>     Alan Leishman
>

A fascinating book on natural farming of rice is Masinobu Fukuoka's (1960
something) "The one Straw Revolution" (it's out of print). It doesn't focus
on biodiversity but it certainly shows that chemical farming is less
sustainable and less productive. The techniques might be very applicable in
Indonesia.

  
David James
PO BOX 5225
Townsville Mail Centre 4810

                        PO Box 2013, Geelong, Victoria 3220
                                        Australia