When the weather is at its worst… from drought to excess rains in the peak season of sowing! We had no other choice to start sowing in November (03/11/22) as we registered several strong rains in October making it impossible to seed soils. Activities like pre-sowing fertilization, herbicide application, taipas nivelation as well as sowing are impossible under those conditions.

We are now performing the sowing of 400 ha of paddy rice. Given the weather forecasts for the coming months (La Nina), we are not planting more rice this year. Paddy crop is strongly influenced by water supply and water should be kept standing in the field throughout the growth period. Continuous flooding helps ensure sufficient water (elimination of moisture stress and favourable micro-climate to crop production) with greater availability of nutrients such as phosphorus, iron and manganese and control weeds.

Therefore, we have decided with our partner not to sow more than the surface which can be irrigated by our artificial lake during the full cycle.