Clean rice thanks to "pesticide" ducks
These ducks have the task of protecting the rice fields by eating grass, worms and harmful insects.
According to Japan's The Mainichi newspaper,The use of ducks in organic farming in the land of the rising sun is reaching its peak, now meeting the wishes of farmers who want clean production.
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| Mr. Takao Furuno and the duck protecting the organic rice field. |
In Japan, there are currently about 10,000 farmers applying this "pest control" method to rice fields using ducks, after the person known as the father of this unique method - Mr. Takao Furuno (born 1950) in Keisen village on Kyushu island (Western Japan) - widely announced his success about a decade ago. The method, also known as "Aigamo" - named after the breed of duck Mr. Furuno used in his rice fields, was quickly applied by many countries with developed rice agriculture such as Vietnam, China, India, Philippines... and continued to be replicated in developed Western countries such as France, America...
Raising ducks in rice fields is not a strange thing for farmers in Japan as well as many other rice-growing countries. However, the key point of this method that Mr. Furuno discovered is that ducklings about 2 weeks old when released into rice fields only eat grass, weed sprouts, insects and harmful pests, but do not harm young rice like adult ducks.
The natural movement of ducks also makes the soil loose and the rice plants healthier. In addition, using ducks to "kill pests" allows farmers to freely raise fish in the rice fields without having to worry about pesticides killing the fish. As for the water fern in the rice fields, instead of destroying it, Mr. Furuno uses it as food for ducks and fish and as a natural source of nitrogen synthesis. Each hectare of water fern can produce 9 tons of nitrogen.
The impressive result is that Mr. Furuno's rice yield thanks to the "Aigamo" method has increased by 20% - 50% compared to before. He was honored in the book "80 people who changed the world" by authors Sylvain Darnil and Mathieu Le Roux. The book about the Japanese farming method, "The Power of Ducks", published in 2010, also caused a big stir around the world.
