Rice is an important staple in the diets of billions of people in the world. The planting and cultivation of rice has been practiced by humans for thousands of years. New methods are always being discovered not only to produce a better quality of rice but also to help farmers efficiently plant and harvest the crop.
Multiple Inlet Rice Irrigation or MIRI is a new method used by farmers to irrigate rice paddies. The traditional way of supplying water to rice fields is to pump it from aquifers to the top most paddy and then allowing the water to over flow to the other paddies. Paddies require around 10 inches of water, so you can imagine how much water is used to irrigate a whole field of rice.
When using the MIRI method, irrigating rice paddies consists of laying thin layered polyethelyne tubes connecting rice paddies together as they are flooded. This method conserves up to 26% of water.
This economy in water translates into more savings for farmers and also diverting water sources to other crops that need water, since farmers traditionally water the paddies first before allotting the left over water for other crops.
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