Carolino rice from Lezírias Ribate­janas

There’s a reason people say that rice feeds half of humanity. Rice is at the heart of count­less inter­na­tional dishes, including Spanish paellas, Chinese xau-xau, sushi rice, Italian risottos, and so on. In Portugal, Carolino rice is the most widely produced rice and is the one that works best in tradi­tional Portuguese cuisine. Portugal consumes the most rice of all the coun­tries in the Euro­pean Union; 18kg/year per capita (four times the EU average). Rice is so impor­tant in Portuguese food that it has earned an annual festival. It is held in the munic­i­pality of Benavente, in Samora Correia, where for three days the public can enjoy creative menus where ‘Arroz Carolino das Lezírias Ribate­janas’ stands out as the main ingre­dient in a unique culi­nary expe­ri­ence.

We went to meet Orivárzea Oriz­icul­tores do Ribatejo, Europe’s largest producer of Carolino rice. Bringing together the largest rice farmers in the Ribatejo flood­plain, it produces 15% of the country’s rice in Lezíria Ribate­jana, in Salvaterra de Magos. Founded in 1997 by 10 farmers, they now have around 40 share­holders, with a total produc­tion area of 3,700ha, producing 26,000t of paddy rice. This producer organ­i­sa­tion has made it possible to grow in size and scale, and farmers share the purchasing centre and tech­nical support and marketing, which has obvious bene­fits for everyone. With a vertical busi­ness model, it grows and sells rice seed and produces, processes and markets the first Portuguese rice with a Protected Geograph­ical Indi­cator (PGI) – “Arroz Carolino das Lezírias Ribate­janas.”

The rice cycle

Rice (Oryza sativa) is a mono­cotyle­do­nous plant in the grass family (Poaceae). In Portugal, it is culti­vated in almost perma­nently flooded beds of varying size. There is a high level of mech­a­ni­sa­tion, including laser level­ling tech­nology, high-powered trac­tors to prepare the seedbed and harvesters adapted for working in satu­rated soils.

Between April and May, the land is prepared for the rice to be sown. The beds are then slowly flooded to minimise any particle move­ment. Sowing takes place after flooding and can be done by land or air. Tradi­tion­ally the seeds are distrib­uted in flooded beds, but more and more rice growers are using dry sowing, commonly known as ‘buried sowing’, using row seeders that bury the seed to a depth of 8cm.

A few weeks later, when the rice has grown high enough above the water, the water is removed and weed control is carried out. The beds are then flooded again. After five to six months, the rice is ready to harvest. One month before harvest, the water is again removed from the beds. The best time to harvest is when the grain’s mois­ture content is around 20%; a rela­tively short optimum period of between seven and 10 days, which demon­strates the need to stagger sowing and the vari­eties used.

At the mill, the rice is dried and stored in silos at a controlled temper­a­ture of around 18⁰C. This allows rice to be sold in stages, taking advan­tage of posi­tive price fluc­tu­a­tions. Inside the mill, the rice goes through a completely mech­a­nised process, first being husked (releasing the grain from the husk) and then milled (removing its protec­tive film) and then removing the ‘broken’ rice. In the case of brown rice, the protec­tive layer is not removed. Finally, the rice is polished so that the grains are even and uniform. After this process, the rice is pack­aged to reach consumers’ tables.

Rice produc­tion in Portugal

The National Strategy for the Promo­tion of Cereals aimed to reach 80% self-suffi­ciency in rice by 2022, but it has not – and does not yet exceed 60%.

The Tagus, Mondego and Sado basins comprise the three major rice produc­tion areas in Portugal, totaling 28,000ha. But the area suit­able for rice produc­tion is limited and there is not much room for growth. The average yield is around 6t/hectare.

In 2023, Portugal produced 171,000t of paddy rice, of which 132,000t were Carolino rice, 36,000t were medium and round rice, and only 3,000t were needle (long grain) rice. After milling and processing, this totals 125,000t of rice ready for consump­tion.

When we talk about water consump­tion, we’re actu­ally talking about water use.

António Madaleno

The water chal­lenge

“With rice, water is used not only to provide the plant with its water needs, but also, and no less impor­tantly, to act as a thermal regu­lator,” explains António Madaleno, CEO at Orivárzea. “This means the crop doesn’t suffer from temper­a­ture fluc­tu­a­tions. It also controls weeds. It’s compli­cated to make rice with less water if the crop is grown in the tradi­tional way,” he adds. “But we mustn’t forget that the vast majority of this water returns to the envi­ron­ment, with no change in its quality. When we talk about water consump­tion, we’re actu­ally talking about water use.”

Reducing water use is a very real chal­lenge for Orivárzea producers. The change in sowing tech­nique, using in-ground sowing, has been imple­mented in 15-20% of the area, conserving between 15% and 25% of the water usually used and reducing seed use by 15-20kg/ha.

Another exper­i­ment, the use of drip irri­ga­tion for rice produc­tion, got under way at Herdade de Pancas on May 19, 2022, in a three-way part­ner­ship between Orivárzea, Magos Irri­ga­tion Systems and Rivulis.

The trial is taking place on a four-hectare area owned by Orivárzea and aims to test and develop agro­nom­i­cally sustain­able produc­tion methods that are unusual in rice cultivation, including in-ground sowing, drip irri­ga­tion (with Rivulis T-Tape), and fertil­i­sa­tion with irri­ga­tion water. “The main aim is to increase prof­itability while reducing the envi­ron­mental impact of this crop,” António Madaleno says. “The trial used a spacing of 20cm between drip­pers and 100cm between irri­ga­tion lines, and achieved a reduc­tion of around 50% in water use.” The initial results look promising, despite lower produc­tivity and, if this way of handling the crop turns out to be econom­i­cally viable, new areas could be consid­ered for produc­tion.

Valuing rice

Climate change, rising temper­a­tures and water scarcity are the biggest envi­ron­mental chal­lenges facing rice farmers. Other major obsta­cles arise from the increase of input prices and the low price of imported rice; compe­ti­tion that is not always fair in a global market.

One of Orivárzea’s differ­en­ti­ating strate­gies is mono­va­ri­etal pack­aging. The Aríete variety, while not the most attrac­tive in terms of produc­tion, is the best in gastro­nomic terms. “We have a commit­ment to quality and food safety,” says António. “Orivárzea sells 100% national rice.” With more than €20m (£17m) in revenue, they sell the best that is produced in Portugal to all corners of the world.