The Wageningen rice project in Surinam : a study on the development of a mechanized rice farming project in the wet tropics

This polder of 6000 ha in the coastal plain of Surinam was intended for Dutch farmers but was provisionally operated as a large-scale undertaking by the government-supported Foundation for the Development of Mechanized Agriculture in Surinam. Rice was to be grown in the rainy season, dry annual crops in the dry season, and leys were to be put down for cattle raising. Through unsuitability for dry crops and animal husbandry, only rice was grown with a second rice crop on a quarter of the area in rotation. A pumping station provided both for irrigation and drainage. Drainage was important in reclamation. The operations which had to be carried out were described. Tillage consists of a combination of ploughing, harrowing, levelling and puddling. The crops suffered from various pests and diseases and imperfect irrigation. The fields were often too wet for machine-harvesting.

Rice farming was on farm units of from 200 to 600 ha with 25 ha per worker.

Yields averaged 2600 kg paddy per ha sown. In 1956 and 1957 production costs, excl. management overheads and interest, were Sƒ 330 per ha planted but were not considered normal due to various initial difficulties. A minimum future cost price was estimated at Sƒ 250/ha. So far the project had been run at a loss, also through falling world market prices of rice.