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NEC Rice Paddy Story NEC Rice Paddy Cultivation Project with Asaza Fund

Japanese

Activities

NEC's employees are experiencing nature throughout the year by restoring devastated fallow paddy field in ravine by themselves.

Paddy field in ravine before and after restoration

Paddy field in ravine before restoration (December 2003)

For about 30 years, the district was a devastated marshy district deserted by people without being cultivated.

Paddy field in ravine after restoration (Now)

The restored paddy field in ravine is once again inhabited by life forms and is now a place for learning for local children.

Events

Six events take place throughout the year, namely, rice planting in spring, weeding in summer, rice harvesting and threshing in autumn and sake fermentation divine service and shipping new sake in winter. Rice cultivation is conducted through traditional farming methods without the use of agricultural chemicals and chemical fertilizers. Harvested rice is used to brew sake at a local sake brewery.

Spring: Rice planting (May)

Seedlings of the brand "Nihon-bare" (clear and cloudless sky) are planted in the NEC rice paddies. In some of the rice paddies, non-tilled cropping(*) is also conducted.

Summer: Weeding (July)

Waterweeds and weeds of the grass family also grow abundantly in rice paddies in which rice is cultivated without the use of agricultural chemicals and chemical fertilizers.
They are removed completely to ensure the stable growth of rice.

Autumn: Harvesting (October) and threshing (November)

Rice is harvested entirely by hand and rice is harvested carefully sheaf by sheaf. Threshing is experienced using traditional agricultural machines and implements.

Winter: Sake fermentation divine service (January) and shipping new sake (March)

Before brewing new sake, a prayer is said by the Shinto priest of a local shrine to pray for the creation of delicious sake.
About two months after preparing to brew new sake, special unprocessed sake, "Having a Drink, Enjoying a Laugh" will be brewed.

* "Non-tilled cropping" is a method that cultivates seedlings without tilling rice paddies and reduces the time needed for cultivation. The method does not till soil and can curtail the propagation of weeds. This method does not use chemical fertilizers, herbicides, insecticides and other agricultural chemicals at all and is a circulation-type farming method that uses the symbiotic environment with living organisms.

Master course

Master course programs are available for the employees and their family members who wish to expand their experiences with nature and in agriculture autonomously in addition to the main events.
The participants in the programs experience various activities in NEC's rice paddies, farms and nearby paddy field in ravine as fields while receiving technical guidance from the staff of the Asaza Fund and local farming people. Programs are sponsored about 20 times a year and those participants in the programs are certified by the Asaza Fund as "Masters of Paddy Field in Ravine" depending on the techniques learned and the number of event sessions in which participation is made.