Terrace (agriculture)

In agriculture, a terrace is a piece of sloped plane that has been cut into a series of successively receding flat surfaces or platforms, which resemble steps, for the purposes of more effective farming. This type of landscaping, therefore, is called terracing. Graduated terrace steps are commonly used to farm on hilly or mountainous terrain. Terraced fields decrease both erosion and surface runoff, and may be used to support growing crops that require irrigation, such as rice. The rice terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras have been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site because of the significance of this technique.

Terraced paddy fields are used widely in rice, wheat and barley farming in east, south, and southeast Asia, as well as other places. Drier-climate terrace farming is common throughout the Mediterranean Basin, e.g., in Cadaqués, Catalonia, where they were used for vineyards, olive trees, cork oak, etc., on Mallorca, and in Cinque Terre, Italy.

In the South American Andes, farmers have used terraces, known as andenes, for over a thousand years to farm potatoes, maize, and other native crops. Terraced farming was developed by the Wari' and other peoples of the south-central Andes before 1000 AD, centuries before they were used by the Inca, who adopted them. The terraces were built to make the most efficient use of shallow soil and to enable irrigation of crops.

Longsheng Rice Terrace

The Longsheng Rice Terraces (simplified Chinese: 龙胜梯田; traditional Chinese: 龍勝梯田; pinyin: Lóngshèng Tītián), also called the Longji Rice Terraces (simplified Chinese: 龙脊梯田; traditional Chinese: 龍脊梯田; pinyin: Lóngjǐ Tītián), are located in Longsheng County, about 100 kilometres (62 mi) from Guilin, Guangxi, China.

The terraced fields are built along the slope winding from the riverside up to the mountain top, between 600 m to 800 m above sea level. A coiling terrace line that starts from the mountain foot up to the mountain top divides the mountain into layers of water in spring, layers of green rice shoots in summer, layers of rice in fall, and layers of frost in winter. The terraced fields were mostly built about 650 years ago.

Longji (Dragon's Backbone) Terraced Rice Fields received their name because the rice terraces resemble a dragon's scales, while the summit of the mountain range looks like the backbone of the dragon.

In early June, water is pumped over the rice paddies and young plants are transferred to the main terraces.

Rice

Rice is the seed of the grass species Oryza sativa (Asian rice) or Oryza glaberrima (African rice). As a cereal grain, it is the most widely consumed staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in Asia. It is the agricultural commodity with the third-highest worldwide production, after sugarcane and maize, according to 2012 FAOSTAT data.

Since a large portion of maize crops are grown for purposes other than human consumption, rice is the most important grain with regard to human nutrition and caloric intake, providing more than one-fifth of the calories consumed worldwide by humans.

Wild rice, from which the crop was developed, may have its native range in Australia. Chinese legends attribute the domestication of rice to Shennong, the legendary emperor of China and inventor of Chinese agriculture. Genetic evidence has shown that rice originates from a single domestication 8,200–13,500 years ago in the Pearl River valley region of China. Previously, archaeological evidence had suggested that rice was domesticated in the Yangtze River valley region in China.

Longsheng Various Nationalities Autonomous County

Longsheng Various Nationalities Autonomous County is a county of Guangxi, China. It is under the administration of Guilin city.

Yao people

The Yao of Longsheng County live in:

Ethnic subdivisions of the Yao of Longsheng County are:

References

Coordinates: 25°48′N 110°00′E / 25.800°N 110.000°E / 25.800; 110.000

Terrace

Terrace may refer to:

Proper names