Dear Sarwan,

Rice is quite a diverse species with cultivars adapted to both these conditions. However paddy rice varieties (grown under flooding) are not so suitable for highland cultivation. There are cultivars bred for such conditions with good drought resistant qualities. If you contact the IRRI genebank, they will send you cultivars adapted to highland conditions. You should specify exactly what cultivars you are looking for - e.g. glutinous or non-glutinous, pericarp colour, your growing conditions such as day length, latitude and altitude. Lot of American cultivars should do well if you plan to use them under intensive cultivation.

Good luck!

Thanks Dr Ranjith Pathirana. Actually we worked with IRRI for a quite some time under a project called CPWF on aerobic rice. You are right that deep water rice or submerged varieties are not suitable for aerobic conditions. I will contact again with IRRI and find some suitable varieties specially developed for semi arid conditions of India. Regards

In our region country Kurdistan region of Iraq we grow a rice variety called 'Hanmber' which has a vary high quality in terms of flavour, yield, and the grain size &colour. The demand on it is far much higher than other varieties, it is also best to grow in semi arid areas. I hope you will get some I am sure you will plant them in a large area. 

Hi Arshad Yaseen; Thanks for such an information. It may help me if I could arrange some seeds from IRRI seed Bank. Thanks

Dear Durbey,

Kindly contact IRRI or AfricaRice. Several lines for aerobic conditions have been developed under the STRASA project.

Thanks Dr Ghislain Kanfany; I am in touch with Dr RK Singh. Regards