Rice field unveiled at Kew

Rice fields are to Japan what green fields are to England. And now, a small corner of Japanese countryside has been recreated at Kew Gardens.

The first rice field of its kind in this country (they're called paddy fields in South East Asia and China), the patch in the Princess of Wales Conservatory represents a triumph of horticultural engineering and a tribute to Japan's staple diet.

Crown Prince Naruhito of Japan visits Kew today and will no doubt visit the miniature field that copies a real Japanese rice field right down to the freshwater shrimps that swim among its plants. Made of a number of boxed plywood ponds, the field has four tiers (to aid water flow) and is sown with Koshihikari, an aromatic, sticky rice.

Under the carefully controlled conditions at Kew, the plants have already grown 12 inches high.

John Landale, Botanic Gardens manager, said: "Most horticultural gardens grow rice as a demonstration of an economic crop, but not on this scale. This is the first actual field.

"We grew them in our nursery for a month or so and then in early May planted them in our field."

Kew employee Claire Hyde, 37, said: "Most Japanese people eat rice most days and would be familiar with the type growing here."

Mr Landale said: "This is a high-yield crop and we will harvest it in September, the same time of year it is harvested in Japan. We will get quite a reasonable amount of rice from this, there will be quite enough to use."

The rice field is part of Kew's A Journey Through Landscape which officially opens tomorrow as part of the Japan 2001 festival.