Increasing Water and Energy Productivity via Replacing Abiotic Stress Tolerant Forages in East of Zayandeh Rud River Basin

The major abiotic stress limiting productivity of pigeon pea includes undulated topography, waterlogging, drought, frost, poor soil fertility. Management techniques of abiotic stresses significantly increased yield, net profit and B:C ratio as compared to farmers practice (FP). Adoption of abiotic stresses resulted in an increase of grain yield by 7.2 to 38.5% over FP. Major technological impact on grain yield compared to FP was in order: broad bed furrow (BBF) sowing method (38.5%) > nutrient management (21.0%) > seed treatment (14.9%) > short duration cultivar (7.3%) > precision land shaping (PLS) method (7.2%). Maximum additional cost on nutrient management was 2,360 ha-1 and it was minimum on seed treatment (265 ha-1), whereas saving due to BBF was .1,554 ha-1 and maximum additional net returns were obtained with BBF (30,551 ha-1) and minimum with PLS (4,804 ha-1) compared to FP. Maximum additional energy used was on nutrient management and minimum on seed treatment, whereas energy saved under BBF compared to FP. Higher additional net energy gain was with BBF followed by nutrient management, seed treatment, PLS and short duration cultivar over FP. PLS, BBF, seed treatment and nutrient management significantly increased infiltration rate and available N, P, K, S and Zn but decreased bulk density. Management of abiotic stresses by proper technologies increased pigeon pea production three times compared to average productivity of the country, resulted in increased economic benefits, energy productivity and improved soil physicochemical properties.

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A Study of Trust and Cooperation in the Nzoia River Basin Using a Water Policy Game

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su10124678 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 10 (12) ◽

pp. 4678 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Abby Onencan ◽

Bert Enserink ◽

Bartel Van de Walle

Keyword(s):

River Basin ◽

Water Policy ◽

River Basin Management ◽

Initial Assessment ◽

Basin Management ◽

Energy Productivity ◽

County Governments ◽

Cooperation And Competition ◽

Management Context ◽

The Relationship

Nzoia river basin county governments barely cooperate in water resources management to jointly increase the basin’s food and energy productivity levels, due to limited trust. In this paper, we propose a game-based approach that can be replicated in any river basin, to assess trust and collaboration processes. In particular, we used the pre-game, in-game, and post-game assessment results to assess the relationship between Cooperation and Competition; Trust and Trustworthiness; Trust and Distrust; and (Dis) trust, Complexity, and Uncertainty. The initial assessment of respondents’ propensity to trust (PTS) was divided into two variables (trust and trustworthiness) while adopting the unidimensional view of trust and distrust. We later examined whether we could separate the two constructs using a multidimensional scaling (MDS) technique known as the ALSCAL procedure. There are potentially significant results. Namely, that: trustworthiness and trust are not complementary; both cooperation and competition coexisted and increased throughout the game; more profound complexity and uncertainty led to an increment in trust, and reduced complexity and uncertainty led to a decrease in distrust. Based on the results and discussions, we provide recommendations for further research on trust, trustworthiness, and distrust in the river basin management context.

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