DEVELOPMENT OF MOVIES AS THE TEACHING TOOL ON THE MOVEMENT OF IRRIGATION WATER IN PADDY FIELDS MANAGED UNDER VARIOUS CULTIVATION METHODS

2015 ◽  
Vol 76 (15) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nakamura Kazumasa ◽  
Sakai Miki ◽  
Koshiyama Naoko

Hokkaido, the northern most of the four major islands of Japan, is an important rice-producing area. In Hokkaido there are some areas where the numbers of farm households are decreasing and the management scale for one farm household is increasing. In such areas, labor shortage occurs if only the conventional transplant cultivation is used. The necessity for introducing direct-seeding cultivation method has been increasing because by using this method it is possible to save labor. In some of the areas with increasing number of large-scale farm management, the farms employ large lot paddy fields and install underground irrigation facilities, which are useful in direct-seeding cultivation, to improve work efficiency. It is thought that it requires 2 to 3 years for the farmers to learn to effectively use the underground irrigation facilities because use of such facilities is a new experience for many farmers. The authors conducted observation of the groundwater level and depth of ponding in the paddy fields where the above-mentioned improvements were done, and made a movie using the obtained data. The movie is also useful for the authors in understanding the inflow and outflow of the groundwater, which are phenomena occurring underground. At a meeting of local farmers, the authors explained the movement of irrigation water by using this movie. The authors expect that the explanation using the movie will promote the farmers' understanding in effectively using the underground irrigation facilities.

This paper focuses upon the magnitude of income-based poverty among non-farm households in rural Punjab. Based on the primary survey, a sample of 440 rural non-farm households were taken from 44 sampled villages located in all 22 districts of Punjab.The poverty was estimated on the basis of income level. For measuring poverty, various methods/criteria (Expert Group Criteria, World Bank Method and State Per Capita Income Criterion) were used. On the basis of Expert Group Income criterion, overall, less than one-third of the persons of rural non-farm household categories are observed to be poor. On the basis, 40 percent State Per Capita Income Criteria, around three-fourth of the persons of all rural non-farm household categories are falling underneath poverty line. Similarly, the occurrence of the poverty, on the basis of 50 percent State Per Capita Income Criteria, showed that nearly four-fifths of the persons are considered to be poor. As per World Bank’s $ 1.90 per day, overall, less than one-fifth of rural non-farm household persons are poor. Slightly, less than one-fourth of the persons are belonging to self-employment category, while, slightly, less than one-tenth falling in-service category. On the basis of $ 3.10 per day criteria, overall, less than two-fifth persons of all rural non-farm household categories were living below the poverty line.


Agriculture ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 499
Author(s):  
Yun-Cih Chang ◽  
Min-Fang Wei ◽  
Yir-Hueih Luh

The determinants and/or economic effects of modern food distribution channels have attracted much attention in previous research. Studies on the welfare consequences of modern channel options, however, have been sparse. Based on a broader definition of modern food distribution channels including midstream processors and downstream retailers (supermarkets, hypermarkets, brand-named retailers), this study contributes to the existing body of knowledge by exploring the distributional implications of farm households’ choice of modern food distribution channels using a large and unique farm household dataset in Taiwan. Making use of the two-step control function approach, we identify the effect of modern food distribution options on farm households’ profitability. The results reveal selling farm produce to modern food distributors does not produce a positive differential compared to the traditional outlets. Another dimension of farm household welfare affected by the choice of modern food distribution channel is income inequality. We apply the Lerman and Yitzhaki decomposition approach to gain a better understanding of the effect of the marketing channel option on the overall distribution of farm household income. The Gini decomposition of different income sources indicates that the choice of modern food distribution channels results in an inequality-equalizing effect among the farm households in Taiwan, suggesting the inclusion of smallholder farmers in the modern food distribution channels improves the overall welfare of the rural society.


2015 ◽  
Vol 72 (4) ◽  
pp. 579-584 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Muramatsu ◽  
H. Ito ◽  
A. Sasaki ◽  
A. Kajihara ◽  
T. Watanabe

To achieve enhanced nitrogen removal, we modified a cultivation system with circulated irrigation of treated municipal wastewater by using rice for animal feed instead of human consumption. The performance of this modified system was evaluated through a bench-scale experiment by comparing the direction of circulated irrigation (i.e. passing through paddy soil upward and downward). The modified system achieved more than three times higher nitrogen removal (3.2 g) than the system in which rice for human consumption was cultivated. The removal efficiency was higher than 99.5%, regardless of the direction of circulated irrigation. Nitrogen in the treated municipal wastewater was adsorbed by the rice plant in this cultivation system as effectively as chemical fertilizer used in normal paddy fields. Circulated irrigation increased the nitrogen released to the atmosphere, probably due to enhanced denitrification. Neither the circulation of irrigation water nor its direction affected the growth of the rice plant and the yield and quality of harvested rice. The yield of rice harvested in this system did not reach the target value in normal paddy fields. To increase this yield, a larger amount of treated wastewater should be applied to the system, considering the significant amount of nitrogen released to the atmosphere.


2016 ◽  
Vol 02 (04) ◽  
pp. 1650023 ◽  
Author(s):  
Noémie Neverre ◽  
Patrice Dumas

This paper presents a methodology to project irrigation and domestic water demands on a regional to global scale, in terms of both quantity and economic value. Projections are distributed at the water basin scale. Irrigation water demand is projected under climate change. It is simply computed as the difference between crop potential evapotranspiration for the different stages of the growing season and available precipitation. Irrigation water economic value is based on a yield comparison approach between rainfed and irrigated crops using average yields. For the domestic sector, we project the combined effects of demographic growth, economic development and water cost evolution on future demands. The method consists in building three-part inverse demand functions in which volume limits of the blocks evolve with the level of GDP per capita. The value of water along the demand curve is determined from price-elasticity, price and demand data from the literature, using the point-expansion method, and from water cost data. This generic methodology can be easily applied to large-scale regions, in particular developing regions where reliable data are scarce. As an illustration, it is applied to Algeria, at the 2050 horizon, for demands associated to reservoirs. Our results show that domestic demand is projected to become a major water consumption sector. The methodology is meant to be integrated into large-scale hydroeconomic models, to determine inter-sectorial and inter-temporal water allocation based on economic valuation.


Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 189
Author(s):  
Lili Yang ◽  
Tong Heng ◽  
Guang Yang ◽  
Xinchen Gu ◽  
Jiaxin Wang ◽  
...  

The factors influencing the effective utilization coefficient of irrigation water are not understood well. It is usually considered that this coefficient is lower in areas with large-scale irrigation. With this background, we analyzed the effective utilization coefficient of irrigation water using the analytic hierarchy process using data from 2014 to 2019 in Shihezi City, Xinjiang. The weights of the influencing factors on the effective utilization coefficient of irrigation water in different irrigation areas were analyzed. Predictions of the coefficient’s values for different years were made by understanding the trends based on the grey model. The results show that the scale of the irrigation area is not the only factor determining the effective utilization coefficient of irrigation water. Irrigation technology, organizational integrity, crop types, water price management, local economic level, and channel seepage prevention are the most critical factors affecting the effective use of irrigation water. The grey model prediction results show that the effective utilization coefficient of farmland irrigation water will continuously increase and reach 0.7204 in 2029. This research can serve as a reference for government authorities to make scientific decisions on water-saving projects in irrigation districts in terms of management, operation, and investment.


Author(s):  
Keisuke Omori ◽  
Toru Sakai ◽  
Jun Miyamoto ◽  
Akihiko Itou ◽  
Aung Naing Oo ◽  
...  

Abstract The Ayeyarwady Delta in the Bay of Bengal, the rice bowl of Myanmar, depends on natural conditions, especially rainfall. During the dry season, the delta’s coastal zone experiences saline water intrusion due to its low-lying topography. On May 2, 2008, Cyclone Nargis made landfall and crossed Ayeyarwady Region and Yangon City, affecting more than 50 townships and causing massive destruction of personal property and natural ecosystems. There is no doubt that Nargis caused an unprecedented large-scale disaster, but there is no objective method to quantify crop yield and salinity damage in the delta post-Nargis. The purpose of this study, therefore, is to clarify the changes in vegetation in paddy fields in the Ayeyarwady Delta using Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer data pre- and post-Nargis and determine whether this method can be applied to measure crop and salinity damage. The study used daily composite data at a 250-m resolution (MOD09GQ, collection 6) from 2004 to 2013 and calculated NDVI and salinity indices smoothed by locally weighted regression (Lowess). Based on the results of our studies, NDVI peak value in 2008 was lower by 19% compared to 2007 data, and that the NDVI peak values declined for three straight years since May 2008 when Nargis struck. However, salinity damage evaluation pre- and post-Nargis (using the salinity index equation) showed that soil electrical conductivity did not tend to move up in the post-Nargis dry season (2009), indicating that the decrease in NDVI values was not due to salinity damage.


Author(s):  
Fantu Bachewe ◽  
Bart Minten ◽  
Alemayehu Seyoum Taffesse ◽  
Karl Pauw ◽  
Alethia Cameron ◽  
...  

Abstract While storage losses at the farm are often assumed to be an important contributor to presumed large postharvest losses in developing countries, reliable and representative data on these losses are often lacking. We study farmers’ storage decisions and self-reported storage losses for grains based on two large-scale household surveys conducted in major agricultural areas in Ethiopia. We show that a relatively large share of grain production is stored by farm households for own consumption and that storage technologies are rudimentary. Farmers’ self-reported storage losses amount to an average of 4 % of all grains stored and 2 % of total harvest. These storage losses differ significantly by socioeconomic variables and wealth, as well as by crop and humidity. We further see strong spatial heterogeneity in storage losses being significantly higher in southwest Ethiopia. Efforts to scale up the adoption of improved storage technologies to reduce storage losses at the farm level should consider these characteristics.


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