scholarly journals Intervention of Climate Smart Technologies for Improving Water Productivity in an Enormous Water Use Rice-Wheat System of South-Asia

2019 ◽  
Vol 75 ◽  
pp. 27-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Akbar Hossain ◽  
Rajan Bhatt
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
South Asia ◽  
Water Use ◽  
Short Duration ◽  
Water Productivity ◽  
Soil Health ◽  
Cropping System ◽  
Micronutrient Deficiencies ◽  
Land Leveling ◽  
Smart Technologies

I Intensively practices rice-wheat (R-W) cropping system (RWCS) in South-Asia is suffering from many sustainability issues such as micronutrient deficiencies, labour scarcity, production cost, declining land, declining groundwater level and water productivity along with declining soil health.  Climate change further complex the things in one or other way. Therefore, the intervention of climate smart technologies are urgent for improving water productivity in an enormous water use RWCS of South-Asia. Although, farmers are confused regarding picking of suitable climate smart technology (CST) viz., laser land leveling, un-puddled direct-seeded rice (UPDSR), soil matric potential based irrigation, double zero tillage in wheat followed by rice, raised bed planting, short duration cultivars and correct transplantation time, for enhancing their livelihoods through increasing land and water productivity on one side and mitigating global warming consequences on other. Performance of these technologies is both site and situation specific, and care must be taken in practicing them. Most of them cutting down the drainage losses, which further reduces recharging of soil profile which is not required in water stressed regions while these might be termed as energy-saving technologies; otherwise used to withdraw water from the deeper soil depths. These CST are also useful for waterlogged regions. However, CST viz. correct transplantation time and short duration cultivars partition higher fraction of ET water (evapotranspiration) from E (evaporation) to T (transpiration) component which further favour higher grain yields and thus, higher water productivity. Therefore, it is crucial for the introduction of CST for improving agricultural and water productivity in the era of climate change in an enormous water use RWCS of South-Asia.

scholarly journals Effect of Rice Residue Retention and Foliar Application of K on Water Productivity and Profitability of Wheat in North West India

Agronomy ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 434 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raj Pal Meena ◽  
Karnam Venkatesh ◽  
Rinki Khobra ◽  
S. C. Tripathi ◽  
Kailash Prajapat ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Foliar Application ◽  
Water Productivity ◽  
Soil Health ◽  
Cropping System ◽  
Large Area ◽  
North West ◽  
Net Returns ◽  
Relative Water ◽  
Use Efficiency ◽  
Residue Retention

The rice–wheat cropping system being the backbone of food security in South-Asia has resulted in soil health deterioration, declining water table, and air pollution affecting livability index of the region. The effect of rice residue retention (RRR), irrigation levels and foliar application of K on wheat grain yield (GY), water use efficiency (WUE) and profitability was tested over three years. RRR increased wheat GY (5224 kg ha−1), above-ground biomass (AGBM = 11.9 t ha−1), tillers per square meter (TPM = 469) and grains per meter square (GrPMS = 13,917) significantly. Relative water content (RWC = 93.8) and WUE (2.45 k gm−3) were also increased significantly by RRR. Consequently, profitability (Net return = 624.4 $ and Benefit to cost (B:C) ratio) was enhanced. Foliar application of K enhanced GY (5151 kg ha−1), AGBM (12 t ha−1), RWC (94.1), SPAD (52.2), WUE (2.40 kg m−3), net returns (625.2 $) and BC ratio (1.62) significantly. RRR increased GY (15.66%) and WUE (17.39%) with additional revenue of 151 $ with only one irrigation at the CRI stage (ICS). RRR adopted over 10% of the area can earn 187 million-US$ annually. RRR if adopted over existing practice on a large area would reduce environmental degradation with an enhanced income to small and marginal farmers.

scholarly journals Innovation Issues in Water, Agriculture and Food

Water ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 1230 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria do Rosário Cameira ◽  
Luís Santos Pereira
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Water Management ◽  
Water Use ◽  
Water Scarcity ◽  
Water Productivity ◽  
Irrigation Scheduling ◽  
Irrigated Agriculture ◽  
Main Challenge ◽  
Agriculture And Food ◽  
The Impact

The main challenge faced by agriculture is to produce enough food for a continued increase in population, however in the context of ever-growing competition for water and land, climate change, droughts and anthropic water scarcity, and less-participatory water governance. Such a context implies innovative issues in agricultural water management and practices, at both the field and the system or the basin scales, mainly in irrigation to cope with water scarcity, environmental friendliness, and rural society welfare. Therefore, this special issue was set to present and discuss recent achievements in water, agriculture, and food nexus at different scales, thus to promote sustainable development of irrigated agriculture and to develop integrated approaches to water and food. Papers cover various domains including: (a) evapotranspiration and crop water use; (b) improving water management in irrigated agriculture, particularly irrigation scheduling; (c) adaptation of agricultural systems to enhance water use and water productivity to face water scarcity and climate change; (d) improving irrigation systems design and management adopting multi-criteria and risk approaches; (e) ensuring sustainable management for anthropic ecosystems favoring safe and high-quality food production, as well as the conservation of natural ecosystems; (f) assessing the impact of water scarcity and, mainly, droughts; (g) conservation of water quality resources, namely by preventing contamination with nitrates; (h) use of modern mapping technologies and remote sensing information; and (i) fostering a participative and inclusive governance of water for food security and population welfare.

Effect of raised beds, irrigation and nitrogen management on growth, water use and yield of rice in south-eastern Australia

2006 ◽  
Vol 46 (10) ◽  
pp. 1363 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. G. Beecher ◽  
B. W. Dunn ◽  
J. A. Thompson ◽  
E. Humphreys ◽  
S. K. Mathews ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Grain Yield ◽  
Weed Control ◽  
Water Use ◽  
Water Depth ◽  
Water Productivity ◽  
Cropping System ◽  
Rice Soil ◽  
System Productivity ◽  
Eastern Australia ◽  
Raised Bed

To remain economically and environmentally sustainable, Australian rice growers need to be able to readily respond to market opportunities and increase cropping system productivity and water productivity. Water availability is decreasing whereas its price is increasing. Alternative irrigation layouts and water management approaches could contribute to reduced water use and increased irrigation efficiency. This paper reports results for the first crop (rice) in a cropping system experiment to compare permanent raised bed and conventional layouts on a transitional red-brown earth at Coleambally, New South Wales. The performance of conventional ponded rice grown on a flat layout was compared with rice grown on 1.84-m wide, raised beds with furrow and subsurface drip irrigation. In addition, deep and shallow ponded water depth treatments (15 and 5 cm water depth over the beds) were imposed on the rice on beds during the reproductive period. A range of nitrogen (N) fertiliser rates (0–180 kg N/ha) was applied to all treatments. The traditional flat flooded treatment (Flat) achieved the highest grain yield of 12.7 t/ha, followed by the deep (Bed 15) and shallow (Bed 5) ponded beds (10.2 and 10.1 t/ha, respectively). The furrow (Furrow) irrigated bed treatment yielded 9.4 t/ha and the furrow/drip (Furr/Drip) treatment yielded the lowest grain yield (8.3 t/ha). Grain yield from all bed treatments was reduced owing to the wide furrows (0.8 m between edge rows on adjacent beds), which were not planted to rice. Rice crop water use was significantly different between the layout–irrigation treatments. The Flat, Bed 5 and Bed 15 treatments had similar input (irrigation + rainfall – surface drainage) water use (mean of 18.3 ML/ha). The water use for the Furrow treatment was 17.2 ML/ha and for the Furr/Drip treatment, 15.1 ML/ha. Input WP of the Flat treatment (0.68 t/ML) was higher than the raised bed treatments, which were all similar (mean 0.55 t/ML). This single season experiment shows that high yielding rice crops can be successfully grown on raised beds, but when beds are ponded after panicle initiation, there is no water saving compared with rice grown on a conventional flat layout. Preliminary recommendations for the growing of rice on raised beds are that the crop be grown as a flooded crop in a bankless channel layout. This assists with weed control and allows flooding for cold temperature protection, which is necessary with current varieties. Until we find effective herbicides and other methods of weed control and N application that do not require ponding, there is little scope for saving water while maintaining yield on suitable rice soil through the use of beds.

scholarly journals Assessing Crop and Water Productivity Performance of Different Crops and Cropping Systems

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ramesh Kumar ◽  
R.S. Yadav ◽  
Amit Kumawat ◽  
Vinay Nangia ◽  
N.D. Yadava ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Resources ◽  
Water Use ◽  
Cropping Systems ◽  
Water Productivity ◽  
N Uptake ◽  
Indian Mustard ◽  
Cropping System ◽  
Bt Cotton ◽  
Natural Ecosystems ◽  
Study Region

Background: Freshwater in sufficient quantity and adequate quality is a prerequisite for human societies and natural ecosystems. To adequately feed 9.3 billion people in 2050, consumptive water use (i.e. transpired water) by all food and fodder crops needs to increase from its present estimated level of 7000 km3/year to 12,586 km3/year. However, fresh water resources are increasingly getting scarce because of increased competition among a multitude of users. Getting agriculture to perform with progressively smaller allocation of renewable water resources will remain a challenge on global scale. To meet the challenge there is an urgent need to improve the crop water productivity to ensure the sustainability of agriculture. Methods: An experiment was carried out at village Menawali, Hanumangarh, Rajasthan during both kharif and rabi seasons to assess productivity, economics, N-uptake and water use of different crops. An area of 187 ha comprising 25 farmers irrigated by common irrigation channels were selected to collect the information. The information required i.e. soil, crop management, growth, phonological, yields, water balance, N-uptake and water use efficiency of each crops were collected from 15 farmers. Bt-cotton and clusterbean of kharif and wheat and Indian mustard in rabi were prominent crops, cotton-wheat, cotton-mustard, clusterbean-wheat and clusterbean-mustard were major cropping sequences of the study region. Result: In kharif season, Bt-cotton gave higher economic yields than clusterbean and amongst rabi season crops, economic yields of wheat and mustard were 4255, 1778 kg/ha, respectively. The economic yield of cropping sequences varied from 3741-6514 kg/ha and were higher for cotton-wheat (6218 kg/ha), intermediate for clusterbean-wheat (5785 kg/ha) and lower for cotton-mustard (3741 kg/ha) and clusterbean-mustard (3308 kg/ha). The cotton-wheat (₹1181.2 mm) sequence had highest water use. Clusterbean-wheat cropping system recorded highest water productivity (16.5 kg/ha mm) followed by clusterbean-mustard (14.9 kg/ha mm). The clusterbean-mustard (₹456/ha mm) cropping sequence was most profitable and fetched highest net return followed by clusterbean-wheat (₹383/ha mm).

Sustainable intensification of groundwater irrigation in the Eastern Indo-Gangetic Plains

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy Foster ◽  
Roshan Adhikari ◽  
Subash Adhikari ◽  
Scott Justice ◽  
Anton Urfels ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Supply Chains ◽  
South Asia ◽  
Water Use ◽  
Agricultural Productivity ◽  
Sustainable Intensification ◽  
Adaptation To Climate Change ◽  
Gangetic Plains ◽  
Groundwater Irrigation ◽  
Near Term

<p>Groundwater irrigation has played a critical role in the Green Revolution in South Asia, helping to increase crop yields and improve livelihoods of millions of rural households. However, the spread of irrigation has not been homogeneous, with many farmers in the Eastern Indo-Gangetic Plains (EIGP – Nepal Terai and parts of eastern India) still lacking reliable and affordable irrigation access. As a result, agricultural productivity in the EIGP is some of the lowest found across South Asia, with many farmers trapped in chronic cycles of poverty and food insecurity.</p><p>A major focus of government and donor efforts to support intensification of groundwater irrigation in the EIGP has been the replacement of existing diesel-based pumping systems with alternative electric or solar powered pumping technologies. These technologies are viewed as being cheaper for to operate and less environmentally damaging due to their lower operational carbon emissions. However, scaling these technologies in practice has proved challenging due to their high upfront capital costs and the unique socio-technical constraints posed by farming systems in the EIGP (e.g., land fragmentation and poorly developed supply chains).</p><p>In response to these challenges, our research explores whether opportunities exist to make existing diesel pump systems more cost effective for farmers to support adaptation to climate change and reduce poverty. In particular, we seek to identify what factors lead to disparities in groundwater access costs for irrigation, how these disparities affect farmers’ water use behavior, and in turn how this impacts agricultural production outcomes. Our work draws on evidence from a recent survey of over 400 farmer households in the Nepal Terai, along with detailed in-situ testing and analysis of the fuel efficiency and cost-effectiveness of over 100 diesel pumpsets in the same region conducted between 2019-20.</p><p>Our results demonstrate that substantial variability exists in the costs of diesel pump irrigation in the EIGP and that higher costs of groundwater access are associated with lower levels of agricultural productivity and household income. Dependence on expensive pumpset rental markets, in particular amongst credit constrained households, is a major driver of the highest irrigation access costs. Additionally, many farmers also continue to operate and invest in pumpset models and designs that are significantly oversized for local hydrological conditions, resulting in fuel inefficiencies and excess costs that reduce the overall profitability of irrigation water use.</p><p>Our findings have important implications for national and regional policy debates about sustainable intensification of irrigated agriculture in the EIGP and other regions. We suggest that intensification of water use and improvements in agricultural productivity can be achieved in the near-term without need for radical technology changes. Targeted credit support, combined with data-driven advisories and improved supply chains for maintenance services and spare parts, could incentivize and enable adoption of low-cost fuel-efficient diesel pumpsets resulting in substantial reductions in costs of irrigation for many farmers. This would have positive near-term impacts on agricultural productivity and rural livelihoods, supporting adaptation to climate change and future transitions to alternative low-carbon irrigation technologies in the region.</p>

Improving crop water use in West Africa in the context of climate change

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sehouevi Mawuton David Agoungbome ◽  
Nick van de Giesen ◽  
Frank Ohene Annor ◽  
Marie-Claire ten Veldhuis
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
West Africa ◽  
Water Use ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Rainfall Variability ◽  
Water Productivity ◽  
Yield Response ◽  
Crop Water ◽  
Climate Conditions ◽  
Crop Water Use

<p>Africa’s population is growing fast and is expected to double by 2050, meaning the food production must follow the cadence in order to meet the demand. However, one of the major challenges of agriculture in Africa is productivity (World Bank, 2009; IFRI, 2016). For instance, more than 40 million hectares of farmland were dedicated to maize in Africa in 2017 (approx. 20% of world total maize farms), but only 7.4% of the total world maize production came from the African continent (FAO, 2017). This shows the poor productivity which has its causes rooted in lack of good climate and weather information, slow technology uptake and financial support for farmers. In West Africa, where more than 70% of crop production is rain-fed, millions of farmers depend on rainfall, yet the region is one of the most vulnerable and least monitored in terms of climate change and rainfall variability. With a high uncertainty of future climate conditions in the region, one must foresee the big challenges ahead: farmers will be exposed to a lot of damages and losses leading to food insecurity resulting in famine and poverty if measures are not put in place to improve productivity. This study aims at addressing low productivity in agriculture by providing farmers with the right moment to start farming in order to improve efficiency and productivity of crop water use. By analyzing yield response to water availability of specific crops using AquaCrop, the Food and Agriculture Organization crop growth model, we investigate the crop water productivity variability throughout the rainy season and come up with recommendations that help optimize rainfall water use and maximize crop yield.</p>

scholarly journals Development and Evaluation of an Emitter with a Low-Pressure Drip-Irrigation System for Sustainable Eggplant Production

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 376-390 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarker ◽  
Hossain ◽  
Murad ◽  
Biswas ◽  
Akter ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South Asia ◽  
Water Use ◽  
Drip Irrigation ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Irrigation System ◽  
Water Productivity ◽  
Low Pressure ◽  
Operating Pressure ◽  
Water Application ◽  
Sustainable Crop Production

Drip-irrigation can improve uniformity in water distribution, water use efficiency, and crop productivity in the saline and nonsaline regions of South Asia and in Bangladesh where the availability and quality of water resources are scare for sustainable crop production. However, the currently available drip-irrigation systems (DIS) have limitations especially in the design and field performance of emitters. A new type of emitter with low pressure (gravity) was developed, installed and evaluated using the locally produced materials in two locations (nonsaline and saline zones) of Bangladesh. The emitter discharge rate was measured for the variable operating heads of 1.5, 2, and 2.5 meter (m) with 0%, 1%, and 1.5% slopes with eggplant (Solanum melongena L.), a commonly grown vegetable in the region. The tested parameters of the emitter were manufacturer coefficient of variation (CVm), emission uniformity (EU), coefficient of uniformity (CU), and the statistical uniformity (Us) of water application. Our results reveal that the discharge rates of the emitter varied from 3 to 5 L h−1 under the operating head of 1.5 to 2.5 m with the slope of 0–1.5%, with better performance of the DIS at 2 m operating pressure head and for slopes of 0% and 1%. The CU of all the test parameters was more than 80%, implying that the DIS was designed and installed with appropriate dimensions for the efficient application and distribution of water to the individual plants, with the emitter performance classified as fair to excellent considering water application and distribution, as well as crop yield. The new emitter used for DIS in field conditions showed that the eggplant yield, water use, and water productivity were greater by 4.6%, 38%, and 70%, respectively, compared to farmers’ irrigation practice. We conclude that the DIS has a great prospect to save water, and could be a convenient irrigation water application method for sustainable crop production in saline and nonsaline regions of Bangladesh and similar soil and climatic conditions in South Asia.

scholarly journals The Productive, Economic, and Social Efficiency of Vineyards Using Combined Drought-Tolerant Rootstocks and Efficient Low Water Volume Deficit Irrigation Techniques under Mediterranean Semiarid Conditions

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 1930
Author(s):  
Pascual Romero Azorín ◽  
José García García
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Water Use ◽  
Economic Efficiency ◽  
Deficit Irrigation ◽  
Water Productivity ◽  
Production Costs ◽  
Water Volume ◽  
Irrigation Water Use ◽  
Berry Quality ◽  
Semiarid Conditions

In many areas of southern Europe, the scarcity of water due to climate change will increase, making its availability for irrigation an even more limiting factor for agriculture. One of the main necessary measures of adaptation of the vineyards in these areas will be the implementation of water-saving irrigation strategies and technologies to improve WUE (water use efficiency). The objective of the present study was to evaluate the long-term economic viability/profitability of different deficit irrigation techniques such as regulated deficit irrigation (RDI) and partial root-zone irrigation (PRI) with low water volume/fertilizer applied in a Monastrell vineyard in southeastern Spain to plants grafted on different rootstocks, and to assess the productive, social, and economic efficiency in these semiarid conditions. Through a cost/benefit analysis, socio-economic and environmental criteria for the selection of optimal deficit irrigation strategies and tolerant/water use efficient rootstocks for the vineyards in arid environments are proposed. Our analysis shows a clear conflict between productivity and quality in wine grape production. Productive and economic indices, such as yield, productive WUE (kg m−3), economic efficiency (€ m−3), break-even point (kg ha−1), and water productivity (€ m−3), were inversely related with berry quality. Besides, high berry quality was closely related with higher production costs. Under the current market of low-priced grapes, if the grower is not rewarded for the quality of the grapes (considering technological, phenolic, and nutraceutical quality), the productivity vision will continue and the cost-effective option will be to produce a lot of grapes, even if at the expense of the berry and wine quality. In this situation, it will be difficult to implement optimized deficit irrigation strategies and sustainable irrigation water use, and the pressure on water resources will increase in semiarid areas. Public policies should encourage vine growers to invest in producing high-quality grapes as a differentiating character, as well as to develop agronomic practices that are environmentally and socially sustainable, by the grapes more adjusted to their real quality and production costs. Only in this way we can implement agronomic measures such as optimized low-input DI (deficit irrigation) techniques and the use of efficient rootstocks to improve WUE and grape quality in semiarid regions in a context of climate change and water-limiting conditions.

Additional Income Generation from Cultivation of Summer Mungbean in Rice-Wheat System of Haryana

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sumit . ◽  
D. P. Malik ◽  
D. K. Bishnoi ◽  
Neeraj Pawar ◽  
Nirmal Kumar
Keyword(s):  
Short Duration ◽  
Soil Health ◽  
Cropping System ◽  
Summer Season ◽  
Farm Income ◽  
Variable Cost ◽  
Income Generation ◽  
Productivity Level ◽  
Interaction Approach ◽  
Additional Income

Background: Mungbean [Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek], also known as green gram is cultivated on area of 4.75 million ha in kharif and rabi/ spring seasons as monocrop or intercrop in India. It serves as a major source of dietary protein for the vast majority of vegetarian people in the country. Mungbean contributed 10.03 per cent of total pulses production (23.40 million tonnes) in the country with productivity level of 494 kg ha-1 in 2018-19. The pulses cultivation in Haryana is almost eliminated in kharif season owing to deviation of area towards cotton, cluster bean and pearlmillet because of low profitability. However, the new window opens for cultivation of mungbean in rice-wheat cropping system in summer season to generate additional farm income and to improve soil health. The area under summer mungbean in state was around 64 thousand ha with the production of 50 thousand tonnes and the average productivity of 780 kg/ha during 2017-18. Although rice-wheat system provides better farm returns, but it has imposed threat to soil health, availability and contamination of ground water, weed and biotic stress management. Methods: The data pertains to costs and returns from summer mungbean cultivation was gathered from 60 mungbean cultivators of Hisar, Kurukshetra and Panipat districts of Haryana having adequate irrigation water availability adopting personal interaction approach in 2018-19. Simple budgeting technique was employed to draw practical implications which ultimately help to take favourable policy decisions for enhancing acreage of summer mungbean. Result: The inquiry profound that mungbean cultivation in summer season particularly in rice-wheat was established as additional income generation farm enterprise. The net benefits accrued from short duration varieties of mungbean over variable cost was Rs. 31831 ha-1 with time span of 60-70 days by utilizing fallow land in summer season. The B-C ratio toiled considering expenses incurred on variable resources with value of 2.99 divulges economic viability of mungbean cultivation in the study area. It is imperative from results that cultivation of short duration cultivars of mungbean is viable option to enhance farm income, restoration of diminishing soil fertility owing to adoption of continuous rice-wheat rotation by inherent characteristics of converting atmospheric nitrogen. Distinctive efforts are essential to evolve mungbean cultivars suitable to prevailing cropping system in Haryana and assure market procurement. The exploration of mungbean cultivation will reduce dependency on import and improve net availability of pulses in India.

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