Prospect of double cropping of rainfed rice in West Bengal

The prospect of double cropping of rain fed rice in West Bengal has been studied in two agroecological conditions (Canning, located in coastal saline region and Nagri, located in Red lateritic region) by identifying growing season through the analysis of rainfall data. The rainfall data of these locations have been analysed for dry and wet weeks by assuming a dry threshold value of 20 mm per week. Wet and dry weeks have been subjected to Markov Chain probability analysis and periods of ideal sowing have been determined. Rainfall data has also been accumulated from 1st week (1- 7 Jan) onwards, and 52nd week (24- 31 Dec) backwards and by subjecting it to ranking method, growth periods of dry and wet crops have been determined. The study reveals that generally from 24th to 37th week (11 Jun-16 Sep) the probability of getting wet weeks exceeds 15% and probability of two consecutive dry weeks is negligible from 20th to 38th week (14 May - 23 September) for both the statistics. It is also found that harvesting two rice crops of shorter duration is feasible during the growing period covering pre-monsoon and monsoon season.

Household food security of rainfed-rice farmers in Sragen District to achieve sustainable development goals

Goal 2 of the Sustainable Development Goals is Zero Hunger or ensure food security in the world. This study aims to determine households’ food security in Sragen District using descriptive and analytical methods with survey techniques. The research was conducted in Gemolong Sub-district, Sragen District. The determination of village samples is done deliberately (purposive) considering the largest rainfed rice fields. The data analysis used is the analysis of energy consumption and household food security. The results showed that the energy consumption of farmers’ households amounted to 6,041 kcal/day with an energy sufficiency value of 5,368 kcal/day, then obtained energy consumption level of 113% and classified in the category of high level because energy consumption level ≥ 100%. Household food security conditions showed that 53.33% were food resistant households and 46.67% were food vulnerable. Increasing production and household income by optimizing drill wells to ensure water availability or procurement of seeds resistant to rainfed rice fields can address vulnerable food situations.

Utilization of suboptimal land for the sustainability of upland rice farming in Minahasa District

Increasing rice production is not only relied on from irrigated and rainfed rice fields, but also on dry land (upland rice). Development of upland rice on sub-optimal lands is one of the efforts to overcome the problem of vulnerability to rice availability, but until now its management is still not optimal. Minahasa District is one of the upland rice producing districts in North Sulawesi. This paper aims to identify matters related to sub-optimal land use for the sustainability of upland rice farming by farmers that can be developed in support of efforts to increase upland rice production in North Sulawesi, in addition to improving the existing technology used by farmers. This study was conducted in the Tombariri Subdistrict, Minahasa District, using a survey method. Data collection was carried out through field observations, surveys, documentation, in-depth interviews with key informants, and literature studies. The data obtained were then analyzed descriptively. Based on field identification and the results of the study, it was found that the existing local farmers’ technology was still very simple, especially in the aspects of seed supply, planting and maintenance. Farmers are increasingly pursuing development towards organic farming. There are still many sub-optimal land uses that can be optimized for upland rice cultivation accompanied by improvements to the existing limiting factors on each land.

Study of the effect of climate variation on irrigated and rainfed rice productivity based on aquacrop crop modelling simulation (Case Study of Java Island)

Aquacrop is free-licensed Food and Agricultural Organization’s crop modelling that requires minimum inputs of climate variables namely rainfall, maximum temperature, minimum temperature variables and geographic information of the area to be simulated (longitude, latitude, altitude). This study aims to measure the difference in irrigated and rainfed rice productivity from the Aquacrop crop modelling simulation to the influence of climate pattern variations in Java Island, Indonesia. The k-means clustering method applied to the rainfall, maximum, and minimum temperature variables from the bias-corrected MERRA2 data resulted in two climate regions. The principal component analysis result showed that the maximum and minimum temperature variables are the variables that most contribute to the determination of the clustering area using the k-means method compared to the rainfall variable. This study has calculated the probability of the irrigated and rainfed rice productivity resulting from the Aquacrop simulation in those climate regions during La Nina [El Nino] years that will be higher [smaller] than the mean value of rice productivity during neutral years. However, the validation between the actual irrigated and rainfed rice productivity with the Aquacrop simulation results from 2001-2014 showed low correlation values that vary between negative and positive values in all climate regions. Meanwhile, the validation on the El Nino composite years generally showed positive correlation values. In addition, the neutral and La Nina composite years resulted in varying correlation values between negative and positive correlation.

Sole and Sequential Application of Herbicide and Straw Mulch on Weed Growth and Productivity of Direct Seeded Rainfed Rice (Oryza Sativa L.)

The sole and sequential application of herbicide and straw mulch on weed growth and productivity of rainfed direct seeded rice, were studied with 12 treatments during kharif 2019. Results showed that the application of oxadiargyl fb rice straw mulch @ 6 t/ha registered significantly the lowest weed density and dry weight at 60 DAS; however, it was statistically at par with oxadiargyl fb hand weeding. Weed free check produced the highest grain yield (3.05 t/ha) which was at par with the sequential application of oxadiargyl fb rice straw mulch @ 6 t/ha (2.99 t/ha) and oxadiargyl fb rice hand weeding (2.90 t/ha). Application of oxadiargyl fb rice straw mulch @ 6 t/ha fetched the maximum net return of Rs. 17528/- per ha and return per rupee invested of 1.52. Application of oxadiargyl fb rice straw mulch @ 6 t/ha could be recommended for managing complex weed flora, higher productivity and greater profit in rainfed direct seeded rice cultivation. Bangladesh J. Bot. 50(3): 671-677, 2021 (September)

Rainfed Rice Farming Production Constrains and Prospects, the Kenyan Situation

Kenya experiences huge production-consumption deficit in relation to rice. This is due to changing eating habits that has adopted more rice in the menu and rapidly rising population. Rice production has remained low being unable to meet consumption. Rice ecosystems in Kenya include irrigated, rainfed lowland and rainfed upland. Irrigated ecosystem has over the years been given more emphasis despite rainfed rice farming having double the potential over irrigation system. Ecologically rice grows well in abundant water supply, warm to high temperatures and in Clay sandy to loamy soils with slightly acidic to neutral pH. Rice varieties grown in Kenya are mainly traditional, introduced improved, hybrids and landraces. Rainfed rice farming faces constraint’s key among them being; drought and erratic rainfall, weeds, pest and diseases, cheap imports, land ownership and poor infrastructure. Mitigating against drought and erratic rainfall, improving farm inputs and equipment, increasing germplasm production and distribution, credit support and marketing to farmers, improving farmers skills through technological transfers and infrastructural development are prospects that if adopted could increase rainfed rice productivity. More attention towards improvement of rainfed rice farming could greatly contribute to bridging the production-consumption deficit that is bridged through imports. It is with this, that this review updates our understanding of rain fed rice farming in Kenya in terms of ecological conditions, ecological systems, varieties, constraints and prospects.