Producing More Rice with Less Water from Irrigated Systems

Producing More Rice with Less Water from Irrigated Systems
Author: Luis Catasús Guerra
Publisher: IWMI
Total Pages: 33
Release: 1998
Genre: Agricultural productivity
ISBN: 9290903694

Over the past decade, we have witnessed a growing scarcity of and competition for water around the world. As the demand for water for domestic, municipal, industrial, and environmental purposes rises in the future, less water will be available for agriculture. But the potentials for new water resource development projects and expanding irrigated area are limited. We must therefore find ways to increase the productivity of water used for irrigation. This paper reviews the literature on irrigation efficiency and on the potential for increasing the productivity of water in rice-based systems. It stresses the continuing confusion over the concepts of irrigation efficiency and water productivity. It identifies the reasons for the wide gap between water requirement and actual water input (both irrigation diversions and rainfall) in irrigated rice production systems and discusses potential opportunities for increasing water productivity both on-farm and at the system level. Based on the reported low farm and system level irrigation efficiencies, the potentials for water savings in rice production appear to be very large. But we do not know the degree to which various farm and system interventions will lead to sustainable water savings in the water basin until we can quantify the downstream impact of the interventions. Studies on the economic benefits and costs, and environmental aspects of alternative interventions are also lacking. This paper emphasizes the need to measure the productivity of water at farm, system, and basin levels, and to understand how the productivity at one level relates to the productivity at another. Without water balance studies to measure productivity at these different scales, it is not possible to identify the potential economic benefits of alternative interventions and the most appropriate strategies for increasing irrigation water p productivity in rice-based systems.

Water Productivity in Agriculture

Water Productivity in Agriculture
Author: J. W. Kijne
Publisher: CABI
Total Pages: 354
Release: 2003
Genre: Crops and water
ISBN: 1845933397

First title in a major new seriesAddresses improving water productivity to relieve problems of scarcity and competition to provide for food and environmental securityDraws from scientists having a multitude of disciplines to approach this important problemIn a large number of developing countries, policy makers and researchers are increasingly aware of the conflicting demands on water, and look at agriculture to be more effective in its use of water. Focusing on both irrigated and rain-fed agriculture, this book gives a state of the art review of the limits and opportunities for improving water productivity in crop production. It demonstrates how efficiency of water use can be enhanced to maximize yields. The book represents the first in a new series of volumes resulting from the Comprehensive Assessment of Water Management in Agriculture, a research program conducted by the CGIAR's Future Harvest Centres, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and partners worldwide. It will be of significant interest to those working in areas of soil and crop science, water management, irrigation, and development studies.

Rice Improvement

Rice Improvement
Author: Jauhar Ali
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 507
Release: 2021-05-05
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 3030665305

This book is open access under a CC BY 4.0 license. By 2050, human population is expected to reach 9.7 billion. The demand for increased food production needs to be met from ever reducing resources of land, water and other environmental constraints. Rice remains the staple food source for a majority of the global populations, but especially in Asia where ninety percent of rice is grown and consumed. Climate change continues to impose abiotic and biotic stresses that curtail rice quality and yields. Researchers have been challenged to provide innovative solutions to maintain, or even increase, rice production. Amongst them, the ‘green super rice’ breeding strategy has been successful for leading the development and release of multiple abiotic and biotic stress tolerant rice varieties. Recent advances in plant molecular biology and biotechnologies have led to the identification of stress responsive genes and signaling pathways, which open up new paradigms to augment rice productivity. Accordingly, transcription factors, protein kinases and enzymes for generating protective metabolites and proteins all contribute to an intricate network of events that guard and maintain cellular integrity. In addition, various quantitative trait loci associated with elevated stress tolerance have been cloned, resulting in the detection of novel genes for biotic and abiotic stress resistance. Mechanistic understanding of the genetic basis of traits, such as N and P use, is allowing rice researchers to engineer nutrient-efficient rice varieties, which would result in higher yields with lower inputs. Likewise, the research in micronutrients biosynthesis opens doors to genetic engineering of metabolic pathways to enhance micronutrients production. With third generation sequencing techniques on the horizon, exciting progress can be expected to vastly improve molecular markers for gene-trait associations forecast with increasing accuracy. This book emphasizes on the areas of rice science that attempt to overcome the foremost limitations in rice production. Our intention is to highlight research advances in the fields of physiology, molecular breeding and genetics, with a special focus on increasing productivity, improving biotic and abiotic stress tolerance and nutritional quality of rice.

White Gold: The Commercialisation of Rice Farming in the Lower Mekong Basin

White Gold: The Commercialisation of Rice Farming in the Lower Mekong Basin
Author: Rob Cramb
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 462
Release: 2020-01-03
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9811509980

This open access book is about understanding the processes involved in the transformation of smallholder rice farming in the Lower Mekong Basin from a low-yielding subsistence activity to one producing the surpluses needed for national self-sufficiency and a high-value export industry. For centuries, farmers in the Basin have regarded rice as “white gold”, reflecting its centrality to their food security and well-being. In the past four decades, rice has also become a commercial crop of great importance to Mekong farmers, augmenting but not replacing its role in securing their subsistence. This book is based on collaborative research to (a) compare the current situation and trajectories of rice farmers within and between different regions of the Lower Mekong, (b) explore the value chains linking rice farmers with new technologies and input and output markets within and across national borders, and (c) understand the changing role of government policies in facilitating the on-going evolution of commercial rice farming. An introductory section places the research in geographical and historical context. Four major sections deal in turn with studies of rice farming, value chains, and policies in Northeast Thailand, Central Laos, Southeastern Cambodia, and the Mekong Delta. The final section examines the implications for rice policy in the region as a whole.

Producing More Rice with Less Water from Irrigated Systems

Producing More Rice with Less Water from Irrigated Systems
Author: L.C. Guera, S.I. Bhuiyan, T.P. Tuong, R. Barker
Publisher: Int. Rice Res. Inst.
Total Pages: 18
Release: 1998
Genre:
ISBN: 9789712201080

This paper deals with issues of improving the efficiency and productivity of water for rice production on-farm and in the irrigation system.

The System of Rice Intensification

The System of Rice Intensification
Author: Norman Uphoff
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Total Pages: 222
Release: 2015-12-12
Genre:
ISBN: 9781515022053

The System of Rice Intensification, known as SRI, is a management strategy for crop improvement. Its ideas, insights and practices are based on scientifically validated knowledge for increasing the production of not only irrigated rice but of other crops as well. SRI represents a paradigm shift in agricultural thinking and practice toward agroecological farming that can be used by even the poorest smallholding farmers in ecologically fragile regions of the world to achieve food security in the face of the climate-change challenges ahead. When the author Norman Uphoff first learned about SRI in Madagascar in 1993, this production system which offered higher yields with reduced inputs seemed implausible to him. But the professor put aside his skepticism after seeing farmers who had been getting rice yields of just two tons per hectare produce four times more rice-for three years in a row-on their very poor soils, not changing their varieties or relying on agrochemical inputs, and using less water. Now, he's helping to disseminate this dramatically effective methodology with this accessible, easy-to-use sourcebook. It offers explanations, research references, vivid pictures, and concrete examples of the award-winning SRI methodology to anyone interested in the development of practicable sustainable food systems. Now, he's helping to disseminate this revolutionary methodology with this accessible, easy-to-use primer. It offers explanations, resources, and concrete examples of the award-winning SRI to anyone interested in the development of practicable sustainable food systems.

Rice in the Tropics

Rice in the Tropics
Author: Robert Flint Chandler
Publisher: Int. Rice Res. Inst.
Total Pages: 278
Release: 1979
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0891583629

The importance of rive as a world crops, and its principal characteristics. The modern rice plant and the new technology: Greater potentials for rice production in the tropics. Problems of postharvest technology. Rice marketing. Some successful rice production programs. Promising rice research. Elements of a successful accelerated rice production program. A national rice program: putting the ingredients together.