Challenges in Adoption of Water Saving Technologies

Rice Partners (Pvt.) Limited (RPL) was established in 2011 in Muridke to set new trends in paddy procurement and rice export. It is a social impact business that works with hundreds of growers of basmati rice in Pakistan, to provide them with best crop production practices and support in increasing their yields and livelihoods through its unique Program-Contractual Rice Farming Program. RPL directly procures basmati paddy from its registered growers and processes that paddy into high quality basmati rice, ready for export and consumption in global markets. Rice Partners works closely with MARS Food (www.mars.com), a major global food company, and makers of Uncle Ben’s ? Rice. MARS Food has provided strong support to our network of contractual farmers and demonstrated dedication to sustainable rice sourcing over several years. Rice Partners also works closely with the International Rice Research Institute (www.irri.org), in providing regular and direct assistance to basmati farmers

Growing rice in continuously flooded fields has been taken for granted for centuries, but the “looming water crisis” may change the way rice is produced in the future. Water-saving irrigation technologies that were investigated like AWD and  receiving renewed attention by researchers .The basic ingredients of implementing these technologies seem to be in place. But so far, except for China the adoption of these technologies has been slow. The challenge is to identify the environmental and socio-economic conditions that encourage farmers to adopt them. In this respect, our research is far from complete. We can, however, identify important factors that affect the farmers’ acceptance of water saving technologies.

Unlike fertilizers and pesticides, water is generally not actively traded on markets in Asia, and government-administered fees for irrigation water are often low or zero. This discourages farmers from treating water as a scarce resource. Farmers have no incentive to adopt water-saving technologies because water conservation does not reduce the farming expenditures nor does it increase income. It can be expected that when water becomes a real economic goods, farmers are more inclined to adopt water-saving technologies. There is evidence that farmers in Asia that are confronted with high costs of water already adopt such technologies. In China, where farmers are charged by the volume of water they use, various forms of AWD and reduced floodwater depths have been widely adopted. Farmers in north-central India that operate pumps to irrigate their fields, consciously apply some form of AWD to save pumping costs. Experiences in Australia also show that water trading, by which farmers can sell their water rights to others, encourages farmers to adopt water-conservation measures. Water-saving technologies that improve productivity and income will be easily accepted by farmers.

 Dry seeding is widely practiced in drought-prone rain fed systems because of its ability to increase rice yield and its stability and cropping intensity. In irrigated systems, however, water-saving technologies are mostly associated with some reduction in yield. Technologies that save water for rice and increase productivity of a post-rice crop will be more acceptable to farmers. The prospect of raised bed to increase the total system productivity of the rice-wheat system opens up opportunities to save water. Similarly, farmers may accept dry-seeding technologies in irrigated system to reduce the labor cost of transplanting and wet land preparation. All water-saving technologies, from Laser Leveling , AWD technology & dry seeding(DSR), reduce water depth and expose rice fields to periods without standing water. Poor leveling of rice fields is common in Asia, leading to heterogeneity in the depth of standing water. This will result in a more competitive and diverse weed flora than in rice under conventional water management. On-farm research has shown that precise land leveling can improve the establishment of direct-seeded rice and increase water productivity. Improving farmers’ knowledge on improved (integrated) weed management will enhance their acceptance of water-saving technologies.

Suitable policies, institutional organization and legislation are needed to promote the adoption of water-saving technologies. The establishment of water user groups and the implementation of volumetric water charging may be the most important elements behind the successful adoption of AWD in China. New laws prohibiting flooded rice cultivation in parts of Shandong province and around Beijing is expected to increase farmer’s interest in aerobic rice cultivation.

Soil submergence is a unique feature of irrigated lowland rice ecosystems. Lowlands producing two or three rice crops per year on submerged soils are highly sustainable, as indicated by sustained nutrient supply capacity, sustained soil carbon levels, and sustained trends in rice yields. However, the continuous submergence of soil promotes the production of methane, an important greenhouse gas, by the anaerobic decomposition of organic matter. Temporary soil aeration, such as under AWD, can reduce methane emission (GHG). Prolonged aeration of soil, such as in aerobic rice, can even reduce methane emission further. Soil aeration, on the other hand, can increase the emission of nitrous oxide, another greenhouse gas. Emissions of methane and nitrous oxide are strongly related to the soil redox potential, a measure of soil oxidation status. It is suggested that both methane and nitrous oxide emissions could be minimized by maintaining the soil redox potential within a range of –100 to +200 mV. An important research area is to assess whether water-saving technologies can achieve such an intermediate soil redox potential.

Increased soil aeration under AWD and in aerobic rice will also affect the soil organic matter status and the soil nutrient supply capacity. It could also pose challenges for managing crop residues. The more competitive weed flora associated with water-saving technologies may require a greater reliance on herbicides, which challenges environmental sustainability. Critical issues for water-saving technologies may include how much water and how frequent soil submergence is required for sustaining the productivity and services of rice ecosystems. The impact of on-farm water saving on the role of water in sustaining the environmental health warrants further investigation. In many basins, the drainage and percolation outflows from rice fields return to the lower reaches of the rivers. They play an important environmental role in sustaining the fresh – saline water balance in estuaries. Reducing the outflows may results in increased salinity intrusion.