Abstract
Massive extraction of groundwater for boro rice is the main cause of declining groundwater tables, especially in Rangpur Division, which is now a burning issue at the national level. It is now scientifically proven that rice is not a water-loving plant, but rather a water-tolerant plant. AWD can save water and energy, where both farmers and pump-owners can save around 30% of their irrigation water requirements. In Bangladesh around 4.8 million hectares of land are brought under irrigated boro rice where AWD technology can be utilized. With introduction of AWD technology, a savings of electricity costs equivalent to 5 billion Tk. or fuel cost equivalent to 7 billion Tk. will be incurred at the national level. Hence, the implementation of AWD technology will have major impacts at the farm and national levels, which can reduce irrigation cost significantly, thus saving foreign currency, as well as reducing excessive use of ground water.J. Bangladesh Agril. Univ. 16(1): 1-4, April 2018
Highlights
In Bangladesh, rice is the staple food, where three rice growing seasons are existing; the “aus” in early monsoon season, “aman” during the monsoon and “boro” in the dry season
The number of irrigations was reduced significantly (30%) and the corresponding irrigation cost was reduced by 35%, the benefits went to the pump owners due to the fixed-rate arrangement system between pump owner and farmers set at the beginning of the season
These studies showed that, in AWD-herbicide system, both farmers and pump owners were in a win-win situation, as both are getting higher benefits compared with the traditional irrigation system as well as with the AWD system with hand weeding
Summary
In Bangladesh, rice is the staple food, where three rice growing seasons are existing; the “aus” in early monsoon season, “aman” during the monsoon and “boro” in the dry season. Due to the introduction of Shallow Tube Well (STW), the boro rice cultivation in Bangladesh increased from 9% of the total rice area in the country in 1966–67 to 60% in 2010. This expansion required massive use of irrigation water, causing ground water tables to decline in northern Bangladesh at the rate of 4 cm per year, and water scarcity is increasing. Farmers are paying around 30% of the total rice production cost for irrigation purposes in northern Bangladesh. Irrigated rice does not necessarily require this amount of water (Kurschner et al, 2010)
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