Rainfed Land Research Articles

Rental rates of grain land for consolidated plots and their determinants in present-day China

To promote its agricultural competitiveness, China must expand the scale of farming. Due to the country’s distinct land system, renting land is the main way to expand the scale of farming in China; however, a national supervision system of land rental rates has not been established. This study aims to investigate how much land rental rates are, how they vary regionally, and what factors impact them. The amount of rented farmland in China has increased steadily in recent years. In 2016, 35.1 percent of the national total farmland was recorded as being rented out, and land rental rates have been rapidly increasing. In the fourth quarter of 2017, rental prices for irrigated land and rain-fed land were 1763 and 1370 US dollars (Base year = 2014; 1 USD = 6.5 RMB), respectively. For farmers of large farms, rent has become the largest cost related to agricultural production. Rates in the main agricultural production regions and the regions around developed cities are significantly higher than those in other regions. Land quality, land area, land tenure, road access, grain prices and subsidies are important in explaining grain land rental rates. Unexpectedly, the rental prices for larger consolidated plots are lower than those for smaller consolidated plots, and a scarcity of funds may be the main cause of this pattern. We suggest that to actively promote agricultural scale management, China’s government should continue to improve agricultural infrastructure such as irrigation conditions and roads, secure land tenure, and stop intervening in market prices and subsidizing larger farms.

Technological Advancement and the Economic Benefit of Indonesian Rain-Fed Farming Development

The contribution of rain-fed farming to national food production in Indonesia has yet to be optimal. The major constraint has been limited water supply, where it relies exclusively on the rainfall, and hence its planting index (PI) is still low, on average only 1.05. The establishment of water management system to support rain-fed fields with the introduction of suitable cultivation techniques (gogo rancah, walik jerami, super jarwo, and ratoon paddy) is known to be effective in rain-fed farming. Further, the use of drought-tolerant paddy variety and changing cropping pattern to focus on paddy, maize, and soybean would potentially improve the food production capacity in Indonesia. This study has shown these interventions, when applied to the existing 4 million ha rain-fed fields, are estimated to increase annual rice production by 16.7 million tons. The production of maize and soybean is also expected to increase by 3.7 million tons and 0.98 million tons per year, respectively. It is beyond the scope of this study, however, to consider the actual benefit felt by rain-fed smallholder farmers. Future research with farmers as its focus and the capacity of Indonesian institutions toward rain-fed farming thus will contribute further to the rain-fed farming development in Indonesia. This article shares a strategy in maximising the contribution of the currently available 4 million hectares of rain-fed land to the national food production, and hence sustainable food self-sufficiency in Indonesia.

Measuring urbanization-occupation and internal conversion of peri-urban cultivated land to determine changes in the peri-urban agriculture of the black soil region

Structural change in peri-urban cultivated land is an effective indicator of variations in the human-land relationship and can be used to evaluate the development of peri-urban agriculture (PUA) under the pressure of rapid urbanization. However, urbanization-occupation and internal conversion, two of the primary changes in peri-urban cultivated land, have rarely been comparatively studied, especially not in an area characterized by uniform and persistent agricultural structure. Therefore, the present paper selected Changchun City in the black soil region of northeast China as a representative case, and performed land use change and spatial cluster analyses to measure changes in rainfed land, paddy land, irrigated land and orchards in the peri-urban area throughout a period of rapid urbanization (1996–2015). The results indicate that irrigated land and orchards were mainly distributed within urban-adjacent areas, and paradoxically showed an evident decrease in quantity across time. The urbanization-occupied cultivated lands revealed an imbalance in the loss and gain of peri-urban cultivated land following rapid urbanization that favors grain production. Meanwhile, the results concerning internal conversion indicate a relatively strong conversion from non-staple food production to grain production. The cultivated lands converted for grain production in the peri-urban area were mostly located at the urban fringe and positively associated with the urbanization-occupied cultivated lands. However, the cultivated lands that were converted for the production of non-staple food were relatively small-scale, sparsely distributed and located far from the central urban area. Nevertheless, both types of internal conversion were gradually overshadowed by the ever-increasing urbanization. Our study revealed an impaired local supply of non-staple food and an overall reduction in the diversified use of peri-urban cultivated lands in the black soil region. These findings suggest that the current structure of peri-urban cultivated land in the black soil region of northeast China may well be insufficient for supporting sustainable PUA development.

Characterizing the Enduring Nature of Dryland Agro-ecosystems: Irrigated and Rain-fed Land Uses in Chamo Sub Basin, Southern Ethiopia

Characterizing soils, land use and providing suggestion for sustainable utilization of land resources in the Ethiopian Rift valley flat plain areas of Lake Chamo Sub-Basin is essential. The objectives of this study were, therefore, to characterize land use constraints and to assess the status of organic matter, macro and micro-nutrients and soil salinity for planning appropriate land management. A systematic soil survey and field observations weremade to gather information on land uses. Physiognomic vegetation classification was done in accordance with the FAO classification system, i.e. annual croppings, perennial croppings, grazing land and natural forest. A total of 120 soil samples were randomly collected from different land uses, which were prepared into 12 composites and analyzed in Ethiopia Water Works Design and Supervision Enterprise Laboratory. Organic matter, nitrogen, base saturation, exchangeable (potassium, calcium and magnesium), and phosphorus contents were low in cultivated soils compared to natural forest. Soil salinity was observed in irrigated banana and cotton field soils compared to rain-fed agriculture. Clay, nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium contents were positively correlated with organic matter and electrical conductivity. Also soluble cations and anions were varied along different land uses. Also, organic matter, exchangeable (sodium, calcium), cation exchange capacity, phosphorus and micronutrient contentswere positively correlated with soluble salts and electrical conductivity.

GPIT那氏大穗玉米在雨养旱地的耐旱丰产性表现

GPIT那氏大穗玉米在雨养旱地的耐旱丰产性表现

Factors of influencing household production and welfare of corn farmers

This study aims to analyze (1) the effect of land area, cost of production, the number of working hours and labor to the production of corn farmers and on the welfare of farm households in Gerokgak District of Buleleng Regency (2) whether the production of corn farmers mediate land area, cost of production, the number of hours worked and labor for the welfare of corn farmers in Gerokgak District of Buleleng Regency. This research was conducted in fourteen villages in the Gerokgak District of Buleleng Regency, Bali Province. Bali has a dry rainfed land which has great potential to be cultivated into productive land, Gerokgak one of the Districts in Bali Province has the widest dry land planted with corn as a commodity suitable for dry land, but every year it decreases production thus affecting welfare. The method used in this research is descriptive quantitative. The population in this study were corn farmers in Gerokgak District, Buleleng Regency.

Detection of Neospora caninum (Toxoplasmatidae) in wild small mammals from Thailand.

The presence of Neospora caninum Dubey, Carpenter, Speer, Topper et Uggla, 1988 in small mammals (i.e. murid rodents, Erinaceomorpha, Eulipotyphla and Scadentia) was explored for first time in South-East Asia. A total of 192 individuals from six localities across Thailand were analysed. A general prevalence of N. caninum of 22% was observed, with some variation among localities (5-36%). Four main types of habitat were included and rodents trapped in dry-land habitat (17 positive among 41 individuals) were more likely to be infected with N. caninum than those from other habitats (forest, rain-fed land and settlement). Rodent species identity and individual rodent weight had no influence on individual infection. Our results provided the first data on the presence of N. caninum in rodents in South-East Asia and first report of N. caninum in the order Scadentia.

Organic Amendment and Fertilizer Effect on Soil Chemical Properties and Yield of Maize (Zea mays L.) in Rainfed Condition

Indonesia contributes 2 % of maize (Zea mays L.) production on the global scale, making it the sixth largest producer in the world. Maize is grown mainly (89 %) in rainfed areas. In agriculture management, rainfed areas have problems, such as lack of water and nutrient availability. This study aims to identify the role of organic amendments and NPK fertilizer in rainfed land management. The research was conducted in Karanganyar regency, Central Java, Indonesia, with an average temperature of 30 - 31 °C, relative humidity of 86 %, and rainfall around 2100 mm year-1. The experiment was carried out during May - August (dry season). The experiment consisted of 5 treatments: (i) control (CO); (ii) compost fertilizer (CF); (iii) straw mulch (MC); (iv) legume cover crop (CC), and (v) NPK fertilizer (AF), and was arranged in a randomized complete block design with 4 replicates. The results showed compost and mulch can increase soil organic carbon (62 and 9.8 %, respectively), organic matter (62 and 9.8 %, respectively), plant height, cob weight, and biomass (30 and 18 %, respectively). On the other hand, legume cover crops have an adverse effect on the growth and yield of maize, due to nutrient competition between them. NPK fertilizer treatment has the highest value for growth and yield of corn crop, at 179.6 cm and 83.4 g, respectively, followed by compost, mulch, control, and legume cover crop, because NPK fertilizer can supply all nutrients, which are easy for the plants to absorb. Treatment compost 20 t.ha-1 can give the same result as NPK fertilizer 15-15-15 200 kg.ha-1 in plant growth and production.

GIS Based Analysis of Agroclimate Land Suitability for Banana Plants in Bali Province, Indonesia

The need for bananas in Bali far exceeds the production. To obtain optimal production according to their genetic potential, the development of banana cultivation should be preceded by a land suitability evaluation study. This study aims to evaluate the land suitability based on agroecological parameters such as rainfall, altitude, dry month, slope, and considering current land use. The results showed that 257.467 ha or 46.16% of the area of Bali Province has the potential to be planted with bananas. Buleleng Regency has the widest area for the development of banana plants, followed by Karangasem, Tabanan, Jembrana and Bangli. Denpasar town has the smallest suitable area. Based on the observed agroclimate parameters, slope is the most severe limiting factor in banana cultivation, while rainfall, altitude, and dry months are not significant limiting factors. Recommended land use for the development of banana plants is garden, grass, rain-fed rice field, scrub, bare land, and moor.

Conservation tillage increases carbon sequestration of winter wheat-summer maize farmland on Loess Plateau in China.

The idea of mitigating anthropogenic CO2 emissions by increasing soil organic carbon (SOC) is notable. However, the estimation of the net ecosystem carbon balance after conversion from conventional tillage to conservational tillage has been poorly quantified for the Loess Plateau in China. A 2-year field experiment was conducted to estimate the agroecosystem carbon balance of a winter wheat–summer maize rotation system using a full carbon cycle analysis. The results showed that a positive net ecosystem carbon balance value in the cases of rotary tillage with straw incorporation, chisel plow tillage with straw incorporation, and no tillage with straw mulching treatments. Note that a negative value was detected for the conventional moldboard plowing tillage without crop straw treatment. The conversion from conventional tillage to conservational tillage substantially enhanced the carbon sink potential from 0.84 t C ha−1 yr−1 to 2.69 t C ha−1 yr−1 in both years. Our findings suggest that the expansion of conservational tillage could enhance the potential carbon sink of the rain-fed land in China.

Suitability mapping framework for solar photovoltaic pumps for smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa

As solar panels become more affordable, solar photovoltaic (PV) pumps have been identified as a high potential water-lifting technology to meet the growing irrigation demand in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). However, little is known about the geo-spatial potential of solar-based PV pumping for irrigation taking into account not only solar radiation but also the availability of water resources and linkage to markets. This study developed a suitability framework using multi-criteria analysis in an open source geographic information system (GIS) environment and tested it in the case of Ethiopia. The accessibility of water resources was the driving factor for different scenarios. Suitability results following the groundwater scenarios showed good agreement with the available referenced well depth data. Comparing the suitability maps with available land use data showed that on average 9% (96 103 ha) of Ethiopian irrigated and 18% (3,739 103 ha) of rainfed land would be suitable for solar PV pump irrigation. Furthermore, small solar PV pumps could be an alternative water-lifting technology for 11% of the current and future small motorized hydrocarbon fuel pumps on smallholder farms (2,166 103 ha). Depending on the technical pump capacity, between 155 103 ha and 204 103 ha of land would be suitable for solar PV pumps and provide smallholder farmers with the option to either pump from small reservoirs or shallow groundwater. With the ongoing interest in development for smallholder irrigation, the application of this model will help to upscale solar PV pumps for smallholder farmers in SSA as a climate-smart technology in an integrated manner.

Study of the Effects of Two Crop Systems and Best Management Practices on Soil and Water Conservation in Tunisian Semi-arid Area

In Tunisia, water erosion is one of the most important processes affecting around 25% of arable land, generating a potential loss of soil productivity due to a decrease of hydraulically and chemical stocks. To control water erosion on lands of average slopes (less than 10%) best management practices (crop rotation, organic fertilization, etc.) have to be developed especially in Tunisian semiarid area, where rainfall irregularity and aggressivity enhance water erosion. Thus, conservative techniques for soil and water protection are required and have to be implemented at the level of the agricultural parcel to maintain or improve the productive potential of soils on average slopes in rain-fed lands, located in Tunisian semi arid area. In this context the article is presented. It is a synthesis of some experimental works on plots of 1 to 4 m2 in the experimental field station of the ESA Mograne, for the study of the effects of different kinds of crop-rotation (fallow long duration- chick pea) and organic fertilizers (row olive mills waste water) on the fertility of the soil and its potential yield. Results showed that long fallow-chickpea rotation and use of 50 m3/ha of row olive mills waste water improve soil fertility (water retention and C/N). This improvement in water and soil chemical properties increases the components of performance of chickpea (rate of dry matter) and weight of 1000 grains and plant biodiversity for 50 m3/ha spreading of row olive mills waste water. These results can be valued for the development of strips crops on average slope lands in Tunisian semiarid area for soil and water conservation.

The interrelationship of households economics activities of upland rice farmers in rain-fed farming in Ponjong Sub-district, Gunungkidul District, Indonesia

Gunungkidul is one of the regencies at Yogyakarta, Indonesia which is 90% occupied by dry land, and thus vulnerable to climate change impact. Since dryland relies on water only from rain to meet crop water requirement, part of land management is rainfed. This condition encourages farmers to make the right decision regarding their additional income to meet household needs. Under the limited land resources, farmers decided to plant upland rice once or twice a year. The aim of the study is to analyze the interrelationship of households economics activities of upland rice farmers in rain-fed farming based on production, labor allocation, and consumption. The research method is descriptive analysis, with research site Ponjong sub-district, determined by the purposive method. Sampling method using proportional random sampling. Economics model was determined by using simultaneous equation model, with 2 SLS estimation method. The results showed that the household economics model of upland rice farmers in the rainfed land can be explained by using farmers household model and there is a linkage between production, labor allocation, and consumption.

Growth and yield of patchouli (Pogostemon cablin, Benth) due to mulching and method of fertilizer on rain-fed land

The drought stress that occurs during growth results in a drastic reduction in growth and yield. This study was aimed to study the effect of mulching and method of fertilizer application in reducing the impact of drought stress on patchouli plants. The experiment was conducted from July to December 2016 using a split plot design into three replications with two treatment factors. The first factor was mulch factor with three levels, i.e. M0 (without mulch), M1 (rice straw mulch) and M2 (silver black plastic mulch). The second factor was the method of fertilizer application consisting of three stages: C1 (once), C2 (twice), C3 (three times). The parameters included plant height, number of branches, number of leaves, root length, wet weight of plant, root canopy ratio, total of chlorophyll, soil temperature and soil moisture content. The results showed the use of straw mulch reduce the impact of drought stress on patchouli plants. Two times fertilizer application gave better growth and yield. The use of straw mulch produced lower temperature degrees and maintained soil moisture content.

Effects of converting forest to the rainfed lands on soil characteristics in a part of Zagros forests

The forest soils are the key parts of the Earth system that are globally degraded through anthrop induced deforestation, mainly converting to other landuses. The present study was conducted in Gazafolya village located in Merek watershed, Kermanshah, Iran, in which the soil quality of the forest and converted forest (rainfed lands) with the same topographic and geologic conditions were compared. To achieve the study purposes, soil sampling was carried out from the surface soil layers (0-20 cm) at the forest and its adjacent rainfed lands and analyzed in the lab. The data were described and geo-statistically analyzed using the SAS and GS+ softwares. The findings showed that there is no significant difference between soil fractions (sand, silt and clay) in two studied land uses. Bulk density (BD) in the forest and rainfed lands were 1.26and 1.32 gr-1cm-3 respectively, indicating significant (p<0.5%) higher level in the rainfed lands. Soil aggregate stability (SA) in the forest and rainfed lands were 63.62 and 52.65 %, respectively showing significant (p<0.5%) lower value in the rainfed lands mainly due to tillage practice. The results also showed that there were no significant differences between soil pH in forest and rainfed lands. It turns out that AS and BD were more imposed by converting forest to rainfed lands compared to the other soil characteristics.

Penampilan Agronomis dan Pendugaan Parameter Genetik 100 Galur Padi Generasi Lanjut pada Kondisi Cekaman Kekeringan

The condition of rice field without any irrigation is one of the problems in the rainfed land. This rice field only relies on the existence of water during the rainy day. This causes the limitation of water availability which affect plant growth. This study aimed to know the performance of the rice advance lines, estimated the value of genetic parameters and obtains the best line on drought condition. As many as 100 advance lines (&gt; F8) for drought tolerant were tested using Augmented Design in five blocks. A total of six-check varieties were included in the experiment. The research was conducted at Dry Season of 2015 in ICRR-Sukamandi Experimental Field. The result showed that on the drought condition gained the average value for plant height as 103,44 cm, number of productive tillers as 12 tillers, percentage of filling pine grains reached 60,46%, leaf color index as 39,37, and weight of 1.000 grains averaged as 26,34 g, while weight grain per 5 clumps as 166,34 g. Yield trait was converted to hectares as 3,77 t ha-1 in drought conidition. Almost all characters had wide variability, high heritability values and high percentage of expected genetic advance except the number of filling grains per panicle trait. Lines BP17572c-SBY-1-CRB-2-SKI-1-3-PWK-2, ZX115-SKI-0-IND-2-SKI-1-PWK-2, BP30104e, BP17572c-SBY-1-CRB-2 -SKI-1-4-PWK-2, and BP17554-1c-SBY-1-CRB-8-SKI-1-6-PWK-2 provided the best performance with higher yield potential than the best check i.e. Inpari 13. There are ten promising lines which can be continued to the preliminary test for the assembly of rainfed rice varieties

Assessment of energy consumption and modeling of output energy for wheat production by neural network (MLP and RBF) and Gaussian process regression (GPR) models

The objective of this study was to predict the irrigated and rainfed wheat output energy with three soft computing models include Artificial Neural Network (MLP and RBF models) and Gaussian Process Regression (GPR) for the first time, in Shahreza city, Isfahan province, Iran. Data were collected from an extensive research on wheat farms, including 120 irrigated and 90 rainfed wheat farms (totally 210 questionnares) at three levels (small: < 2ha, medium: 2–4 ha and large: > 4ha) using with face to face questionnaire method. Results of energy analysis showed that diesel fuel was the most influential factor on energy consumption in irrigated wheat production and also for medium and large lands of rainfed wheat production, but for small rainfed lands, total of fertilizers and poisons had the highest impact on total energy consumption. Results of output modeling showed that ANN-RBF model is more accurate than MLP-ANN and GPR models. RMSE and MAPE for irrigated and rainfed output modeling for ANN- RBF were 63.12–72.30 MJ and 0.05–0.14%, respectively. The results of selecting the best spread factor (one of the best parameters on RBF model performance) showed that for irrigated wheat with LM algorithm and at training phase (irrigated-LM-training) and irrigated wheat with BR algorithm and at training phase (irrigated-BR-training), this factor is equal to 7 and 4, respectively. The ANN-RBF model developed was capable of predicting irrigated and rainfed wheat output energy under different land size and using input energies.

Consequences of Seed Priming with Salicylic Acid and Hydro Priming on Smooth Vetch Seedling Growth under Water Deficiency

Due to low rainfall at early autumn, smooth vetch seedling growth in rain-fed lands often is limited by water deficit stress yet the data regarding the reactions of smooth vetch to water deficit at early growth stages are pretty rare. The objective of current study was to examine possibility of using priming treatments (hydro priming and priming salicylic acid) to alleviate the inhibitory effect of water deficiency during early growth of Smooth Vetch. In this respect, seeds were soaked in distilled water (hydro priming) or 0.5 mM solution of SA for 36 h at 10 °C then dried back to original moisture content. Pots were irrigated for 25 days at four levels of available water containing field capacity (FC), 75% FC, 50% FC and 25% FC. In general, seedling emergence and early growth were markedly limited by increasing water deficiency. However, priming treatments particularly with SA caused considerable improvement in either emergence or growth of seedlings (dry weight, length). The obtained results showed that primed samples exhibited higher accumulation of proline, glycine betaine (GB) under all levels of available water except 100% FC and also higher total soluble sugars (TSS) and trehalose under severe water deficit (25% FC). SA primed samples had higher relative water content especially under higher levels of water deficiency. The more balanced water status within SA primed samples also was accompanied with higher accumulation of proline and glycine betaine. There were significant differences between two priming treatments in terms of proline and GB content within seedlings and SA priming considerably increased proline and GB accumulation. In contrast to proline and GB, TSS and trehalose content wasn’t influenced by SA treatment and both hydro and SA primed samples showed statistically similar quantities.

Adaptation of land management in the Mediterranean under scenarios of irrigation water use and availability

Meeting the growing demand for food in the future will require adaptation of water and land management to future conditions. We studied the extent of different adaptation options to future global change in the Mediterranean region, under scenarios of water use and availability. We focused on the most significant adaptation options for semiarid regions: implementing irrigation, changes to cropland intensity, and diversification of cropland activities. We used Conversion of Land Use on Mondial Scale (CLUMondo), a global land system model, to simulate future change to land use and land cover, and land management. To take into account future global change, we followed global outlooks for future population and climate change, and crop and livestock demand. The results indicate that the level of irrigation efficiency improvement is an important determinant of potential changes in the intensity of rain-fed land systems. No or low irrigation efficiency improvements lead to a reduction in irrigated areas, accompanied with intensification and expansion of rain-fed cropping systems. When reducing water withdrawal, total crop production in intensive rain-fed systems would need to increase significantly: by 130% without improving the irrigation efficiency in irrigated systems and by 53% under conditions of the highest possible efficiency improvement. In all scenarios, traditional Mediterranean multifunctional land systems continue to play a significant role in food production, especially in hosting livestock. Our results indicate that significant improvements to irrigation efficiency with simultaneous increase in cropland productivity are needed to satisfy future demands for food in the region. The approach can be transferred to other similar regions with strong resource limitations in terms of land and water.

Use of geoinformation and neurotechnology to assess and to forecast the humus content variations in the steppe soils

This paper reports the results obtained using the systemic basin approach, geoinformation, and neurotechnology for modeling and forecasting of the humus spatial inhomogeneity and content variations in the steppe and dry steppe zones (Kherson oblast, Ukraine). The general trend of such variations has been determined in the 0–40 cm layer for 42 years. The intensive use of irrigation and drainage activities in 1970–1989 resulted in a significant humus depletion by 0.36% on average (from 2.56% to 2.2%). The analysis in 4450 observation points has yielded a decrease in the variability, the rising polynomial dependence of the humus enrichment from the west to the east, and the logarithmic dependence from the south to the north. The neurotechnological modeling has made it possible to develop the artificial neural network for the spatiotemporal modeling of the humus content in the soils. The humus is predicted to be subject to the irreversible process of gradual depletion in the 0–40 layer until 2025 upon the use of the existing agrotechnologies: rainfed land by 0.01%/year and irrigated land by 0.03%/year. This result defines the territorial priorities of the regional policy and suggests the differentiated efficiency evaluation of the soil-protective unit of the farming systems.