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The adoption of laser land leveler technology and its impact on groundwater use in irrigated farmland in Punjab, Pakistan
Abstract
This paper investigates the factors that influence the adoption of laser land leveler and its impact on groundwater usage in the Punjab province of Pakistan. A farm household survey of 504 agriculture producers was conducted in 2019. A discrete‐time duration model is used to investigate factors influencing the speed of adoption and an endogenous switching regression (ESR) model is used to evaluate its impact on groundwater usage. About 70% of the surveyed households adopted the technology, and the average time to adoption was 9 years. Key factors accelerating the speed of adoption include strong legal land rights, access to information about the technology, and exposure to the technology. In contrast, long distance to rental market deaccelerates the speed of adoption. The adoption of laser land leveler reduced groundwater use by about 23%. The results imply that institutional arrangements, such as improving access to extension services, exposure to innovation, and legal land rights, can enhance the adoption and diffusion of the technology and conserve groundwater.
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Soil degradation due to erosion, which emanates from improper land management, has been one of major challenges affecting agricultural production and food security. To control soil erosion, soil and water conservation (SWC) measures including soil and stone bunds have been developed and adopted. However, little is known on the impacts of SWC techniques in Africa. Objective of this study was to assess soil erosion and analyze effect of physical SWC measures on cropland productivity. Data were collected using focus group discussion, key informant interview and survey of 169 farm households (122 adopters and 47 non-adopters of physical SWC). Farmers were responded on soil erosion (rill and gully) and its impacts, long existed indigenous erosion mitigation measures as well as effects of introduced physical SWC techniques such as soil and stone bunds. Descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression model were used to analyze data. Based on visible erosion features such as rills and gullies, about 92% of respondents indicated that soil erosion is a major problem on cultivated land, where 64% of the farmers abandoned part of their plot due to exhausted soil fertility and gully development. About 97% of the farmers perceived that soil erosion reduces crop production. Traditional drainage ditch, grass strip and contour furrow are common indigenous SWC measures. More than 86% of the respondents believe that the introduced physical SWC measures (e.g., bunds) reduce erosion and improve crop production. Family size, participation in technical training, access to extension service, the perceived land tenure security, slope of the plot, and perceived severity of erosion had significant (p
CONTEXT: A host of best water and soil management practices (BMPs) hold promise in addressing water scarcity
and land degradation to enable sustainable crop intensification in smallholder farming systems.
OBJECTIVE
This study quantifies the effect of BMPs on crop productivity, income, water saving and water balance components
and identifies gaps for future research.
METHODS: This paper synthesizes the performance of BMPs and the existing data gap by reviewing 108 published
studies from the Indian subcontinent which capture a diverse range of rainfall and cropping systems.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: In situ conservation measures helped enhance crop yields by 200–1000 kg/ha,
reduced cost of cultivation and enhanced incomes by US$ 10–200/ha/year. The BMPs were helpful in enabling
annual water saving in the range of 50 mm to 300 mm by either conserving residual soil moisture or saving
irrigation water resulting in enhanced water productivity
Purpose
Laser land leveling (LLL) is a climate-smart technology that improves water use efficiency and reduces risk in crop cultivation due to weather variability. Hence, this technology is useful for cultivating water-intensive crops in a sustainable way. Given this background, the state government of Karnataka initiated to promote LLL in drought-prone districts and selected Raichur district for implementation. Moreover, farmers in this district had observed drought situation during monsoon paddy growing season in 2018. Therefore, this study attempts to investigate the importance of LLL technology for paddy cultivation under drought conditions.
Design/methodology/approach
A primary survey with 604 farmer households had been conducted in Raichur in 2018. Among them, 50% are adopters of LLL who have been selected purposively and rest 50% are non-adopters who have grown paddy in the adjacent or nearest plot of the laser-leveled plot. The adoption and causal impact of LLL has been estimated using propensity score matching, coarsened exact matching and endogenous switching regression methods.
Findings
The result reveals a positive and significant impact of LLL on paddy yield and net returns to the farmers. The results indicate an increment of 12 and 16% in rice yield and net income, respectively, for LLL adopters in comparison to the non-adopters of LLL.
Research limitations/implications
The major limitation of the study is that it does not adopt the method of experimental study due to certain limitations; hence, the authors employed a quasi-experimental method to look at the possible impact of adoption of LL.
Originality/value
There have been various agronomic studies focusing on the ex-ante assessment of the LLL. This study is an ex-post assessment of the technology on the crop yield and farmers' income in a dry semi-arid region of India, which, according to the authors, is the first in this approach.
An extension bulletin was compiled in order to emphasize importance of water saving in agriculture by making use of laser land leveller by the farmers .
The new technologies of surface irrigation require the adoption of effective Laser-controlled precision land levelling (PLL) to reach the high irrigation performance standards, with significant benefits on water saving, salinity control, crop productivity, and farmer’s income. This study aimed to assess the performance and the impacts of PLL on surface irrigation systems, focusing the maize crop on the irrigation districts Hetao (China) and Lower-Mondego (Portugal). The experimental study at field scale assessed the PLL and evaluated the on-farm irrigation under precise levelled fields and well management practices. PLL operators have been inquired to improve the knowledge about hiring services. The design of surface irrigation scenarios allowed to explain the effects of field size and slope on irrigation and land levelling performance. The best practice to manage the PLL maintenance is an important issue to guarantee a high effectiveness of irrigation performance. The optimization of PLL appeals the application of best soil tillage practices and the monitoring of soil surface elevations with newest information technologies. Efficient operational guidelines to support the PLL planning, schedule, and operation, well trained operators and carefully adjusted equipment, are key factors to the improvement.
Application of technologies has an important role in agricultural development. Identifying and assessing the impacts of agricultural technologies is necessary. This study aimed at assessing the impacts of laser levelling economically, socially, environmentally, and technically in the viewpoint of the agricultural experts and identifying factors determining their perception of the impacts. The study samples (151 experts) were selected using multi-stage random sampling in Fars Province, Iran. The results revealed that experts considered uniform distribution of water, using conservation tillage, facilitating agricultural activities, decreased water consumption and decrease of water wasting as the most important technical impacts of laser levelling technology. The most environmentally important impacts were the decrease of soil erosion and retention of crop residues. Experts stated the most significant social impacts as improvement in villages living conditions and sense of belonging to rural areas. Besides, an increase of income and reduction of inputs costs were among the economic impacts of laser levelling technology. According to the results, attitude towards water and soil resources conservation and environmental beliefs had the highest direct effect on individual perception toward impacts. Practical recommendations have been presented based on the results of the study.
Background
Impact assessment is an important process that helps the policy makers to understand the consequences of possible and actual government interventions. Assessing the impacts and consequences is considered as applicable means for policy makers and planners of projects, since not only it measures and presents the plans’ developments, but also for determining their impacts on the target group. Therefore, the purpose of this paper was to assess the impacts of laser-land-leveling technology in Iran, comparing the impacts among two groups of farmers adopting traditional-leveling and laser-land-leveling projects and identifying factors influencing perception regarding laser-land-leveling technology impacts.
Methodology
The research draws on a mixed-methods approach, which includes two distinct research phases. First, 375 farmers were selected using survey based on stratified random sampling for quantitative part. Twenty-Seven farmers were also interviewed in the qualitative phase.
Results
The most important impacts of laser-land leveling were uniform germination of the crop, uniform distribution of water, decrease of soil erosion, increasing positive competition, and increasing net income. In addition, the results revealed that adopters of laser-land leveling expressed more impacts than another group.
Conclusions
Attitude towards water and soil resources’ conservation was the most important variable to predict the impacts’ perception among traditional-leveling adopters. It is necessary to officials to increase the information of farmers regarding different consequences of the project and contributing them to make proper decisions for farm management.
Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) has a significant role to play in reducing the gender gap in labor burden for women in agriculture. A targeted approach to address this gap can be useful in developing a women-responsive climatic risk management plan focused on reducing their labor burden in agriculture, especially in areas with high climate risks. The paper therefore presents a top–down approach to identify potential labor-saving CSA technologies for women farmers in areas facing high climate risks. It involves mapping women in agriculture, climate risks, and poverty hotspots and entails understanding the role of women in agricultural activities to identify the suitable CSA options for reducing the levels of labor drudgery. The study is illustrated for Nepal where feminization of agriculture is rapidly increasing, a high level of climatic risks persists, and adaptive capacity to climate change is very low, especially among women in agriculture. Results are presented for two hotspot districts, Rupandehi and Chitwan. Household socioeconomic characteristics were found to play a major role in women’s labor contribution in different crop production activities. Discussions with farmers provided a list of more than 15 CSA interventions with labor reduction as well as yield-improving potential. Accordingly, considering the local crop, agro-climate, and social conditions, and women’s participation in different agricultural activities, CSA technologies and practices such as direct seeded rice (zero tillage and low tillage using machine), green manuring (GM), laser land leveling (LLL), and system of rice intensification (SRI) were found to potentially reduce women’s drudgery in agriculture along with improvement in productivity and farm income.
It is widely recognized that soil salinity has increased over time. It is also triggered with the impact of climate change. For sustainable management of soil salinity, it is essential to diagnose it properly prior to take proper intervention measures. In this chapter soil salinity (dryland and secondary) and sodicity concepts have been introduced to make it easier for readers. A hypothetical soil salinity development cycle has been presented. Causes of soil salinization and its damages, socio-economic and environmental impacts, and visual indicators of soil salinization and sodicity have been reported. A new relationship between ECe (mS/cm) and total soluble salts (meq/l) established on UAE soils has been reported which is different to that established by US Salinity Laboratory Staff in the year 1954, suggesting the latter is specific to US soils, therefore, other countries should establish similar relationships based on their local conditions. Procedures for field assessment of soil salinity and sodicity are described and factors to convert EC of different soil:water (1:1, 1:2.5 & 1:5) suspensions to ECe from different regions are tabulated and hence providing useful information to those adopting such procedures. Diversified salinity assessment, mapping and monitoring methods, such as conventional (field and laboratory) and modern (electromagnetic-EM38, optical-thin section and electron microscopy, geostatistics-kriging, remote sensing and GIS, automatic dynamics salinity logging system) have been used and results are reported providing comprehensive information for selection of suitable methods by potential users. Globally accepted soil salinity classification systems such as US Salinity Lab Staff and FAO-UNESCO have been included.
Low and slow adoption of improved agricultural technologies among smallholders often frustrate technology development and promotion efforts in the developing world. That is especially true for technologies requiring high initial investment. This study investigates how increasing farmers' awareness and exposure to new agricultural technologies through the creation of systematic linkages in the research-to-development continuum affect adoption. The double hurdle and duration analysis models were applied to a sample of 820 smallholder households producing wheat and barley in Syria. The results show that increasing exposure and awareness of the zero tillage technology through organized field days and demonstration trials, complemented with providing free access to costly zero tillage seeders for first-time users, increases the propensity, speed, and intensity of adoption. The intensity of adoption is also positively influenced by wheat acreage and farmers' access to credit. The findings of this study highlight the importance of facilitating farmers' initial exposure and ease of trying out new agricultural technologies, especially those requiring high initial investment, at low or no cost in ensuring fast and large-scale adoption.
Traditional irrigation practices, low crop productivity, unlevelled fields, water losses taking place during conveyance and application phases, as well as low irrigation efficiencies are the main problems of the common farmers in Pakistan. These problems are more noticeable in the command area of Lower Chenab Canal (LCC), which is the main portion of the Indus Basin Project in Pakistan. To overcome these problems, different water management technologies such as precision land levelling (PLL), bed planting, drip irrigation systems, and watercourse improvement were introduced to farmers to increase water savings and crop yields in the area of five distributaries—Khurrianwala, Shahkot, Mungi, Khikhi, Killianwala and Dijkot—during the cropping seasons of 2008 to 2015. The use of drip irrigation resulted in savings of water and fertilizer and increased the crop yields by 30–40%. Three watercourses, one on each site of 1200 m in length, were lined, which resulted in improved conveyance efficiency of 15–20%. If wheat, rice and cotton in the command area of LCC are sown on precisely levelled fields and on beds, then about 2768.1 million m3 and 3699.3 million m3 of irrigation water can be saved. These results show the potential of water-efficient technologies for saving water as well as increasing crop yields.
The 2015 drought in the Indo-Gangetic Plain posed new challenges related to food and water security and affected the lives of millions. All-India monsoon rainfall in 2015 was the 10th driest year on record (1906-2015) with a deficit of 14.5%, and the Indo-Gangetic Plain witnessed a rainfall deficit of 25.8% (3rd rank event). Drought severity was amplified by deficits from the previous years in the Indo-Gangetic Plain and other parts of India. The Indo-Gangetic Plain faced a two-year cumulative deficit of 51% and the drought of 2014-15 was unprecedented with a return period of 542 years. The GRACE data showed the occurrence of consecutive negative terrestrial water storage and groundwater anomalies in 2014 and 2015, mainly centered over the Indo-Gangetic Plain region. Notwithstanding uncertainty in future projections, the multi-year droughts in the same regions can pose challenges for water resources and agriculture.
Precision agriculture–based resource-conserving technologies (RCTs) in their version of laser-assisted land leveling, introduced at the farm level in the Western Uttar Pradesh of India in 2001, could examine the many issues of the intensive irrigated rice-wheat system. An attempted was made to study the potential benefits and impact of laser-assisted precision land leveling (PLL) in various crops and cropping systems under different agroecologies throughfarmers participatory researcher-managed on-farm trials. Under on-farm trials conducted in the Western Uttar Pradesh, it was found that PLL enhanced RW system productivity by 10%,with water savings of 22%. Land Leveling is one of the few mechanical inputs in intensively irrigated farming that meets the objective of achieving better crop stand, saving irrigation water and improving the use efficiency of inputs. In recent year considerable efforts have gone in developing and promoting resource conservation technology (RCTs) i.e. Zero tillage, bed planting etc. The performance of RCTs can be greatly enhanced through final land leveling.These studies suggest that, to sustain the intensive irrigated systems in general and the RW system of the Western Uttar Pradesh in particular, the integration of laser-assisted precision land leveling with other RCT s could be a viable option. However, the long-term effects of these alternative technologies need to be studied under varying agroecologies.
The review question
Under what circumstances and conditions does adoption of technology result in increased agricultural productivity?
Who wants to know and why?
New technology that enables sustainable and profitable production of food and fibre is critical for both food security and economic development. Whether framed in terms of modernisation, productivity enhancement, poverty reduction, social protection, environmental protection or adaptation to climate change, technical change is at the heart of most agricultural policy, programmes and projects. From a development perspective, a nagging question is why the benefits of new agricultural technology often appear to by-pass poorer farmers – even when they are the ‘target’ group.
Our review focuses on technology for food crop production in low and lower middle income countries (LLMIC) and the productivity gains farmers achieve when adopting them. It is also concerned with other impacts, positive and negative, that may accrue, for example with respect to health, food security or environmental services. Both individually and collectively managed technologies are considered.
This review is directed to an audience of policy-makers and practitioners in the agricultural research area and to development studies academics. It has two main objectives:
* Providing policy makers and practitioners a more realistic understanding of the outcomes that can be expected from technological change as well as of the opportunities to shape the innovation environment so as to favour a productive agriculture supporting broad-based livelihoods;
* Informing the academic community on key gaps in evidence and on the evolution of theory and its drivers in this field.
This appears to be the first systematic review of the conditions and circumstances under which productivity gains are achieved from the adoption of agricultural technology, either globally or by region.
Methods of the review
We use the methods of realist review, adapting elements of the meta-narrative approach. To make sense of the conditions and circumstances that studies claim affect the outcomes farmers achieve by adopting technologies, we hypothesize that it is necessary to recognize the distinct but evolving traditions of research that dominate this literature. We initially identified three traditions – the Diffusion of Innovation, Economic and Local Innovation traditions – expecting to refine this delineation through the review process. We also expected that while a given study would broadly align with a particular tradition, there would also be engagement with the concerns and concepts of other traditions. Whether cross-tradition engagement is increasing and whether from this a fuller understanding of the consequences of adoption is emerging are central to this review’s objectives.
Our search of the literature was focused on the major food crops of LLMIC agriculture and ten technology groups including crop cultivars, biotechnology and the management of water, soil fertility and pests. We systematically searched several academic databases and repositories of grey literature. Our database search strategy was developed in consultation with information experts at the British Library of Development Studies and the EPPI Centre and refined through pilot searches. Additional papers were identified in consultation with researchers in the field, including several associated with one or the other tradition. We also searched the bibliographies of the papers they identified and the papers that cited those papers.
Papers thus identified were subjected to a two-stage screening, first for relevance to the study’s topic, based on title and abstract. Those that passed were assessed against six criteria relating to conceptual clarity and methodological and contextual detail based on the full paper.
Results
A total of 20,299 papers were screened at the first stage, of which 214 passed through to the second stage. Only five of these papers passed and were candidates for in-depth review. Those not passing the second stage screening failed against two criteria: they did not clearly define technology “adoption” and/or they did not describe a clear and adequate method for assessing change in productivity.
The five papers were scattered across the ten technology groups. This is too small a body of studies on which to proceed to the final stages of systemic review: the in-depth review and synthesis of evidence.
A description of these papers (a “systematic map”) can provide some though limited guidance to future efforts to review this area of research, which will have to use a different approach than employed here. We note that four of the five papers could be readily identified with the research traditions we had delineated while one stood apart. The two papers that aligned with the Local Innovation Tradition described multi-year studies that employed several research methods. They reported a number of non-productivity outcomes in addition to yield (output/area) and implicated several conditions and circumstances, the latter including processes and their interactions. The other three papers, two of which aligned with the Economic tradition, reported short duration studies based largely on a single cross-sectional survey. They described less diverse outcomes and implicated only static conditions in explanation.
Implications
The central finding of this systematic review is that from the screening of more than 20,000 citations, only a handful met the quality and relevance criteria we stipulated. This was the case across the ten technology groups we considered. It seems unlikely that our search missed a sufficient number of studies that would have permitted a meaningful synthesis of evidence. Neither does it appear that our standards were unrealistic: their importance has long been noted, guidelines have been disseminated and good practice taught in undergraduate and professional curricula.
South Asian countries face mounting challenges in meeting the growing demand for food, water, and energy for a rapidly growing population. Countries have provided policy support to increase cereal production, including providing incentives by subsidizing water and energy and guaranteeing rice and wheat prices. While such incentives have increased cereal production, they have also increased the demand for water and energy, led to degradation of the resource base, and contributed to an increase in water-related disease. Despite the inherent interconnections between food, water, and energy production, agencies often work in a fragmented and isolated way. Poor sectoral coordination and institutional fragmentation have triggered an unsustainable use of resources and threatened the long-term sustainability of food, water, and energy security in the region, and also posed challenges to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Free water and subsidized electricity have not only encouraged overexploitation of resources, they have also led to under-investment in water and energy-saving technologies and approaches and hindered crop diversification and broad-based agricultural growth in line with the comparative advantages. Greater policy coherence among the three sectors is critical for decoupling increased food production from water and energy intensity and moving to a sustainable and efficient use of resources. The nexus approach can enhance understanding of the interconnectedness of the sectors and strengthen coordination among them. But it requires a major shift in the decision-making process towards taking a holistic view and developing institutional mechanisms to coordinate the actions of diverse actors and strengthen complementarities and synergies among the three sectors. A framework is suggested for cross-sectoral coordination and managing the nexus challenges.
We assessed the impact of laser land leveling technology in rice-wheat (RW) systems of north-west India using data collected from household surveys in 2011. We compared crop yield and total irrigation time required per season between laser leveled (LLL) and traditionally leveled (TLL) fields. Laser leveling in rice fields reduced irrigation time by 47–69 h/ha/season and improved yield by approximately 7 % compared with traditionally leveled fields. In wheat, irrigation time was reduced by 10–12 h/ha/season and yield increased by 7–9 % in laser leveled fields. Our analysis showed that laser land leveling is a scale neutral technology, not biased towards large farmers. Farmers benefited by an additional USD 143.5/ha/year through increased yields in RW systems and reduced electricity used in laser leveled fields compared to traditionally leveled fields when estimated by using the electricity tariff equivalent to the average subsidized tariff for agricultural use. This benefit became much larger when estimated by using an electricity tariff equivalent to the average cost of its supply. Hence, assuming an average electricity tariff equivalent to the average cost of its supply in the year 2010–11 in the country, the net benefit of shifting from TLL to LLL in RW systems in the study area was USD 194 per ha per year. This large difference in benefits indicates the loss due to market distortions by subsidy in electricity and hence, is a matter of policy concern requiring further scrutiny. The RW system in a hectare of laser leveled field required 754 kWh less electricity for irrigation per year compared to a traditionally leveled field. Furthermore, if 50 % of the area under the RW system in Haryana and Punjab states were laser leveled, this would provide an additional production of 699 million kg of rice and 987 million kg of wheat, amounting to USD 385 million/year. Thus, laser leveling contributes to food security and economical use of water and energy resources.
The study was conducted at Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) farm on clay
loam soil during Rabi season of 2010-2011. The treatments consisted of laser land leveling
(T1) and control (non-leveled) (T2). A preliminary field survey was done using staff gage.
Initially a base station was established to dispense laser ray uniformly. The laser ray erected
from base station guided the sensor of the stuff gage and the leveler. Elevation data was
collected from the different points of the field and made an average. The maximum gage
reading were 247.0 cm and the minimum gage reading was 219.2 cm. Average gage readings
of the laser leveled plot was 235.66 cm that was settled for auto adjustment. Therefore, huge
amount of soils (16.46 cm high) was cut from the highest point and subsequently had to fill
to the low points. Finally, an equal gage reading of 235.66 cm was observed after leveling the
plot. The laser leveler (Leica MLS700) was used hitching with a TAFE tractor. The field was
leveled with manual control initially and finally it was operated with auto adjustment. Two
operators, 25 litter diesels and total 6 hours time were required during this leveling. Wheat
was cultivated in leveled land (T1) and non-leveled land (T2). Laser leveling was insured for
improvement in nutrient use efficiencies, option for precision farming, reduces weed
problems, and improves uniformity of crop maturity. There was better distribution of water
in leveled plot, which helped to reduce irrigation application time 1 hour. Due to uniformity
of moisture content improved germination and crop establishment was found which
reflected in higher plant population (239 m-2). Maximum yield (3.41 t ha-1) was obtained in
T1 due to longer panicle (10.89 cm), more grain per plant (27.47) and 1000 grain weight
(47.38 g) compared to yield of T2 (2.62 t ha-1).
Study region: Lodhran and Jhang districts in the Central and South Punjab province of Pakistan.
Study focus: Pakistan is amongst the largest groundwater withdrawing countries. With 5.2 million hectares groundwater irrigated area, Pakistan irrigates 4.6% of the global groundwater-fed cropland. However, over the last few decades the groundwater resources are under immense pressure due to overdrafting to meet escalating irrigation water demands. Since most of the groundwater is being extracted for irrigation purposes, examining irrigation water efficiency have become has become inevitable for sustainable groundwater management. This study estimates farm level technical efficiency (TE) and irrigation water-use efficiency (IWE) of groundwater irrigated cotton farms in the Punjab province of Pakistan.
New hydrological insights for the region: Irrigation water-use efficiency (IWE) is generally defined from three perspectives: (i) efficiency of the irrigation system, i.e., water conveyance efficiency; (ii) efficiency in water application at the farm gate and; (iii) the response of a crop to irrigation water application, i.e., the amount of water actually utilized by the crop compared to the amount of water supplied to that crop. These measures of IWE are devoid of economic principles. Hence, irrigation water efficiency has expanded its boundaries from hydrological and engineering principles to economic rationale which is useful to guide targeted farms to improve their irrigation efficiencies. This study advances the frontier of existing economic measure of IWE by employing a restricted production frontier model.
In this article, we investigate the role of information transmission in promoting agricultural technology adoption and diffusion
through extension services and social learning. We develop a theoretical model of technology adoption and diffusion, which
we then empirically apply, using duration analysis, on a micro-dataset consisting of recall data covering the period 1994–2004
for olive-producing farms from Crete, Greece. Our findings suggest that both extension services and social learning are strong
determinants of technology adoption and diffusion, while the effectiveness of each of the two informational channels is enhanced
by the presence of the other.
With limited land resources, inadequate energy supply, and growing water stress, South Asia faces the challenge of providing enough water and energy to grow enough food for the burgeoning population. Using secondary data from diverse sources, this paper explores the food, water, and energy nexus from a regional dimension, emphasizing the role of Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) ecosystem services in sustaining food, water, and energy security downstream. The analysis reveals that the issues and challenges in the food, water, and energy sectors are interwoven in many complex ways and cannot be managed effectively without cross-sectoral integration. The most distinctive feature of the nexus in South Asia is the high degree of dependency of downstream communities on upstream ecosystem services for dry-season water for irrigation and hydropower, drinking water, and soil fertility and nutrients. This finding suggests that along with cross-sectoral integration to improve the resource-use efficiency and productivity of the three sectors, regional integration between upstream and downstream areas is critical in food, water, and energy security. Within the nexus approach in South Asia, equal attention should be paid to management of HKH ecosystems–especially the watersheds, catchments, and headwaters of river systems–and to tapping the potential of collaborative gains in water, hydropower, and other ecosystem services through coordination across HKH countries.
As the world's largest distributed store of fresh water, ground water
plays a central part in sustaining ecosystems and enabling human
adaptation to climate variability and change. The strategic importance
of ground water for global water and food security will probably
intensify under climate change as more frequent and intense climate
extremes (droughts and floods) increase variability in precipitation,
soil moisture and surface water. Here we critically review recent
research assessing the impacts of climate on ground water through
natural and human-induced processes as well as through
groundwater-driven feedbacks on the climate system. Furthermore, we
examine the possible opportunities and challenges of using and
sustaining groundwater resources in climate adaptation strategies, and
highlight the lack of groundwater observations, which, at present,
limits our understanding of the dynamic relationship between ground
water and climate.
Soil salinization is a serious environmental problem in arid and semi-arid regions, affecting crop yields and jeopardizing the food security of affected households. A common prescription to ameliorate salt-affected soils is the application of gypsum. However, little is known about the factors that motivate land managers to adopt gypsum and its likely effect on crop yields in different agro-ecological and socio-economic contexts. This study investigates the gypsum adoption process to rehabilitate irrigated salt-affected farmland, using survey data from 252 farm households in three agro-ecological zones of Punjab, Pakistan. An accelerated failure time model is used to investigate factors that affect the speed of adoption and the propensity score matching method to evaluate the impact of gypsum adoption on crop yields. About 56% of farm households adopted gypsum, and the average time to adoption was 4.3 years. Key factors reducing the time to gypsum adoption include secure and legal land entitlements, exposure to demonstration trials and field days, access to extension services, and access to credit facilities. In contrast, the distance to soil and water testing laboratories and input markets increases the time to adoption. On average, gypsum adoption increased wheat and rice yields by 17% and 23%, respectively. Our findings suggest that gypsum adoption will increase with the implementation of policies that increase land managers' exposure to the technology and formal information about the technology, reduce barriers to credit access, and provide secure and legal land entitlements.
Modern agriculture is heavily dependent on four inputs, namely; biological, chemical, hydrological and mechanical. Although the mechanical input is an input to the other three inputs, emphasis had always been given to the use of first three inputs while the role of mechanical input has been undermined. Precision land levelling is one of the few mechanical inputs which can help to reduce seepage and deep percolation and, consequently, drainage requirements of the soil. Irrigation water in Pakistan is becoming scarce day by day and, therefore, needs to be conserved and managed. This paper presents the results of a study conducted at the Cotton Research Station, Vehari. Other benefits from precision land levelling can save about 27% of water applied to the land along with the benefit of no drainage requirement. Precision land levelling minimizes the deep percolation and uneven storage of irrigation water in soil profile hence it should be adopted to contain drainage problem and to save precious water resource and foreign exchange involved in drainage installations.
Climate change is a critical environmental issue that has threatened sustainable rice production in Nigeria. The application of climate-smart agricultural (CSA) technologies by smallholder farmers is vital for sustaining rice production in the face of climate change impacts. We investigate rice farmers’ preferences and elicit willingness to pay (WTP) for CSA technologies, using the contingent valuation method (CVM). We find that most farmers do not utilize innovative CSA technologies. The CSA technologies most preferred by farmers are drip irrigation, drainage management, and weather-based rice agro-advisories. At the same time, they are willing to pay $115.63 annually for CSA, notably: $40.25 for knowledge-smart, $31.02 for water-smart, $17.97 for nutrient-smart, $17.72 for weather-smart, $6.82 for carbon-smart, and $1.85 for energy-smart technologies. Age, gender, access to credit, education, extension visit, farm size, and social group membership are significant predictors of farmers’ choices.
Key policy insights
• Identifying and prioritizing farmers’ preferred CSA technologies would enable them and other relevant stakeholders to make investment decisions.
• Given farmers’ low willingness to pay for CSA technologies, incentives such as subsidies and interest-free loans should be provided to boost uptake.
• Committing a substantial amount of money to credit facilities would help scale up CSA technologies’ adoption.
• A robust framework on the revitalization of agricultural extension services would increase extension visits, helping to scale up farmers’ adoption of CSA technologies.
Puddled transplanted rice (Oryza sativa L.) followed by intensively tilled wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) (R–W) is the most predominant cropping system and the lifeline for billions of people in South Asia. The cultivation of R–W system requires high amounts of water, nutrients and energy, resulting in increased production costs and increased emissions of greenhouse gases. There are also increasing concerns of yield stagnation or decline in the R–W system, with increasing environmental footprints. Hence, the sustainability of the R–W system in South Asia, particularly in the northwest Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGPs), has been questioned and heavily debated. Based on the findings from peer-reviewed literature, this review aims to identify unsustainability issues and research gaps in the R–W system and propose possible solutions to mitigate those issues and technological interventions to close the research gaps. Among the unsustainability issues that the review has identified are declining crop, water and land productivity, deterioration of soil health, emissions of greenhouse gases due to intensive tillage and residue burning, deepening of groundwater levels and shift in weed flora and development of herbicidal resistance in crops. Potential solutions or technological interventions to mitigate the unsustainability issues include resource conservation technologies (RCTs) such as rice residue management, reduced tillage, laser land leveling, soil matric potential based irrigation scheduling, delayed rice transplanting, cultivation on permanent raised beds, direct-seeded rice (DSR), mechanical transplanting of rice and crop diversification with legumes. These interventions have the potential to reduce energy, water and carbon (C) footprints from the R–W system. Rice residue retention with Happy Seeder and adoption of zero tillage (ZT) for wheat establishment have significantly lowered the environmental footprints, with increased soil C sequestration due to additions of large amounts of plant-mediated C input. Residue mulching has helped increase root length of wheat by ~25% and root length density by ~40% below 15 cm depth, compared to no mulching. The Happy Seeder saved ~30% of irrigation water due to reduction of soil evaporation by ~42–48 mm through residue mulching. Crop cultivation on permanent raised beds is less energy-intensive and results in ~7.8–22.7% higher water use efficiency yet crop productivity in long run could be affected due to reduced root growth on beds. The puddled transplanted rice (PTR) established under wet tillage, however, can decrease the water percolation losses by 14–16% and crop water demand by ~10–25%, and it forms hard pan in soil plough (7–10 cm) layer due to increased soil bulk density. Water stagnation under continuously flooded PTR is the major source of methane emissions with serious environmental implications. Methane emissions from flooded rice can increase global warming potential by 18.1–27.6% compared to intermittently flooded rice with multiple aerations. The conventional tillage can favor the germination of grassy weeds in wheat, while the broad-leaved weeds increase under zero tillage. Zero tillage with mulch load conserved ~4.0% higher moisture due to ~2.3% lesser soil temperature and evaporated ~27.6% lesser than the conventional tillage. Delayed rice transplanting with short-duration variety has potential of saving of up to ~140 mm of irrigation water in the semiarid areas of NW IGPs. Although the DSR had lower yield potential than the PTR, it saved ~50% irrigation water. The laser land leveling technology saved ~30% irrigation water and ~25% electricity and had a yield advantage of ~4%, compared with PTR on un-leveled fields. The mechanical transplanted rice had higher grain yield and more water saving than the manual transplanting or DSR. The review demonstrates that a single technology may not be applicable everywhere and integrated approaches with the multiple criteria—productivity, economics, energy and environmental sustainability—would be required to address the unsustainability issues of the R–W system of the NW IGPs. There is a need to elucidate and disseminate various site- and context-specific RCTs appropriate for the region to address the unsustainability issues and challenges of the system. Sustainable R–W production technologies with reduced water, energy and C footprints are required for increased water and energy productivity and C sequestration for the NW IGPs of South Asia.
This study assesses the factors affecting the adoption of laser land leveling (LLL) and its impact on crop yields and net returns. It uses household survey data collected from 621 randomly selected farmers in Karnal District of Haryana, India, and applies endogenous switching regression models. Unbiased model results show that the adoption of LLL has significant positive impacts on yields (rice +549 kg ha−1; wheat +471 kg ha−1) and net returns (an aggregate increase of US$230/ha) in the rice-wheat production system, thereby raising farmers' income substantially. Our results show that LLL adoption at the farm level is influenced by land size and quality, tenure system, availability of farm machinery (tractor), access to finance and farm cooperatives, gender of household head, level of education and training and access to extension services. Therefore, LLL scaling strategies need to consider these bio-physical and socio-economic parameters to reach adoption
at scale and generate large social, economic, and environmental
benefits.
Drought and high temperatures are major threats to sustainable food production and consequently the livelihoods of the majority of Africans who depend on fragile agricultural systems. As a response to these threats, climate-smart agricultural technologies, such as drought-tolerant maize (DTM) varieties, have been developed and promoted on the continent. It is well-known that the adoption of improved technologies generally impacts
positively on the wellbeing of adopters. Nevertheless, the magnitude of the impact of any technology or intervention is always an empirical question. Therefore, this study sought to determine the factors that influence the adoption of DTM and subsequently estimate how yield, commercialization intensity, and farm income are affected by adoption. To establish causation, we relied on observations from 200 farm households in the Northern Region of Ghana and estimated an instrumental variable regression. Consistent with findings reported in the literature, we found that DTM adoption is primarily driven by access to seed, extension service, labor availability, and location of farm households. In addition, we found that DTM adoption positively impacts on yield and commercialization intensity. The magnitude of impact is not trivial. For example, the yield of farm households increased by more than 150% (936 kg/ha) following DTM adoption. These results imply that policymakers and development practitioners must support research and promotion of climate-smart agriculture to improve adoption and welfare indicators, such as yield and commercialization.
We examine the factors that influence farmers' decisions to adopt climate-smart practices and how adoption affects food and nutrition security in Ghana, using an endogenous switching regression approach to account for selectiv-ity bias. The results show that adoption positively and significantly impacts food and nutrition security. The impacts of adoption are greater in the lower quantiles of the distributions of food and nutrition security, an indication of the potential role of adoption in reducing poverty among poor households. Policy efforts that seek to improve farmers' access to machinery and extension services may enhance the adoption of climate-smart practices.
Using a primary dataset from 350 farmers from the rice-wheat area of Pakistan Punjab, we estimate the impact of laser-land leveling on water saving, crop yields and household income. The analysis employs propensity score matching (PSM) to correct for the potential sample selection bias that may arise due to systematic differences between adopting and non-adopting farmers. In the study, 57% of farmers had access to laser land leveling, with an important role for service providers. Adoption of laser-land leveling has a positive impact on irrigation water savings, wheat and rice yields and household income. The study suggests policy implications for making laser land leveling access and performance more socially inclusive through enhanced awareness, institutional support to service providers and public-private partnerships.
Laser land leveling has been increasingly adopted in the irrigated rice (Oryza sativa L.)–wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cropping system in the state of Haryana (India), located in the north-western Indo-Gangetic Plains. Still, many farmers have applied it to only a fraction of their land. In this study, we used data collected from 621 farm households in Haryana and applied a double-hurdle model for assessing the factors that determine the adoption and intensity of laser-leveling technology. The results show that large land holders are more likely to laser level their farm land; however, we found a negative association between land holdings and the proportion of laser-leveled land. Information about technology through farmer-to-farmer communication and through private traders, participation in agricultural training and membership in local agricultural institutions increased both the likelihood and the intensity of adoption. Our findings call for a closer collaboration among the various stakeholders, specifically to promote farmer-to-farmer communication through increased participation in local institutions and increase the rate of adoption of laser leveling technology.
Understanding factors that influence the adoption of agricultural innovations is imperative to stakeholders promoting such technologies as well as farmers who are the potential users of the same. Using a discrete-time duration model, this study identifies factors that determine the timing of adoption of conservation agriculture (CA) in Malawi. We establish that social learning through a network of peers, and access to extension advisors facilitates quick adoption of conservation agriculture technologies. Further, our results show that farmers who became aware of the existence of conservation agriculture during years of drought-hazards were highly likely to adopt these practices. The results highlight the need for strengthening and targeting social networks as conduits for information about new technologies. (JEL C41, O33, Q12, Q24).
Declining soil, water and human resources in rice-wheat and other irrigated cropping systems need the resource-conserving technologies (RCTs) for agricultural sustainability. After the era of green revolution, the use of soil and water resources is overexploited. The income from irrigated agroecosystem especially from rice-wheat system is declining in many areas as cultivation costs are rising faster than crop prices. The various RCTs can save soil, water and other natural resources. Zero tillage with or without mulch/happy seeder sowing technology not only saves the money spent on inputs but also gives similar or higher grain yields in various crops by conserving soil moisture but also reducing the weed density and environmental pollution. Furrow-irrigated bed planting/permanent raised-bed technologies can be practices for sustainability of major cropping systems. Hydrogel (water-adsorbing material) can effectively be used under rainfed/dryland or limited water conditions for increasing the water use efficiency. Direct seeding of rice with seed-cum-fertilizer drill under well-levelled conditions holds the promise of saving water and human resources. Human resources are decreasing due to industrialization, so direct seeding or mechanical transplanting of rice is the best solution. Laser land levelling can save huge amount of the irrigation water for getting similar productivity as in conventionally levelled fields. As the machinery required for adoption of these RCTs are heavy and costly, these machines should be used on co-operative basis.
This book addresses an important topic of food security in South Asia with specific reference to climate change. Of the 1 billion food insecure people in the world, more than 30% are in South Asia. The problem of food insecurity may be exacerbated by the projected climate change especially because of the water scarcity caused by rapid melting of the glaciers in the Himalayas and increase in variability in monsoonal rains and frequency of extreme events. Furthermore, large populations of Bangladesh and other coastal regions may be displaced by sea level rise. Thus, this volume addresses recommended land use and soil/water/crop/vegetation management practices which would enable land managers to adapt to climate disruption by enhancing soil/ecosystem/social resilience. In addition to biophysical factors, this book also addresses the issues related to human dimensions including social, ethnical and political considerations.
Land degradation is a major environmental problem in Ethiopia posing serious threats to agricultural productivity and livelihoods. The interactions of numerous socio-economic, demographic, natural, and institutional factors constitute the underlying causes of soil degradation in Ethiopia. However, there exist evidence gaps on the contextual factors that hinder investments on soil conservation among smallholders. Using primary data generated through a stated preference survey among 359 sample smallholder farm households in Southern Ethiopia, this study investigates investment constraints on soil management technologies among smallholders. A random parameter logit model was implemented to estimate the model. Results indicate that smallholders are willing to invest in soil management technologies if appropriate incentive mechanisms, primarily, secured land tenure rights and access to finance are in place. Unfortunately, the prevailing land tenure regime in the country does not allow private property rights on land and smallholders have very limited access to credit. Thus, instituting secure land rights and improving credit access to smallholders should be considered as key interventions to enhance adoption of soil management technologies. The study highlights that policy interventions that incentivize adoption of soil management measures provide not only on-site private benefits but wider societal off-site benefits through the provision of multiple ecosystem services.
Our core thesis is that in both low- and middle-income countries, rapid growth in agricultural production and income among small commercial farmers is the dominant means of reducing rural poverty. This effect is generated from increased expenditures from smaller commercial farmers on the poor, labor-intensive, non-tradable, rural non-farm sector, thereby increasing incomes for the rural non-farm population and reducing poverty levels.
We illustrate the relationship between small commercial farmers, rural non-farm households, large commercial farmers, and urban households in three contrasting situations. First, we analyze Punjab, Pakistan, a middle-income province with a large urban sector, dominance of small commercial farms in the local economy and significant land area managed by large commercial farms. Second, we analyze Sindh, Pakistan, a middle-income province with a large urban population and dominated in rural areas by large feudal holdings, but with a significant small commercial farm component. Third, we analyze data from Ethiopia, a low-income country with a relatively small urban sector and dominated by small commercial farms.
In the two middle-income provinces of Pakistan, the role that agriculture plays in income determination is much less than the urban sector, but it maintains a dominant role in rural poverty determination. In Ethiopia, the low-income country, agricultural growth is a dominant variable both in income growth and poverty reduction—accounting for 73% of employment growth in the fast agricultural growth case. Large-scale commercial farms show little impact of agricultural growth on poverty reduction as compared to areas dominated by small commercial farms, partly because of their small proportion of total agricultural output, and partly due to weak consumption based multipliers.
This article examines the determinants and impact of conservation agriculture (CA) technology adoption on farm household welfare in Zambia. To account for selection bias from both observable and unobservable factors, an endogenous switching regression model is employed to estimate the impact of the technology on continuous outcomes like farm output, throughput accounting ratio (TAR), poverty gap, and severity of poverty. A recursive bivariate probit model is however used for the estimation of impact of adoption on a binary outcome like poverty headcount. The empirical findings demonstrate that the adoption of CA technology increases maize output, and farm TAR and reduces household poverty. Moreover, the results reveal that farmers’ years of schooling, social networks, access to credit, extension services, and machinery as well as soil quality positively influence adoption of CA technology.
In the present industrialization stage of the world, importance of agricultural (food, fodder & bio-fuel) production to feed the ever-increasing population, and to save the water resources & the environment from degradation, is increasing. The climate change paradigm and water pollution have added additional focus on water resources. The book "Practices of Irrigation and On-farm Water Management" (Volume 2) is a true textbook for the undergraduate students in Bio-Science Engineering, Agricultural Engineering, Water Resource Engineering, Civil & Environmental Engineering, Biological Systems Engineering, Environmental Science, Biological Sciences and Agricultural Sciences. The book deals with water application methods, irrigation system designing, performance evaluation of irrigation projects, strategic management of water resources, land and watershed management, pollution management of agricultural fields, etc. Increasing efficiency in conveyance and pumping systems are also of great concerns. Irrigation management strategy practiced in normal soils may not appropriate in problematic soils such as saline soils. This book covers all of the above aspects. Understanding these processes leads to more rational and cost-effective decisions regarding irrigation planning, designing, and implementing/executing irrigation & on-farm water management programs and projects, and maintenance practices to maximize performance and reliability. In addition, the book covers some recent dimensions such as modeling in irrigation & water management, application of geographical information system (GIS) in irrigation & water management, and renewable energy resources for irrigation. The text is illustrated with numerous diagrams and photographs to understand the concepts and procedures described herein. Sample workout problems are provided to explain the design and application methodologies, and to help materialize the theory in practice. The book's objective is to present the applied aspects of irrigation and on-farm water management, their methodologies, performance evaluation, principles needed to adopt the most appropriate approach, technical details, and modeling aspects towards sustainable irrigation development and management. The book is equally useful for postgraduate students, engineers/practitioners and scientists in the relevant fields. © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2011. All rights reserved.
This paper uses a multinomial endogenous treatment effects model and data from a sample of over 800 households and 3,000 plots to assess the determinants and impacts of adoption of sustainable agricultural practices (SAPs) on maize yields and household incomes in rural Zambia. Results show that adoption decisions are driven by household and plot level characteristics and that the adoption of a combination of SAPs raises both maize yields and incomes of smallholder farmers. Adoption of improved maize alone has greater impacts on maize yields, but given the high cost of inorganic fertiliser that limits the profitability of adoption of improved maize, greater household incomes are associated rather with a package involving SAPs such as maize–legume rotation and residue retention.
A double hurdle statistical analysis of 250 farms in the Tigray region of Ethiopia reveals different causal factors for soil conservation adoption versus intensity of use. Farmers' reasons for adopting soil conservation measures vary sharply between stone terraces and soil bunds. Long-term investments in stone terraces were associated with secure land tenure, labour availability, proximity to the farmstead and learning opportunities via the existence of local food-for-work (FFW) projects. By contrast, short-term investments in soil bunds were strongly linked to insecure land tenure and the absence of local food-for-work projects. Public conservation campaigns on private plots reduced adoption of both stone terraces and soil bunds. Whereas capacity factors largely influenced the adoption decision, expected returns carried more influence for the intensity of stone terrace adoption (measured as metres of terrace per hectare). More stone terracing was built where fertile but erodible silty soils in higher rainfall areas offered valuable yield benefits. Intensity of terracing was also greater in remote villages where limited off-farm employment opportunities reduced construction costs. These results highlight the importance of the right kind of public interventions. Direct public involvement in constructing soil conservation structures on private lands appears to undermine incentives for private conservation investments. When done on public lands, however, public conservation activities may encourage private soil conservation by example. Secure land tenure tights clearly reinforce private incentives to make long-term investments in soil conservation.
The adoption and diffusion of sustainable agricultural practices (SAPs) has become an important issue in the development-policy agenda for sub-Saharan Africa, especially as a way to tackle land degradation, low agricultural productivity and poverty. However, the adoption rates of SAPs remain below expected levels. This study analyses the factors that facilitate or impede the probability and level of adoption of interrelated SAPs, using recent data from multiple plot-level observations in rural Ethiopia. Multivariate and ordered probit models are applied to the modelling of adoption decisions by farm households facing multiple SAPs, which can be adopted in various combinations. The results show that there is a significant correlation between SAPs, suggesting that adoptions of SAPs are interrelated. The analysis further shows that both the probability and the extent of adoption of SAPs are influenced by many factors: a household’s trust in government support, credit constraints, spouse education, rainfall and plot-level disturbances, household wealth, social capital and networks, labour availability, plot and market access. These results imply that policy-makers and development practitioners should seek to strengthen local institutions and service providers, maintain or increase household asset bases and establish and strengthen social protection schemes in order to improve the adoption of SAPs.
In this paper, the process of adopting drip irrigation technology is investigated in one of the more water-scarce irrigation communities in Spain during the period 1975–2005. Why some farmers are faster to adopt this technology is investigated using duration analysis, which allows the timing of an event to be explored in a dynamic framework. The relative influence of a range of farmer, farm, economic, technology and institutional determinants is explored using discrete time models. The empirical results highlight the importance of educational factors, technological trialability, credit availability and institutional factors such as water availability and price, information networks and policy factors, as well as systematic effects that influence the adoption decision over the lifetime of the producer and over the survey period.