Efficient agricultural water use and management in paddy fields in Sri Lanka
An increasing number of regions in the world are frequently facing water shortage, and water demand is likely to grow in the next 20–30 years due to intensified agriculture, population growth, urbanization and climate change. Future demand of water by all sectors will, thus, require as much as 25 to 40 percent of water to be re-allocated from lower to higher productivity and employment–oriented activities, particularly in water stressed regions. As such, these reallocations are likely to come from agriculture due to its high share of water use. In view of the projected rise in water demand in agriculture and non-agricultural sectors, appropriate actions that increase water use efficiency especially in irrigation are crucial to sustainably enhance agricultural production and productivity. In Sri Lanka, one-third of the rural population depends on agriculture. Rice is the national staple food which is cultivated twice a year on nearly one million hectares of land under a range of physical and environmental conditions. Currently, about 80 percent of paddy production comes from irrigated agriculture, while 20 percent is by rainfed area. Paddy cultivation is especially water demanding as it needs continues inundation of the field during most of the growing season. Despite being self-sufficient in paddy production, Sri Lanka has relatively low levels of water productivity and water use efficiency. Furthermore, its water and food security is extremely vulnerable to climate change.
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| Format: | Book (stand-alone) biblioteca |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
FAO ;
2022
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| Online Access: | https://openknowledge.fao.org/handle/20.500.14283/CC2778EN http://www.fao.org/3/cc2778en/cc2778en.pdf |
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