Can the Trilemma of Food, Water and Environment Be Solved? - Issue Tackled by the JIRCAS Water-Saving Agriculture Project

摘要

Water shortage is one of the most serious global issues. The situation of the water issue is forecasted to become more serious due to increasing land demand from the agricultural sector and heavier water demand from both agricultural and non-agricultural sectors. To cope with this, studies of water-saving agriculture have been carried out all over the world. At the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), research activities have been carried out to improve the water productivity of rice cultivation while maintaining the ideal yield level. The researchers are proposing the AWD (alternate wetting and drying) irrigation technique, characterized by intermittent irrigation application, as one of the most promising techniques for water-saving at irrigated paddy fields. The AWD regime, in which the paddy field is basically irrigated only when the soil moisture content drops to a specific level, is being disseminated to the farmers of developing countries as an irrigation technique which achieves reduction of irrigation water use by 15-30%, while keeping the high yield level which bears comparison with that achieved with continuously flooded irrigation.