WATER MANAGEMENT IN RICE IN ASIA: SOME ISSUES FOR THE FUTURE (2024)

^* Water Management Officer, FAORegional Office for Asia and the Pacific, Maliwan Mansion, 39 Phra Atit Road,Bangkok 10200, Thailand.

1. INTRODUCTION

In most of Asia, rice is not only the staple food, but alsoconstitutes the major economic activity and a key source of employment andincome for the rural population. Water is the single most important componentfor sustainable rice production, especially in the traditional rice growingareas of the Region. Reduced investments in irrigation infrastructure, increasedcompetition for water and large water withdrawals from underground water lowerthe sustainability of rice production. However, despite the constraints of waterscarcity, rice production must rise dramatically over the next generation tomeet the food needs of Asia’s poor. Producing more rice with less water istherefore a formidable challenge for the food, economic, social and watersecurity of the Region.

This paper reviews the water resources and uses of the Region,the status of irrigation development with a particular focus in irrigated riceproduction, trends in the irrigation sub-sector but also in the water sector asa whole and in socio-economic development as they affect the sub-sector. Thepaper then examines water management practices for irrigated rice production andoptions and pre-set approaches to improve the water efficiency and productivityof rice production at the farm, and system level. These options must beconsidered in a basin-wide perspective and their adoption will require policy,economic and institutional reforms, as well as proper incentives, empowermentand irrigation services for farmers to adopt. Finally, the paper brieflydescribes the efforts and interventions needed to meet the challenge forproducing more rice with less water.

2. IRRIGATION AND RICE PRODUCTION IN ASIA: ANOVERVIEW

2.1 Water Resources and Use^**

^** Data and tables in this sectionare drawn from the FAO Water Report 18, Irrigation in Asia in figures, 1999,published under FAO’s AQUASTAT Programme.

Water resources: The large range of climatesencountered in the Region generates a variety of hydrological regimes. TheRegion is host to some of the most humid climates giving rise to major rivers,while in other parts it has a very arid climate, with closed hydrologic systems.As a result, the Region shows a very uneven distribution of its water resourcesand of its water use conditions. In the humid areas, water management concernshave mostly been dominated by considerations related to flood control. Thehydrology of the Region is dominated by the typical monsoon climate whichinduces large inter-seasonal variations of river flows. In this situation,average annual values of river flows are a poor indicator of the amount of waterresources available for use. In the absence of flow regulation, most of thewater flows during a short season when it is usually needed less. As a firstapproximation, the amount of water readily available for use is between 10 and20 percent of the total renewable water resources (Table 1) in the absence ofstorage. Runoff in the countries of Southeast Asia and the islands is notsignificantly affected by withdrawals, while the difference between natural andactual flow may be much more important in the arid regions (mostlyChina).

Overall, the Region is relatively well endowed with waterresources. However, the amount of water resources per inhabitant is onlyslightly above half the world’s average. In terms of water resources perperson, the groups of the Indian subcontinent, Eastern Asia and the Far Eastshow the lowest figures while Southeast Asia has much more water resources perperson than the world average. The figure of 2,000 m3/inhabitant/year is usuallyused as an indicator of water scarcity: India and China are reaching this limit,while the Republic of Korea is already below it, at 1,538m3/inhabitant/year.

Table 1. Renewable Water Resources in Asia

Country	Population (1996)	Precipitation (mm)	Annual Renewable Water Resources					Dependency Ratio %
			Internal		External	Total
			million m3	m3 per inhab. 1996	million m3	million m3	m3 per inhab. 1996
	(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)=(3)*106/(1)	(5)	(6)=(3)+(5)	(7)=(6)*106/(1)	(8)
Bangladesh	120,073,000	2,320	105,000	874	1,105,644	1,210,644	10,083	91.3
Bhutan	1,812,000	4,000	95,000	52,428		95,000	52,428	0.0
Brunei	300,000	2,654	8,500	28,333		8,500	28,333	0.0
Cambodia	10,273,000	1,463	120,570	11,737	355,540	476,110	46,346	74.7
China	1,238,274,000	648	2,812,400	2,271	17,169	2,829,569	2,285	0.6
India	944,580,000	1,170	1,260,540	1,334	647,220	1,907,760	2,020	33.9
Indonesia	200,453,000	2,700	2,838,000	14,158		2,838,000	14,158	0.0
Japan	125,351,000	1,728	430,000	3.430		430,000	3,430	0.0
Korea, DPR	22,466,000	1,054	67,000	2,982	10,135	77,135	3,433	13.1
Korea, Rep.	45,314,920	1,274	64,000	1,431	4,850	69,700	1,538	7.0
Lao PDR	5,035,000	1,600	190,420	37,782	143,130	331,550	66,181	42.9
Malaysia	20,581,000	3,000	580,000	28,183		580,000	28,183	0.0
Maldives	263,000	1,883	30	114		30	114	0.0
Mongolia	2,515,000	251	34,800	13,837		34,800	13,837	0.0
Myanmar	45,922,000	2,341	880,600	19,176	165,001	1,045,601	22,769	15.8
Nepal	22,021,000	1,500	198,200	9,000	12,000	210,200	9,545	5.7
Papua New Guinea	4,400,000	3,500	801,000	182,045		801,000	182,045	0.0
Philippines	69,283,000	2,373	479,000	6,914		479,000	6,914	0.0
Sri Lanka	18,100,000	2,000	50,000	2,762		50,000	2,762	0.0
Thailand	68,703,000	1,485	210,000	3,577	199,944	409,944	6,983	48.8
Vietnam	75,181,000	1,960	366,500	4,875	524,710	891,210	11,854	58.9
Total	3,030,900,920	1,194	11,592,410	3,825

Water withdrawal: Table 2 shows the distributionof water withdrawal between the three major sectors of water use: agriculture(irrigation and livestock), communities (domestic water supply) and industry.Water requirements for energy (hydropower), navigation, fisheries, mining,environment and recreation, although they may represent a significant part ofthe water resources, have a negligible net consumption rate.

Table 2. Water Withdrawal in Asia

Country	Annual Water Withdrawal									% of intern. renewable water res.	% of total renewable water res.
	Year	Agricultural		Domestic		Industrial		Total
		million m3	% of total	million m3	% of total	million m3	% of total	million m3	m3 per inhab. (1996)
		(1)	(2)=(1)*100/(7)	(3)	(4)	(5)	(6)	(7)=(1)+(3)+(5)	(8)=(7)*100/(1) of T.1	(9)=(7)*100/(3) of T. 1	(10)=(7)*100/(6) of T.1
Bangladesh	1990	12,600.00	86	1,704.32	12	332.16	2	14,636.48	122	13.94	1.21
Bhutan	1987	10.80	54	7.20	36	2.00	10	20.00	11	0.02	0.02
Brunei	1994	-	-	-	-	-	-	91.60	305	1.08	1.08
Cambodia	1987	489.00	94	26.00	5	5.00	1	520.00	51	0.43	0.11
China	1993	407,774.00	77	25,165.00	5	92,550.00	18	525,459.00	424	18.68	18.57
India	1990	460,000.00	82	25,000.00	5	15,000.00	3	500,000.00	529	39.67	26.21
Indonesia	1990	69,241.00	93	4,729.00	6	376.00	1	74,346.00	371	2.62	2.62
Japan	1992	58,600.00	64	17,000.00	19	15,800.00	17	91,400.00	729	21.26	21.26
Korea, DPR	1987	10,336.00	73	1,557.60	11	2,265.60	16	14,160.00	630	21.13	18.36
Korea, Rep.	1994	14,877.00	63	6,209.00	26	2,582.00	11	23,668.00	522	36.50	33.96
Lao PDR	1987	812.00	82	79.00	8	99.00	10	990.00	196	0.52	0.30
Malaysia	1995	9,750.00	77	1,342.00	10	1,641.00	13	12,733.00	619	2.20	2.20
Maldives	1987	0.00		3.32	98	0.05	2	3.37	13	11.23	11.23
Mongolia	1993	227.04	53	85.36	20	115.72	27	428.12	170	1.23	1.23
Myanmar	1987	3,564.00	90	277.20	7	118.80	3	3,960.00	86	0.45	0.38
Nepal	1994	28,702.00	99	246.00	1	5.00		28,953.00	1,315	14.61	13.77
Papua New Guinea	1987	49.00	49	29.00	29	22.00	22	100.00	23	0.01	0.01
Philippines	1995	48,857.00	88	4,269.00	8	2,296.00	4	55,422.00	780	11.57	11.57
Sri Lanka	1990	9,380.00	96	195.00	2	195.00	2	9,770.00	540	19.54	19.54
Thailand	1990	30,200.00	91	1,496.00	5	1,436.00	4	33,132.00	564	15.78	8.08
Vietnam	1990	47,000.00	86	2,000.00	4	5,330.00	10	54,330.00	723	14.82	6.10
Total		1,212,469.64	84	91,420.00	6	140,171.33	10	1,444,152.97	476	12.46

In Asia, almost 84 percent of the water withdrawal is used foragricultural purposes, compared to 71 percent for the world. The Indiansubcontinent and Eastern Asia have the highest level of water withdrawal foragriculture with 92 and 77 percent, respectively. The two regions togetherrepresent about 82 percent of the total irrigated area in Asia. With a majorregional emphasis on flooded rice irrigation, it is particularly difficult toassess agricultural water use. The gross average for the Region is 8,900m3/ha/year. Figures for China and India, which represent 72 percent of theRegion’s agricultural water withdrawal, are relatively similar: 7,500 and9,200 m3/ha of irrigated land, respectively. However, other countries show muchhigher values, as is the case for the Philippines, Malaysia, Japan, Republic ofKorea, Nepal and Sri Lanka, where agricultural water withdrawal is between15,000 and 31,500 m3/ha/year. More research is needed to obtain hom*ogenousinformation on agricultural water use among countries.

Water withdrawal expressed as a percentage of Total RenewableWater Resources, which takes into account the incoming or border flows and theexisting agreements, is a good indicator of the pressure on water resources.Roughly, it can be considered that pressure on water resources is high when thisvalue is above 25 percent, as is the case for India and the Republic of Koreawith 34 and 26 percent respectively. China, Japan, DPR Korea and Sri Lanka alsohave high values with 18.57, 21.26, 18.36 and 19.54 percent,respectively.

2.2 Irrigation

Irrigation potential: The irrigation potentialfor the Region was estimated at 235 million ha. India and China account forabout 76 percent of this total. However, figures presented here should be usedcautiously. In India, for example, the irrigation potential, which is 113.5million ha, corresponds to the gross area which could theoretically be irrigatedin a year on the basis of the assumed design cropping pattern and a rainfallprobability of 75 percent, and represents 2.27 times the area under irrigationin 1993. This figure is a theoretical maximum. Indeed, it is considered thatdevelopment of irrigation in India is about to reach its limits and that nomajor extension of irrigated lands is to be expected after the beginning of thetwenty-first century. In China, the figure for irrigation potential is 64million ha and corresponds to the total area which could be brought underirrigation in the first half of the next century. As much of the additional landproposed for irrigation is located in the arid and semi-arid zones, reachingsuch a level would require a viable long-term strategy as to how to provide theamount of water necessary to irrigate these lands.

Irrigation development: Asia represents the bulkof irrigation in the world. High population density combined with the traditionof irrigated rice cultivation in all the tropical part of the Region are themain factors explaining the importance of irrigation in Asia. While irrigationdevelopment dates back several centuries, the twentieth century, andparticularly its second half, has seen a rapid increase in what could be calledmodern irrigation development and a majority of the countries have achievedself-sufficiency in cereal crops, mostly rice.

The assessment of land under irrigation in the countries ofthe Region is made particularly difficult by the different approaches used inthe countries to compute irrigation. For some countries (Bangladesh, Bhutan)paddy fields, cultivated mainly during the wet season, are not considered asirrigated land. For the other countries where paddy rice cultivation ispracticed, all paddy fields are considered irrigated land. In most cases,schemes are designed primarily to secure rice cultivation in the main croppingseason, although the need for intensification has progressively led somecountries to design new irrigation schemes for year-round irrigation, e.g.Thailand, while Vietnam has three rice crops a year. In total, 37 percent of theland under cultivation in the Region is irrigated.

While most wet season rice irrigation is fully gravityirrigation (cascades from plot to plot), dry season cropping may require pumpingin places. In the tropical zone, wet season irrigation is almost only paddyrice. It is usually considered as supplementary irrigation to an alreadyabundant precipitation. During the dry season, a much larger diversity of cropsare grown on irrigated fields. In Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia and Mongolia, akind of flood control irrigation is practiced with flood water being used toinundate paddy fields which are then cultivated with rice. In total, suchpractice concerns an area of about 1.2 percent of the total irrigated land inthe Region. Surface irrigation is by far the most widespread irrigationtechnique in the Region and all rice is irrigated by surface methods. Surfacewater is the major source of irrigation water in the Region, except forBangladesh, China, India and Pakistan where groundwater is widely used. Thepercentage of power irrigated area is more important in Bangladesh, China andIndia, with 83, 54 and 53 percent, respectively.

Irrigated crops: Rice represents about 45percent of all irrigated crop areas in the Region and 59 percent of the rice isirrigated. However, its regional distribution shows major trends: in thecountries of the Far East, Southeast Asia and the Islands, rice representssystematically more than 90 percent of irrigated crops, as is also the case forBhutan, Nepal and Sri Lanka. By contrast, India, China and DPR Korea have a muchmore balanced distribution of irrigated crops with rice representing only aboutone-third to one half of the total irrigated crop area. This reflects the coldor arid context of large parts of these countries. In India, the percentage ofland under irrigated wheat is slightly higher than that under irrigated rice (31percent as against 30 percent). In China, it can be estimated that it is sharedevenly between rice, wheat and other crops; rice being the single most importantirrigated crop. However, in India only 47 percent of the total harvested areafor paddy rice is irrigated, while more that 92 percent of the harvested paddyrice in China is irrigated.

Cropping intensity varies from 72 percent in Bhutan, to 132percent in India and Malaysia with an average of 127 percent. Care should betaken, however, when comparing figures for different countries. In Bangladesh(84 percent), irrigation is considered only for dry season cropping. The averageirrigated cropping intensity for ten countries where data are available is 127percent.

There are approximately 28 million hectares under intenseirrigation, producing two to three crops per year. Average yields are 4-6 t/haper crop, and on a yearly basis 10-15 t/ha are common. Maintaining and improvingthe high annual output from these areas is essential for food security. However,there are signs of declining productivity in the intensively cropped, irrigatedsystem, both on long-term research plots and farmers’ fields. Reasons forthis phenomenon are not understood yet, but are thought to be linked to theprolonged submergence of soils, puddling and their effects on soil chemical andbiological processes, including anaerobic decomposition of organic matter, andnear-continuous soil reduction. Finding solutions to arrest decliningproductivity will therefore most certainly require changes in floodingpractices.

2.2.1 Drainage, flood control and environmentalissues

In most of Asia, drainage is closely linked to irrigation. Intraditional terraced paddy cultivation, water flows from one plot to another andno distinction can be made between irrigation and drainage. In several humidcountries of the Region, large segments of lowland or wetland are used for paddycultivation. In such cases, the main purpose of water control is to ensureappropriate control of water level and drainage. Bangladesh and Cambodia use theterms controlled flooding or inundation, which are typical of paddy cultivationin the major deltas (Brahmaputra, Mekong). Lao PDR prefers to use lowlandflooded rice. In these areas, drainage and flood control are also very muchrelated. In Bangladesh, on average, 22 percent of the country is flooded everyyear and 50 percent of water development expenditures are spent on flood controland drainage. In Myanmar, in the Ayeyarwady Delta, drainage and flood controlstructures are also linked. Drainage covers 1 million ha in north and centralVietnam, mostly in the Red River Delta. Flood protected areas in China represent32.69 million ha. The extreme case of agriculture under flood conditions isfloating rice in Cambodia.

Drainage infrastructure associated with irrigation in arid andsemi-arid areas concern mostly northern China, India and Mongolia. In China as awhole, it was estimated in 1996 that 24.58 million ha were subject towaterlogging, of which 20.28 million ha were equipped with drainage. In India,drainage works have been undertaken on about 5.8 million ha, but investment indrainage works associated with irrigation schemes has been widely neglected anddrainage systems are usually in very poorly maintained condition.

Although total water withdrawal remains limited compared towater resources in Southeast Asia (about 5 percent), the large amounts of waterdiverted, mostly for agriculture, in those countries, have an environmentalimpact which may assume important proportions locally. Intrusion of saltwater indeltas is a concern in Myanmar, Vietnam and parts of India. Excessivegroundwater exploitation around Bangkok, Thailand creates land subsidence andexacerbates already existing flood problems.

2.2.2 Trends in irrigation and drainage

Overall, growth in irrigated areas in Asian countries hasdeclined from 2.1 percent per year in period 1961-1980 to 1.3 percent per yearin 1980-1995. This decline is most acute in industrialized East Asia, followedby China. Most of the growth has come form tube-well development, especially inIndia, Pakistan and Bangladesh. However this groundwater development is notsustainable in many regions where groundwater draw-down has reached alarminglevels, with very severe ecological impacts. A large proportion of new areas arenot planted with rice but with other crops. Declining prices of rice, highermarginal development costs, environmental concerns, and poor performance ofexisting schemes are among the main factors for the decline in irrigation growthand investment both by governments and farmers in the Region.

However, the proportion of rice area that is irrigated isincreasing, rising from just 35 percent of the total rice area to 44 percentover the last twenty years. Rice irrigated areas have expanded by 600 000hectares per year while upland and deep water rice ecosystems decreased by 25percent.

While irrigation has been instrumental in achievingself-sufficiency in staple crop production in recent decades in most countriesof the Region, some countries such as Indonesia and the Philippines stillindicate self-sufficiency as a major target of their irrigation developmentprogrammes; this is mainly to keep pace with rising populations. In Malaysia,however, the national policy is to decrease self-sufficiency in rice from 80 to65 percent in 2010, due to the high cost of rice production. In Japan, riceirrigation has been on a downward trend for the last 20 years due tooverproduction in the 1970’s.

Increased competition for water between sectors alreadyaffects agriculture in China, India, Malaysia, Thailand and the Republic ofKorea and the trend is towards an intensification of the problem due mainly tothe rapid growth of the domestic and industrial sectors in these countries.Major interbasin transfer programmes are reported in China and Thailand. Waterscarcity and the interdependency between water use sectors are pushing countriesto develop integrated water resources management programmes. Water quality andthe increased importance of water conservation and protection are also majorgrowing concerns.

The failure to develop adequate operation and maintenance (Oand M) mechanisms to ensure the sustainability of the irrigation schemes (mostlylarge, public schemes) has led to irrigation management transfer or increasedparticipation of users in the management of the schemes. This is achievedthrough the development or improvement of water users associations(WUAs).

Most of the countries have undergone deep societal andsocio-economic transformations, characterized by: fast economic growth (untilrecently at least), especially in the industrial and services sectors; liberalmacro-economic policies, development of trade reforms and privatization in thepublic sector and institutions; development of the civil society; and growingawareness of environmental issues and problems. In general, it is estimated thatthese profound changes in the environment, dominated by the need to adapt towater scarcity chiefly by the adoption of demand management strategies, call fora deep transformation of the irrigation sub-sector by the adoption of thefollowing measures. First and foremost to consume less water, to modify waterdemands and maximize efficiency in water use and to improve of it’seconomic, technical, and environmental performance, together withdiversification of produce and cropping patterns, changes in management systemsand structures, and financial and fiscal sustainability.

On the other hand, improved levels of education and oftechnological environment, more dynamic markets and diversified financingsystems, more efficient and decentralized administration, and new managementmodels, constitute many favourable conditions for an improvement of theperformance of the irrigation sub-sectors and modernization of irrigationschemes.

As the older public schemes reach the age of 30-40 years inmost countries, the issue of rehabilitation, which is related to operation andmaintenance and modernization, is becoming increasingly important. While forsome countries (such as Lao PDR, Myanmar, Philippines, Vietnam and parts ofIndia) the extension of irrigated land still represents an important part ofirrigation programmes, in most countries rehabilitation programmes are taking onincreasing importance. The increased land and water scarcity and low expectedreturn of future expansion of irrigation in these countries are often factorsexplaining the growing importance of rehabilitation in irrigationprogrammes.

Modernization of irrigation schemes as a part of a broadertransformation of the water and agricultural sectors, responds to a complex setof institutional, technical, operational and economic issues, and would consistof a complex set of institutional, technical, operational and agriculturalchanges, generally associated with changes in water pricing and cost recovery.There is a general agreement on the specific objectives of the improvement ofthe performance of irrigation systems, in terms of delivering water to farmersin a more efficient, flexible, reliable and equitable manner. However, progressin the Region is rather slow when compared with other regions, and particularlywith countries like Mexico or Turkey. Concepts related to service-orientedirrigation are not yet widespread or understood.

3. SCENARIOS FOR 2025

In World Water Demand and Supply, 1990 to 2025: Scenarios andIssues (IWMI Research Report 19, Seckler, Amarasinghe, Molden, de Silva andBarker, 1998), IWMI projects growth in water demand with two scenarios for theirrigation sector. In the first scenario, the 1990 level of irrigationefficiency remains constant through 2025. In the second scenario, higherefficiencies are attained (70 percent except for rice growing countries where 60percent is projected, or a doubling of present efficiency, whichever is lower).The assumptions are that the per capita amount of food production from irrigatedagriculture will remain constant. No allowance is made for additional irrigatedarea or irrigation water to meet increased per capita food demand; increased percapita consumption is met by increased yields; and the proportion of foodsupplied by irrigated areas and rainfed areas remains constant. Theseassumptions may underestimate the severity of the problem as cereal yields arestagnating, remaining rainfed land in the Region is very limited or can bedeveloped only at high environmental and economic costs, and irrigation land isbeing lost to urbanization, water logging and sanitation at a fastpace.

Table 3 presents 1990 per capita withdrawals of water for thedomestic, industrial and irrigation sectors and projected withdrawals by thesesectors in 2025 for Asian countries. For countries currently below 20m³ per capita for satisfaction of basic domestic water needs, 20m³ per capita are projected in 2025. For countries currently abovethat level, estimates of withdrawal for domestic and industrial sectors arebased on projected per capita GNP for both the domestic and industrial sectors.Environmental needs (minimum flows, water demand of ecosystems, etc.) are nottaken into account. The model does not take into account shifts in productionpatterns, the role of trade in meeting national food balances, thetrans-boundary nature of water resources and changes in food consumptionpatterns which usually follow socio-economic development. In this respect about2,200 m³ of water are required to feed one person for a year with adiet rich in meat. A diet low in meat requires about half as muchwater.

Table 3. Water Supply and Demandin Asia in 2025

For the Region as a whole, in the first scenario total waterwithdrawal from all sectors would increase by 62 percent as against 18 percentin the second scenario, or a total saving of 691KM3 per year. Still additionalwithdrawals of 315 KM³ per year over the present withdrawal of 1,555KM³ per year would be required and, globally at the regional level,potential water savings derived from increases in irrigation efficiency couldnot compensate for the growth in food and other demands. Additional waterresources would need to be developed and there could be no net transfer of waterresources from irrigation to the other sectors.

At the country level, countries can be grouped according tothe nature and degree of their projected water scarcity by 2025 under the secondscenario:

Group 1: absolute water scarcity^*** (Pakistan,Afghanistan and Singapore, total population 333 million). Singapore is a veryparticular case and must be treated separately as there is no irrigation in thisCity State. They do not have sufficient water resources to meet reasonable percapita water needs and will certainly have to reduce the amount of water used inirrigated agriculture and transfer it to other sectors, importing more foodinstead. This will place an additional burden on their economies as they arealready suffering large deficit accounts. Being so large and diverse, China andIndia must be treated separately at a sub-national level. North China as well asWest and South India are very dry and around one third of the population ofthese two countries will live in regions of absolute water scarcity (381 and 280million people, respectively from a total of 661 million people).

^*** If annual withdrawals are higherthan 50% of annual available resources.

Therefore, at the level of the Region, approximately 1 billionpeople would live in regions of absolute water scarcity. The other groups wouldhave sufficient resources to meet future water demand and can be categorized byeconomic water scarcity, as many of these would have to embark on massive waterdevelopment programmes.

Countries in Group 3 (Nepal, Australia, Cambodia, Myanmar,Malaysia) also need to increase water development by between 25 and 100 percent.They represent a total population of close to 500 million people and theircapacity to make the necessary investments is very diverse. Countries in Group 4(Philippines, Vietnam, Bangladesh) would have only modest requirements foradditional water resources development while countries in Group 5 (Republic ofKorea, DPR Korea, Japan, Thailand and Sri Lanka) would have zero or negativeneeds for water development.

The model has the merit of comparing two scenarios: businessas usual and substantial (perhaps over-optimistic under any circ*mstances)increases in irrigation sector water use efficiency, in the context of projectedgrowth of the water demand of all sectors; and of taking into account not onlythe availability of water resources but also an estimation for their requiredfurther development. The overall picture for the Region may be described as thefollowing: because of the projected increases in population and therefore fooddemand, irrigated food production will need to increase significantly. Demandfrom other sectors will also increase because of both projected economicdevelopment and increase in population.

Many countries in the Region (Group 4 and Group 5) would beable to meet total societal water demand for their socio-economic development atthe cost of relatively limited further water development (and therefore limitedenvironmental impact) and/or with their available water resources, provided thatthey embark on significant and far-reaching improvement programmes of water useefficiency in the irrigation sector. The potential benefits or problems avertedwould be greater for those countries with limited investment capacity such asVietnam or Bangladesh, which otherwise would need to almost double theirdeveloped water supplies.

Countries in Group 3 would need to invest massively in bothwater development and improvement of their national irrigation systems in orderto avoid water becoming an overriding constraint in socio-economic developmentand to meet food security objectives, but they have a varied capacity to doso.

However, approximately one billion persons or about a quarterof the Region’s population would live in countries or regions of absolutewater scarcity with severe consequences for their rural (and urban) populationand substantial impact on the agricultural sector, for which Governments wouldneed to prepare the populations and assist them in finding employment and incomegenerating activities in other economic sectors, and develop other sectors to beable to meet their food import bills in order to achieve food security. Thissituation may be mitigated to a certain extent by inter-basin transfers withinChina or India.

As many of the regions concerned are major production areasfor vital cereal food production, it is foreseen by many experts that the needfor these regions to import cereals could have severe consequences for the poorsegments of the population in other countries, by raising their prices on theinternational markets. A major factor of poverty eradication in the past hasbeen the reduction of food commodity prices thanks to the (irrigated)“green revolution”. In theory, a shift in global production patternsfor crops with a high virtual water content from water-scarce regions to wellwater-endowed regions and countries could ensure the satisfaction of demand, butwhether this will happen is far from certain.

What seems to be certain is that nearly all countries in theRegion will need to invest considerable efforts and resources in a mixture ofimproved demand management of the water sector and interventions on the supplyside. In addition to the required economic investments on the supply side,considerable investments entailed by an irrigation water management improvementprogramme or the institutional and social capacity of the countries inimplementing the necessary reforms in the water sector as a whole or in theirrigation sub-sector would be required to achieve the very considerableimprovements in water use efficiency postulated in the second scenario. Theserising costs will be borne increasingly by the water users through a combinationof pricing and cost recovery, pushing the prices of food commodities up,impacting in particular on the Region’s poor.

4. RICE WATER MANAGEMENT

Total water requirements and specific water use(m³/ha) for rice production under different ecologies can be roughlyestimated on average (evapotranspiration 550-950 mm/crop, which is the wateractually consumed by the plant) at:

- rainfed upland rice: 5500 m³/ha(evapotranspiration only) for 1.25 t/ha specific water use: 6.5m³/kg

- rainfed lowland rice: 10,000 m³/ha(evapotranspiration + impounded rainwater) for 2.5 t/ha specific water use: 4.0m³/kg

- irrigated upland rice: 10,000 m³/ha(evapotranspiration + supplementary irrigation) for 2.5 t/ha specific water use:4.0 m³/kg

- irrigated lowland/deepwater rice: 16,500 m³/ha(evapotranspiration and full irrigation) for 4.5 t/ha specific water use: 3.7m³/kg

Irrigated lowland is at the same time the dominant ecosystem,the most productive in terms of yields and specific water use (the most waterproductive), but also the least efficient if one considers water use percultivated ha or the amount of water required for evapotranspiration divided bythe amount of water diverted into the system.

Research, with some reason, has concentrated in the past onthis ecology where the greatest potential gains could be achieved per ha andglobally. Early research focused on ways to improve water productivity bydeveloping improved varieties and improving agronomic management, then morerecently on improving water use efficiency, and finally on improving waterproductivity (which considers yields or income per m³ of waterconsumed) at all levels.

Irrigation inflow requirements (the amount of water divertedinto the system) can be subdivided into crop evapotranspiration (T),evaporation (E), seepage and percolation losses (S and P), andsurface run off (SRO). Because quantities of water required for landpreparation and soaking as well as for maintaining water level in the paddyfields and soil saturation are high, T may represent only a small portionof irrigation inflow requirements and therefore overall (system) irrigationefficiency or (farm) water use efficiency are typically quite low (in the rangeof 30 to 40 percent).

Typically, parts of seepage and percolation losses as well assurface runoff can be re-used, i.e., recycled within the system (RCL).Attention has focused more recently on the fate of seepage and percolation andrunoff. If this water is reused within the system (recycling drainage water orwith conjunctive use) for agriculture or other uses, or returned to thehydrological cycle for further use downstream for productive use, then thiswater cannot be considered as lost. In the upstream part of the river basin,reducing these “losses” might only result in dry or paper savings andin disturbing the established hydrological regime (reducing groundwaterre-charge, affecting downstream users etc.). Further downstream, wherever thiswater flows into sinks (i.e., cannot be reused), flows into the sea or is toopolluted or salinized to be reused, then, attempts at reducing these losses orrecycling them within the system would result in real or wet water savings.Indeed, it may be argued that paddy fields perform similar hydrologicalfunctions to wetlands for groundwater re-charge, flood control and trappingsilt, which could be valued. Some authors have even suggested that farmers mightbe subsidized to practice inefficient irrigation practices for groundwaterre-charge.

In any case, it is now widely accepted that:

- A river basin perspective should be adopted withmuch more attention being paid to defining the boundaries of intervention (farm,system, basin). Substantial progress has been made in defining concepts andmethodologies (water accounting, modeling, etc.) but available data, which arealready woefully inadequate to assess the merit of interventions at the farm orsystem level, water abstraction and even cultivated and irrigated areas, areeven more lacking for the adoption of integrated river basinapproaches.

- More attention must be paid to water quality issues andparticularly the release of pollutants (fertilizers and other agro-chemicals)and salt concentration.

Nevertheless, practices which minimize irrigation inflow areof a direct interest to farmers, who see their water supply rationed and have topay an increasing share of its cost; to managers and developers, who also facerationing because of degradation of water resources, dam siltation, transfer toother sectors, etc. and therefore have an interest in minimizing pumping costs,and operation and maintenance as well as development costs; and also to waterresources managers who need to plan future irrigation developments with minimumenvironmental impact from withdrawals or reservoirs. In addition, many majorrice growing areas are located in coastal plains. Furthermore, water savingpractices, which require greater water control, typically are associated with orpart of packages to improve agronomic practices and the efficiency of use ofother inputs, and therefore play an important role in total factorproductivity.

They therefore contribute to increasing not only water use orirrigation efficiency but also to improving or sustaining water productivity.Indeed, water management methods which improve water use efficiency have beendeveloped with a view to maintaining crop yields and actually, when implementedproperly, lead to yield increases (in the range of 15-20 percent in China forintermittent flooding and other methods). It follows that, although it iscorrect and necessary to use rigorous concepts for efficiency and performance atsystem and basin levels, and to determine under various conditions the optimumcombination of improved technologies and water management practices that canmeet water demand with least water consumed and managing return flows to ensuresystem and basin level efficiency, in practice it is difficult to find watermanagement techniques proposed for adoption at the farm level which do notsimultaneously raise irrigation efficiency and water productivity.

The range of possible strategies and their effect on variouscomponents of irrigation inflow requirements can be summarized in the followingTable 4.

Table 4. Practices and Strategies to Improve Rice WaterProductivity

Practices	T	E	S and P	SRO	RCL
Developing improved varieties	x
Improving agronomic management	x
Changing schedules to reduce evaporation		x
Reducing water for land preparation		x	x	X
Changing rice planting practices		x	x	X
Reducing crop growth water		x	x	X
Making more effective use of rainfall			x	X
Water distribution strategies		x	x	X
Water recycling and conjunctive use					x

These various practices and strategies are presented anddiscussed in detail in SWIM Paper 5 (Guerra, Bhuiyan, Tuong, Barker, 1998) aswell as in Barker, Dawe, Tuong, Bhuiyan and Guerra, 1998 and Klemm, 1998 fromwhich the above table is drawn and will be summarized or commented on in thefollowing section.

4.1 Increasing Water Productivity

Developing improved varieties: High yieldingvarieties (HYVs) have more than doubled rice water productivity (againstT) over the last decades. Hybrid rice has successfully been introduced intransplanted systems. However, the direct seeding method which is gainingincreased acceptance is limiting the adoption rate of the hybrid rice technologysince the process requires the use of much more of the costly seeds of hybridrice per hectare than does the alternative method of transplanting rice. Directseeding of hybrid rice is not economical with current hybrid seed productiontechnologies. The New Plant Type (NPT) has been developed by IRRI scientistswith the goal of raising the yield potential of conventional rice varieties toabout 12-15 t/ha. NPTs are targeted for direct seeding conditions in anirrigated ecology. Biotechnology could amend many abiotic and biotic constraintsto sustainable rice production including drought stress and tolerance to adversesoils and cold temperature.

Improving agronomic management: Improving pestcontrol and nutrient management and other technologies that enhance yieldsincrease output per unit of water (T). It should be noted that IPM techniqueswere developed in the context of large schemes where water supply was considereda constraint. Efforts are currently under way to integrate on-farm watermanagement, IPM, nutrient management with the improvement of crop management(Pilot projects of FAO’s Special Programme for food Security in Sri Lanka,Cambodia, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Pakistan).

Changing the crop planting date and making moreeffective use of rainfall: Both these strategies require changes inwater resources or reservoirs and farm management strategies and goodcooperation between system operators and farmers.

Reducing water use for land preparation:Practices include land leveling (which contributes to better utilization ofvariable rainfall early in the season, reducing weeds, reducing S and P,improving fertilization application efficiencies and improving the timeliness ofland preparation etc.), reducing the land preparation period, puddling,management of cracked soils (losses can be reduced by measures that minimizecrack development during the soil drying period through straw mulching and dryshallow surface tillage on crack formation during the fallow period, or byimpeding the flow of water through these cracks), and dry tillage.

Changing rice planting practices: Wet seeding ofrice uses about 20-25 percent less water than in traditional transplanted ricemethods and drastically reduces labor for establishing the crop from 30-persondays per ha for transplanting to 1-2 person days. Improved water managementpractices during crop establishment (the first 2 weeks from planting) arecrucial to enhance the weed-suppressing advantages that can be achieved by earlyflooding of wet seeded rice. Expansion of employment opportunities and cropintensification have resulted in the replacement of transplanting by directseeding. Dry seeded rice saves even more water especially during landpreparation.

Reducing water use during crop growth:Intermittent flooding, maintaining the soil in sub-saturated condition,alternate drying and wetting (as developed in various provinces in China) canreduce water applied to the field by more than 40 percent compared withcontinuous submergence methods without affecting yields. Increases in yields byup to 20 percent are actually reported. Some variants of these water managementmethods allow for storage and maximum use of rainfall. Optimum use of rainfallduring the rainy season can more generally save reservoir water and increaseareas irrigated during the dry season.

Supplementary irrigation of rainfed lowlandrice: Supplementary irrigation either for crop establishment or atcritical growth stages, particularly flowering, can prevent yield depressions ofup to 40 percent or even crop failure one year out of five for T. Aman (monsoonseason) rice in Bangladesh.

Water distribution strategies: Reducinginequities in water distribution among tertiary canals or within tertiary canalblocks through various systems of rotation should contribute to achieving a moreeven distribution, reduce losses and provide water to large areas. However,rotation systems are difficult to establish in practice.

Water recycling and conjunctive use: Conjunctiveuse was developed on the Indian sub-continent principally to compensate for thelack of reliability, inequities in distribution, and rigidity of canal waterdistribution systems, which constitute many obstacles to the development ofproductive irrigated production systems. It allows flexibility in availabilityof irrigation water and secures against failures in water delivery. It enablesfarmers to reuse seepage and percolation losses from canals and fields. However,conjunctive use and recycling of drainage water were not developed primarily toenhance water productivity or overall system efficiency and are usually notconsidered in design manuals of most irrigation agencies. Their development inuncontrolled conditions have led in many areas to groundwater draw-down andsalinity problems. However, they are standard features of modern design methods.Drainage recycling has been applied very successfully, for instance in the MUDAscheme in Malaysia.

Alternatives to flooding techniques: WhileBarker, Dawe, Tuong, Bhuiyan and Guerra address the domain of surface irrigationbasin on-farm methods, Klemm also discusses pressurized irrigation methods. Itshould be noted that, indeed, in theory, and also in practice, rice (both uplandand lowland) can be irrigated with overhead as well as surface methods, and,among these, not only flooding and related techniques but also furrow and othersurface methods. These techniques have been developed mostly in Latin Americafor upland rice, in the United States of America and in the Mediterranean Regionwhich faces severe water scarcity and, the region in China where large riceareas are under arid to semi-arid climates. With the development of newvarieties and the improvement of agro-technical methods and practices, yieldobtained under aerobic conditions reach the level of production as under floodirrigation. Good results are also achieved with sprinkler irrigation of lowlandrice.

However, growing irrigated rice under aerobic conditions stillfaces severe constraints:

- Higher inputs for weed control

- Increased susceptibility to diseases

- Imbalance of soil nutrients

See Also

FROM PTV NEWS: Dar: DA’s 100% rice self-sufficiency level ‘within reach’ - Official Portal of the Department of Agriculture

- More know-how required in on-farm water management

- Increase of investment and maintenance costs

- Deep ingrained traditions and social customs based on floodirrigation management.

The acceptance by farmers of all the above strategies andpractices will of course depend on economic factors. Furthermore, they depend onimproved water control management of water at the system level, as well asadequate irrigation (in particular a reticulated irrigation distribution system)and drainage facilities. Their availability in China has allowed farmers toadopt water savings techniques described above. However, typically, at thatlevel, conveyance, field canal and distribution efficiencies are particularlysensitive to the quality of management, communication and technical control.When water supply within the system is unreliable, farmers try to store morewater than is needed. In many large irrigation systems, few control structuresat any level and poor drainage structures and poor drainage networks contributeto a waste of water.

Being confronted with this rather large number of problems, itis not surprising that farmers are reluctant to shift to more demanding watermanagement techniques than flooding. However, considering the growing waterscarcity and pressure on the irrigated sub-sector within the water sector and onagriculture by other sectors of society and overall economic developmentpolicies described in previous sections, there is no choice and farmers must beprovided both with a conducive environment and a proper production tool, i.e.better performing irrigation services.

It is the responsibility of governments to develop such aconducive environment which can be briefly summarized as follows:

- Legal support at national level for land use andwater resources management (establishment of laws);

- Legal support at district and community level for land useand water resources management (integration of customary laws and establishmentof regulations and by-laws);

- Technical support in upgrading irrigation systems forefficient water distribution;

- Agricultural support in adapting agricultural practices tomodified irrigation methods;

- Financial support to initiate community-managedcredit-schemes; and

- Human resources development at district and community level(area-based water resources management and on-farm water management).

In addition, the success of irrigated agriculture hinges oneconomic factors and the presence of adequate services. Inadequacies of marketsystems, storage facilities, management of agricultural produce and creditsources have contributed to failures in the past. These constraints must beeliminated through sound government macro-economic policies to permit increasesin production and to ensure the economic viability of projects.

4.2 The System Level

Improvements in the operation and maintenance of riceirrigation schemes through rehabilitation of the deteriorated systems,improvement of irrigation infrastructure for surface irrigation, irrigationmanagement transfer, modernization, combining to various degrees institutional,organizational and technical changes, have been attempted in the Region withvariable degrees of success. Studies undertaken by the World Bank in recentyears have evaluated the impact of irrigation projects.

Jones (1995) evaluated the design of rice project in the humidtropics and concluded, from the strong degree of resistance of farmers to newdesign standards and the level of anarchy and chaos observed on the schemes,that the more reticulated systems, capable of supporting on-demand waterdelivery, were not appropriate under these climates.

A more recent study (OED, 1996, Rice, 1997) assessed theagro-economic impacts of investments in gravity-fed irrigation schemes in thepaddy lands of Southeast Asia, to determine whether and how the quality ofoperation and maintenance (O and M) services influences the sustainability ofthose impacts.

At four of the six sites, the areas supplied by the irrigationsystems were significantly less than planned. Cropping intensities were alsosubstantially lower than expected at three sites and falling at a fourth. Onlyone scheme had attained both its area and intensity targets. Paddy yields variedwidely - between schemes and in comparison with expectations - but a weightedaverage for the wet and dry seasons at all the schemes was about 3.3 tons, or 85percent of appraisal projections. However, farmers had not diversified out ofpaddy. Indeed, the concentration on paddy had increased. Output was between 32and 73 percent of appraisal estimates for five schemes. The returns had alsobeen driven down by the decline of the international price of rice.

Overall, agency and irrigator performance appeared to besubstantially better than expected. Farmers cooperated to achieve at least basicO and M objectives regardless of the level of maturity of the formalorganization. There were no substantial negative constraints on irrigatedproduction attributable to poor performance in O and M. Those O and M operationsthat are essential to keep sufficient supplies of water flowing to the greatmajority of the fields were adequately carried out. The study also noted thedismantling of complex technological control systems installed in the1980’s in favour of fixed structures that have no adjustments andstructures that adjust automatically to changes in water levels; and therejection by farmers of both rotations and gates. Rotations do occur, but theytend to break down under conditions of shortage, which is when they are neededmost.

The main finding was that given that they offered pooreconomics and low incomes, these paddy irrigation schemes faced an uncertainfuture. Small holder irrigated paddy could no longer provide the basis for agrowing, or even stable household economy, driving younger family members offthe farms while older members who stayed behind concentrated on basicsubsistence crops. Consequently, social capital would erode and O and Mstandards were likely to suffer. As economies expanded, irrigated paddy wouldnot be able to compete with the incomes to be had from other employmentopportunities. Improved O and M performance would not rescue them. The studymade these recommendations:

- Sharpen the response to O and M failures bydisaggregating O and M; identifying the poorly performing components; anddealing with disincentives specific to each, such as the tertiary gates thatfarmers below consider unfriendly.

- Simplify the infrastructure and operations technology byconverting to fixed and automatic controls that need less human intervention andby supporting authorities who plan with the farmers to abandon equitablerotations by rationing water during emergencies.

- Promote the transfer of management to farmers and their WUGsjudiciously by recognizing that organizing user groups pays off, but alsoaccepting that immature WUGs cannot handle some managementresponsibilities.

- Improve household earnings by diversifying cropping systemsand supporting research, extension, and marketing services keyed to specialtycrops and integrated, high value farming.

More recently, the International Programme for Technology andResearch in Irrigation and Drainage evaluated the impact on performance ofmodern water control and management practices in irrigation (IPTRID/WorldBank/FAO Water reports 19, 1999) on 16 projects, of which 6 were in Asia(Majalgaon, Dantiwada and Bhakra in India, Kemubu and Muda in Malaysia, and LamPao in Thailand - Lam Pao was also one of the sites of the previousstudy).

Key findings were:

- While 15 of the 16 irrigation projects visitedhad some aspects of modernization, none of them could qualify as“modernized” irrigation projects.

- The partially modernized projects did not have the chaos andanarchy that has been widely documented in typical (non-modernized) irrigationprojects.

- Several projects have been modernized to the point that thewater conveyance operations and hardware were able to support functional wateruser associations, and in turn those water user associations were collectingsufficient water fees to pay for all or most of the O and M expenses.

- Water user associations of some form (parastatal or privatesector) provide distinct advantages if they are properly empowered. The“social” WUAs that are developed for the purpose of providingmaintenance and collecting water fees were consistently either weak orimaginary. The “business” WUAs that hired staff to distribute waterand ran the water distribution similar to a business operation were often quitestrong.

- Farmers and managers appeared to be satisfied with a levelof water delivery service that simply eliminates anarchy and also provides“sufficient” water to farms. Such criteria are insufficient to supportmodern field irrigation hardware and management.

- Modernization efforts which emphasized computer programmesfor predicting canal gate movements and water deliveries were generallyineffective (or worse).

- Modernization needs were split between hardware, management,and a combination of the two. All projects needed improvements in both hardwareand management.

- Successful projects stress improved communications, focus onoperational data rather than statistical data, and require a minimum ofpaperwork for operators.

- Simple hardware and operational changes could give immediatebenefits - if people just knew about them. There is a huge lack of awareness ofhow to design irrigation systems that provide good service. Examples of simplepotential improvements were:

·Re-orienting employees from statistical data collection to operations andfocusing on results rather than process.

· Using weir flow on crossregulators rather than only orifice flow.

· Modification of turnoutoperations for improved flow control and measurement, including some physicalmodifications to the turnouts.

· Installation of re-circulationsystems within the project to easily collect and reuse spill.

· Improved voice communicationand mobility of operators.

· Remote monitoring of spillpoints, and subsequent adjustment of the head works for the pertinent canal.This can be done manually with radios or even over a reliable telephonenetwork.

· More frequent adjustment offlow rates at the source of a project, based on meaningful data from throughoutthe project.

· Programmes for improvedirrigation scheduling for field irrigation are doomed to failure unless thewater delivery service is well controlled, reliable, and flexible -- which meansmost such programmes are doomed to failure.

- There is a very serious shortage of trainers and consultantswho can provide focused and pragmatic training and design which properlyincorporates both strategies and details of hardware and managementmodernization.

- Modernization is a slow and expensive process. Manymodernization projects are under-funded with respect to theexpectations.

- Overall, there is a lack of understanding of modernizationstrategies and how to implement them.

Most field (on-farm) irrigation methods in these irrigationprojects were relatively simple, and the farmers and irrigation project staffhad low expectations of the level of water delivery service needed. The initialfocus on modernization was generally on reliability and equity. This is becausetraditional field irrigation techniques are not sophisticated, and obtainingreliability and equity is essential to avoid anarchy. This will not mean thatreliability and equity are less important for future irrigation systems; itmeans that flexibility and control will be more important than they are atpresent. Because the study aimed at investigation of the capacity of the systemsto provide the level of service required in the future, which will have to bemuch higher than at present, the capacity of the systems to allow farmers toconvert to pressurized irrigation methods was evaluated. Modern field irrigationsystems have different service needs, where flexibility plus accuratecontrol/measurement of volumes to fields are more important.

The study concluded the following on appropriate modernizationstrategies:

- Irrigation project proposals, at the onset, mustclearly define:

- The desired service that will be provided at all levelswithin the system. This requirement needs more than a few sentences in a report.Performance-based design requires that substantial thought and resources bededicated to this matter.

- The operational procedures which will be used to providethis desired level of service.

- The hardware and irrigation project game plan (strategy)that is needed to implement the proper operation.

Finally, there is a need for a new vision forprojects:

- The vision for all modernization programmes mustbe on the water delivery service that is needed 30 years from now.

- Direct government contributions to O and M activities canrealistically be reduced if the projects are first brought up to the point wherereasonable water delivery service can be provided.

The findings and conclusions of these three studies seem to berather pessimistic and contradictory. However, put together, they tend toindicate that present project designs are not capable of supporting botheconomically and technically the intensified, diversified and more waterefficient and productive rice production systems which will be required in thefuture. They also seem to indicate that purely software solutions or mereimprovement of operation and maintenance do not deliver the expected results interms of improvements in performance and yields. They also reveal that manymodernization or improvement efforts have been inappropriate, poorly adapted tolocal circ*mstances and the specific character of rice-based production systems,and incomplete or fragmentary.

The Case of the Indian Sub-continent: Irrigationschemes in large parts of India and Pakistan have been built on the design logicof “protective irrigation”. The idea is to reach as many farmers aspossible to protect them against crop failure and famine which would occurwithout irrigation in regions with erratic monsoon rainfall. Water available inrivers or reservoirs is spread thinly over a large area. The amount of water afarmer is entitled to receive is insufficient to cover the full waterrequirements on all his land for an average rainfall year. Management principlesin India (Warabandi, Shejpali, crop sanctioning) all involve the problem ofrationing scarce water in a supply based system where the objectives ofindividual farmers differ from those of the scheme management. Typicalirrigation systems have very few control structures. Canals are run at fullsupply level or have to be closed in order to achieve equal distribution ofwater to ungated chak outlets and to avoid deposition of silt. Constructioncosts are low but maintenance costs are high in comparison to the low level ofirrigation service. Protective irrigation systems have been able to mitigate theeffects of severe droughts and are still the backbone of the agriculturaleconomies in Pakistan and India. However, it is now becoming apparent that thedesign logic of these systems may no longer be adequate for modern productiveirrigated agriculture in an increasingly global economy.

The most pressing problems include: low efficiency in waterdistribution and use, unreliable water delivery, widespread vandalism ofstructures, poor maintenance, waterlogging and salinity, and insufficient costrecovery. Farmers could cope with these inefficiencies and make full use ofadvances of the green revolution in cases were they had access to freshgroundwater. However in areas which are less fortunate, because of saline orinsufficient groundwater, yields are stagnating or declining.

The level of service provided to farmers clearly would notallow them to adopt the water saving technologies and management practices forrice production described in previous sections.

Successful irrigation systems feature high yields, serviceoriented irrigation management and financial autonomy. They may be described asproductive irrigation.

FAO’s position is that a resolute modernization ofirrigation schemes, through a combined strategy of institutional, managerial andtechnological change with the objective to change from a supply to serviceoriented mode of operation, building on current economic trends, is the adequatestrategic choice to the present economic and social environment.

Other options include maintaining the status quo, with anexacerbation of existing problems, or enforcement of the protective irrigationconcept by irrigation authorities which would have to continue to be dependenton state subsidies: levels of irrigation service and agricultural productivitywill remain low except where canal water is supplemented by privatewells.

This view seems to be supported by the Government of India,which in the 1998 preface to the World Bank Irrigation Sector Report, called for“a total revolution in irrigated agriculture... with much more focus on theimprovement of performance of existing irrigated facilities and provision of aclient-focused irrigation service... a paradigm shift in emphasis... towardimproving the performance of existing irrigated agriculture... a secondrevolution in irrigated agriculture is required now”.

5. CONCLUSIONS

The challenge to produce more rice with less water,economically and in ways that will be adopted by farmers in a context ofreformed agricultural and water policies and integrated water resourcesmanagement appears formidable yet is vital for the food security of the Region.This will require considerable investments in economic as well as humanresources.

A range of options are available for increasing theproductivity and efficiency of water in surface irrigated rice ecologies. Moreradical options departing from traditional systems are also available and may berequired. Over the past decades, substantial gains have already been achievedand farmers have demonstrated that, provided that they are empowered, have theeconomic incentives and an adequate production tool and irrigation service, theycould quickly adopt substantial changes in their water management practices.However, new institutional and technical approaches have had limited impacts inthe field.

The most appropriate strategies to adopt will vary over timeand space and will have to be designed carefully with the involvement of thefarmers, but will need to be resolutely forward-looking and perhapsrevolutionary. Identifying the policies, management practices and technologiesneeded at farm, system and basin level will require a multi-disciplinaryapproach, substantial investments in collection and analysis of new and relevantinformation and research, as well as constant evaluation of present approachesand practices.

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T. Facon, 1997. Modernization of irrigation schemes, synthesisof country papers, In: FAO Water Report 12, Modernization of Irrigationschemes, past experiences and future options.

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