South Asian countries, comprising of India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh having a total geographical area of only 401.72 million hectares (Mha.), hold nearly half the world population of 3.1 billion (FAO, 1999). Nearly half of this land area is devoted to agriculture which provides livelihood and food security for 59% of the world population. There is a growing realization that agriculture of the post-Green Revolution will be guided by the need to produce more of quality food at reduced cost from the marginal quality lands and water resources. In the face of increasing resource constraints (land, labor, and water), new resource conserving technologies must be developed and adopted in both irrigated, and rainfed ecosystems to meet the food needs of a growing population. Particular attention has to be given to practices that increase water productivity and protect the environment. Rice and wheat are the two principal food crops in the region that contribute 80%, in the food pool of the region. These crops are grown in sequence on 13.5 million hectares of the IndoGangetic Plains. The total water requirement for rice-wheat system is estimated to vary between 1382 mm to 1838 mm in the Indo-Gangetic Plains, accounting to more than 80% for the rice growing season. Thus to save on water, saving must be effected during rice growing season, the major water user in RW system. Future food security in this region is severely threatened by unsustainable groundwater use and inappropriate water management practices. For the rice-wheat systems of the Indo-Gangetic Plains, Rice-Wheat Consortium in collaboration with its NARS partners has been developing several water-saving technologies for water-short irrigated environments which besides the development of irrigation schedules and frequency, crop choices and their
appropriate cultivars also included the precursor technology known as precision land leveling. In irrigated and rainfed environments, precision land leveling improves uniform application of water, betters the crop stands and helps reduce abiotic stress intensities, enhancing survival of young seedlings and robustness of the crop to withstand stress and stabilize yields through improved nutrient-water interactions. Laser-assisted precision land leveling saves irrigation water, nutrients and agro-chemicals. It also enhances environmental quality and crop yields. In spite of the known benefits of precision land leveling, Indian farmers are unable to take full advantage of it and have to rely on traditional methods of land leveling which are labor-intensive and crude, and do not achieve a high level of smoothness of land surface. Laser land leveling technique is well known for achieving higher level of accuracy in land leveling. The technology described (laser leveling) offers a great potential for water saving, better environmental quality and higher grain yields. In India, about 1000 farmers have adopted the technology and covered more than 10000 acres in western Uttar Pradesh and Haryana through efforts of the Rice-Wheat Consortium and Project Directorate for Cropping Systems Research under the aegis of USAID project. This study provides an overview of the technology, experience sharing, agronomic aspects, and economic gains along with farmers’ views about the technology. It is estimated that extension of laser-assisted precision land leveling system to just two million hectares of area under rice-wheat system could save 1.5 million hectare-meter of irrigation water and save diesel up to 200 million liters (equal to US $1400 million), and improve crop yields amounting to US$ 500 million in three years and reduce GHG emissions equivalent to 500 million kg. Laser-assisted precision land leveling system is also likely to increase the cultivable area in the range of 3-6% (due to reduction in bunds and channels in the field). Furthermore, on laser-leveled fields, the performance of different crop establishment options such as of zero tillage, raised bed planting, and surface seeding are known to improve significantly.

Borlaug Institute for South Asia|Conservation Agriculture Program

Text in English

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CGUR01|INT3072