Alternate wetting and drying irrigation technology in rice

Abstract

The challenge of climate change induced rainfall variability, falling groundwater levels combined with inefficient use of water are threatening the sustainability of traditional irrigated rice production. Alternate wetting and drying (AWD) is an innovative water-saving technology that allows farmers to maintain grain yields, realize positive economic returns from rice cultivation by less use of irrigation water in irrigation commands. This incentive is the key to scaling adoption of AWD water-saving technology, thereby enabling rapid food grain production growth through sustainable intensification to meet future food demand. Therefore, efforts are under way to mainstream the AWD technology through a network project in 367 farmer’s fields across 11 districts of Telangana State.