Water-efficient rice production system
Rice
consumes a large quantity of water. The share of irrigated rice is about 52% in
India, while 43% in Odisha. Irrigated rice consumes 40% and 65% of all
irrigation water resources in India and Odisha, respectively. In Odisha, rice
is one of the dominant but the most inefficient user of water (3.7 kg ha mm-1),
approximately requires 1 cm water each day duration. About 60-83% of total
water applied to the rice field is lost as deep percolation. This scary
situation is likely to be further aggravated in the context of climate change, some water-efficient rice production
systems are available that involve growing of rice under less water than the
conventional systems. Technologies like aerobic rice, system of rice
intensification and dry direct-seeded rice need less water to the tune of
20-60% than the conventional method of cultivation.