Decentralized surface water irrigation as a pathway for sustainable intensification in southern Bangladesh: on how much land can the drop be brought to the crop?
By Urs Schulthess, Timothy J. Krupnik, Zia Uddin Ahmed, Andy J. McDonald
Revitalizing the Ganges Coastal Zone Conference
21-23 October 2014, Dhaka, Bangladesh
http://waterandfood.org/ganges-conference/
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YHR Fall 2023 Issue (Joseph Manning Interview) (2).pdf
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Decentralized surface water irrigation as a pathway for sustainable intensification in southern Bangladesh: on how much land can the drop be brought to the crop?
1. Urs Schulthess âTimothy J. Krupnik âZia Uddin Ahmed âAndy J. McDonald
Decentralized Surface Water Irrigation as a pathway for sustainable
intensification in Southern Bangladesh:
On how much land can the drop be brought to the crop?
2. A three part presentation:
1.⯠Surface water irrigation as a pathway
to sustainable intensification (SI) in
Southern Bangladesh
2.⯠Targeting decentralized surface water
irrigation to boost double cropping
3.⯠Future research and conclusions
3. Part 1: Surface water irrigation as a pathway to
sustainable intensification (SI) in Southern Bangladesh
5. The Master Plan For Agricultural Development In The South
The Southern Delta of Bangladesh
â˘âŻ Low crop intensification and fallows
â˘âŻ 3.44 million farm households, majority poor
(MoA and FAO, 2012)
â˘âŻ Rice-based farming system
â˘âŻ Target for most international aid
The Southern Delta Master Plan:
A $7.2 billion donor investment request
â˘âŻ The south: Dense network of rivers and
canals, poorly used for irrigation
â˘âŻ Emphasis on expanding surface water
irrigation to alleviate irrigation
bottlenecks in the North
â˘âŻ Key aim: sustainable intensification to
boost productivity and alleviate poverty
6. Sustainable intensification (SI) in Southern
Bangladesh
In practice, SI has two major approaches:
â˘âŻ âCropâ intensification:
Boosting yield, while sparing resources and harnessing
ecological services (e.g., yield focused)
â˘âŻ âSystemsâ intensification:
Moving from one to two crops, while sparing resources
and harnessing ecological services (e.g., double
cropping focused)
â˘âŻ Bangladesh: loosing agricultural land (-10% in the last
decade) (Hassan et al. 2013)
â˘âŻ SI: â. . . producing more output from the same area of land
while reducing the negative environmental impacts and âŚ
increasing contributions to natural capital and the flow of
environmental servicesâ (Pretty et al. 2011)
8. How can dry season irrigation be encouraged?
â˘âŻ Large-scale, centralized irrigation schemes?
Extremely costly and challenging to maintain:
â˘âŻ Ganges-Kabadak (1955) â most land in 72,000 ha already double cropped. Siltation, bank
instability, etc. (Brammer, 2002)
â˘âŻ Barisal Irrigation Project (1980). Slated for 42,000 ha achieved < 20% (cf. Gumma et al.,
2014).
â˘âŻ Unfavorable conditions for farmers to access and use state provided pumps (Brammer, 2002)
â˘âŻ Bangladeshâs historical irrigation boom: thousands of
decentralized irrigation service providers serving 10â20 ha
Supplies 90% of Bangladeshâs irrigation (Chowdhury, 2010)
Could this work for Southern Bangladesh?
â˘âŻ Technological options exist to address energy and
cost problems (Axial flow pumps, other pumps)
â˘âŻ Service provider networks and water users groups
need to be established
â˘âŻ Problems remain with appropriate siting of small
command schemes to encourage double cropping
Krupnik et al. 2013
10. Forgoing the fallow and establishing rabi croppin
â˘âŻ Location and estimates of fallow land vary by year, method, and
definition:
â˘âŻ 800,000 ha (Rawson et al., 2011)
â˘âŻ 634,000 ha (BADC 2010)
â˘âŻ 136,000 ha (MoA and FAO, 2012)
â˘âŻ 240,000 ha (BBS, 2011)
â˘âŻ No estimates are related to targeting fallows for surface water irrigation
and intensification
â˘âŻ Analytical challenges: Fallow identification, soil and water salinity, water
availability, timely land availability
11. Targeting âbest-betâ areas for intensifying cropping
using surface water irrigation in S. Bangladesh
A complex process using GIS and
remote sensing (RS)
Using publically available data
â˘âŻ Hydrozone Ă ď GIS
â˘âŻ Water ways Ă ď RS
â˘âŻ Duration of surface water Ă ď RS
â˘âŻ Water salinity Ă ď monitoring/GIS
â˘âŻ Soil salinity Ă ď survey/GIS (SRDI)
â˘âŻ Land type Ă ď Elevation
â˘âŻ Crop land Ă ď RS
â˘âŻ Land use intensity Ă ď RS
12. Study area: South Central and South West Bangladesh
Area:
 3.374
Â
 million
 ha
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15. Presence of surface water in January
Feyisa,
 G.L.,
 Meilby,
 H.,
 Fensholt,
 R.,
 Simon,
 R.,
 Proud,
 S.R.,
 2014.
 Automated
 Water
 ExtracKon
 Index:
 A
 new
Â
Â
Technique
 for
 surface
 water
 mapping
 using
 Landsat
 imagery.
 Remote
 Sensing
 of
 Environment
 140,
 23-Ââ35.
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25. Landscape elevation (Kharif inundation class)
Above
 ďŹood
 level
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Up
 to
 90
 cm
Â
90
 â
 180
 cm
Â
180
 â
 300
 cm
Â
>
 300
 cm
Â
Normal
 ďŹooding
 depth
Â
Aer:
 Brammer,
 H.
 2012.
 The
 physical
 geography
 of
 Bangladesh.
Â
Â
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26. Reflectance of light from leaves as function
of wavelength
NDVI =
NIR - Red
NIR + Red
Normalized
 diďŹerence
 vegetaKon
 index
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27. 27
Ground Cover (GC) and Leaf Area Index (LAI)
Ground Cover is the
percentage of ground covered
by green vegetation when
seen from above. It is a good
indicator of:
Productivity
Stresses
Diseases
GC
 =
 1
 â
 exp(-Ââk
 *
 LAI)
Â
28. Prediction of LAI with the Enhanced Vegetation
Index (EVI)
Guindin-ÂâGarcia,
 N.,
 Gitelson,
 A.A.,
 Arkebauer,
 T.J.,
 Shanahan,
 J.,
 Weiss,
 A.,
 2012.
 An
 evaluaKon
 of
 MODIS
 8-Ââand
 16-Ââday
 composite
Â
products
 for
 monitoring
 maize
 green
 leaf
 area
 index.
 Agric.
 For.
 Meteorol.
 161,
 15-Ââ25.
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29. Using EVI to assess rabi land use intensity
2013-14
30. Using EVI to assess rabi land use intensity
2013-14
31. Using EVI to assess rabi land use intensity
2013-14
32. Using EVI to assess rabi land use intensity
2013-14
37. Resulting land use intensity in Southern Bangladesh (ha)
Cropping intensity 2011â12 2012â13 2013â14 Average
Fallow land 271,078 218,806 230,824 240,236
Low-intensity 779,095 915,548 906,382 867,008
High-intensity 876,338 790,732 789,735 818,935
Total 1,926,179
38. Resulting land use intensity in Southern Bangladesh (ha)
Cropping intensity 2011â12 2012â13 2013â14 Average
Fallow land 271,078 218,806 230,824 240,236
Low-intensity 779,095 915,548 906,382 867,008
High-intensity 876,338 790,732 789,735 818,935
Total 1,926,179
Compared to previous estimates for fallow land:
â˘âŻ 800,000 ha (Rawson et al., 2011)
â˘âŻ 634,000 ha (BADC 2010)
â˘âŻ 136,000 ha (MoA and FAO, 2012)
â˘âŻ 240,000 ha (BBS, 2011)
All methods based on survey sampling and up-scaled estimation, with exception
of Rawson et al., who included low-intensity crop land.
41. Detailed view: Targeting surface water irrigation on
fallow and low land use intensity land â 400 m buffer
42. Addressable land (ha) within a 400 m buffer of
detectable surface water bodies (late March)
Land use Highly Medium Low Not
Intensity Suitable Suitability Suitability Suitable
Fallow 14,524 6,866 2,144 23,631
Low Intensity 86,451 17,262 6,640 22,302
High Intensity 66,639 6,524 999 7,419
Total 167,615 30,652 9,783 53,352
The key output of this work is a detailed spatial database
indicating the precise location of high- and medium- suitability
fallow and low intensity lands upon which surface water irrigation
could provide the key to unlocking the Southâs agricultural
productivity.
This data base will soon be online and made available for
development organizations, researchers, and policy makers.
43. Caveats
â˘âŻ Our estimate is conservative:
FINNMAPS indicate we
detected just ~25% of rivers
and canals in the irrigable
zone
â˘âŻ Methods are needed to
rapidly assess water volume
â˘âŻ Cooperation is key: Good
water governance and canal
rehabilitation will be crucial
for sustainable intensification.
â˘âŻ Research is needed to fine-
tune irrigation scheduling
recommendations to increase
WP
45. Main high potential target zone for surface water irrigation
Objectives:
â˘âŻ Regional and sub-regional watershed and
scales: âsafe operating space in canal systemsâ
â˘âŻ Surface water irrigation scheduling optimized:
Maize, wheat, boro, mungbean