Water-saving technology can mitigate effects of El Niño on rice farming

With an El Niño episode and its effect of low rainfall expected to begin by June or July, rice farmers may find themselves struggling to plant and harvest crops given that rice is cultivated in continuously flooded fields.  The effects of El Niño can be devastating. According to Department of Agriculture figures, the 1998 El Niño affected almost 74,000 hectares of agricultural lands in 18 provinces. The country’s rice and corn production during the first half of 1998 went down by 27% and 44%, respectively. Fortunately, the International Rice Research Institute has a simple technique, labeled Alternate Wetting and Drying, which can mitigate the effects of the El Niño . The concept is straightforward. A farmer can opt to dry out his field occasionally, as long as the water content in the soil is still enough for the rice crops alive. All he needs is a plastic or bamboo pipe 40 cms. in length and 15 cms. in diameter with drilled holes. This will serve as a measuring tool of the water content in a farmer's field. The farmer sinks the pipe into his unflooded rice field until only half protrudes above the soil. When the water level inside the pipe drops to 15 cms. below ground level, this means the field is ready to be re-flooded. By means of this cycle of alternate low-level flooding and drying out the field, water requirements can be reduced by up to 30 percent, with no yield reduction, according to an IRRI fact sheet published in February 2013. As of February last year, more than 100,000 farmers in the Philippines have adopted AWD, which has also reduced conflicts over water in shared canal irrigation systems. — Kim Luces/DVM, GMA News