Climate Smart Practices for intensive rice-based systems in Bangladesh, Cambodia and Nepal
Asian Development Bank and International Rice Research Institute
Rice is a staple crop in many countries in Asia, providing food, nutrition, and income to millions of resource-poor farmers. It is one of the top priority commodities in the agricultural development agenda in many Asian countries. However, dwindling agricultural resources, rising wages due to declining farm workers, competing use of waters, and climate change are emerging as the main problems to rice production in Asia. The Food Security Forum held in ADB Headquarters in 2016 identified these problems as the main hurdles to achieving Sustainable Development Goal 2 of ending hunger and malnutrition in Asia and the Pacific. Against this backdrop, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) partnered with the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and selected national research organizations to deliver knowledge solutions to these problems.
Water- and labor-saving technologies, alternating wetting and drying (AWD) in Bangladesh, and direct-seeded rice (DSR) in Cambodia and Nepal were field-experimented in rice cultivation under this project. Vegetables were cultivated in between two rice seasons in all countries. This report presents the benefits of these technologies, and policy recommendations to mainstream their use. The findings of the field experiment show that AWD and DSR, combined with better rice varieties and mechanization, can make rice production more profitable and sustainable even in the face of drought or flooding. The evidenced-based recommendations documented in this report offer viable solutions to the production of rice and accomplishment of food security in Asia. The proposed solutions act as a guidepost to scale up the use of resource-saving, climate-smart agricultural technologies and to make farming profitable in the region.
This report is the output of a partnership between ADB and IRRI. It brings together ADB 's knowledge and experience in agriculture and the natural resources sector, and IRRl's globally recognized expertise in advancing rice cultivation and protecting the rice-growing environment for future generations. This report is aligned with ADB's Strategy 2030, which aims to make Asia and the Pacific food-secure, free of malnutrition, and prosperous. This publication also responds to ADB's operational priority of promoting rural development and food security.
