Trans-Disciplinary Responses to Climate Change: Lessons from Rice-Based Systems in Asia

Overcoming barriers to adapt rice farming to recurring flash floods in haor wetlands of Bangladesh

Climate change resultant hazards have become a major threat to farming, food production systems and agricultural sustainability globally. Like many other countries, Bangladesh is also the prey of climate change extremities. Haor wetlands of this country, a major rice growing area, are subjected to extreme climate tremors where millions of inhabitants lose their boro rice production due to recurring flash flood events. This study examined the barriers to adapt rice farming to recurring flash floods in the haor wetlands of Bangladesh. The ways of overcoming barriers to adapt rice farming to recurring flash floods in the haor wetlands of Bangladesh were also explored during the research work. The research was conducted in the Sunamganj district of Bangladesh and data was collected through a mixed-method approach. A survey was conducted with 115 haor farmers and FGD and key informant interviews were conducted with 32 and 4 respondents respectively. The results showed that the lack of availability of submergence tolerant variety (a rice variety that can survive and continue growing after being completely submerged in water for several days) is the major barrier to farmers' adaptation to flooding events followed by limited market access and lack of access to inputs. A total of 85% of respondents reported encountering moderate to severe barriers to adapt to flash flooding. Besides, some socio-economic traits, including annual family income, extension media exposure, and perception on climate change have been identified to be influencing farmers' adaptation behaviour to adapt their rice farming system to recurring flash flood events. This study elaborated pathways and suggested policy recommendations to adapt to flash flooding and to ensure sustainability in the agricultural system in the haor wetlands of Bangladesh.

Strengthening agroecological resilience through commons-based seed governance in the Philippines

The Filipino agricultural sector is exposed to multiple climatic, economic, and social risks that will likely intensify in the near future. Building agroecological resilience has been proposed to protect small-scale farmers' livelihoods and improve food security in the context of (unexpected) shocks and disruptions, and slow system changes such as climate change. This paper argues that commons-based seed production, based on collective management and ownership of seeds and varieties, can play a central role in building resilience capacities in smallholder communities. I explore this by applying an indicator-based framework to assess the contribution of the Filipino farmer network Magsasaka at Siyentipiko para sa Pag-unlad ng Agrikultura (MASIPAG) to agroecological resilience. I find that the networks' commons-based seed governance builds agroecological resilience in various ways. By equipping small-scale farmers with the tools to regain control over seed production and breeding, they become stewards of an actively evolving collection of varieties. The in situ maintenance and development of traditional, open-pollinated varieties and a network of diversified trial and backup farms build up buffering capacities and foster agrobiodiversity and local adaptation. A focus on regionally available natural resources reduces vulnerabilities to external factors. Adaptive capacities are strengthened through a high degree of flexibility and responsiveness achieved by self-organization and polycentric organizational structures. Broad participation, shared learning and spaces for experimentation support the development of farmers' capacities to respond to diverse challenges. Commons-based approaches to seed governance can thus strengthen agroecological resilience and long-term food security in smallholder agricultural systems.

An assessment of irrigated rice cultivation with different crop establishment practices in Vietnam

Overuse of seed and chemical inputs is a major constraint for sustainable rice production in Vietnam. In this study, two seasons of field trials were conducted to compare different crop establishment practices for rice production in the Mekong River Delta using environmental and economic sustainability performance indicators. The indicators including energy efficiency, agronomic use efficiency, net income, and greenhouse gas emissions (GHGEs) were quantified based on four treatments including manual broadcast-seeding, blower seeding, drum seeding, and mechanized transplanting. Across the four treatments, yields ranged from 7.3–7.5 Mg ha⁻¹ and 6.2–6.8 Mg ha⁻¹ in the Winter-Spring (WS) and Summer-Autumn (SA) seasons, respectively. In comparison with direct seeding methods, mechanized transplanting decreased the seed rate by 40%. It also led to a 30–40% reduction in pesticide use during the main crop season (WS). Mechanized transplanting required higher inputs, including machine depreciation and fuel consumption, but its net energy balance, net income and GHGE were at a similar level as the other non-mechanized planting practices. Mechanized transplanting is a technology package that should be promoted to improve the economic and environmental sustainability of lowland rice cultivation in the Mekong River Delta of Vietnam.

Advancements of sustainable development goals in co-production for climate change adaptation research

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is a new discursive regime that encompasses global environmental change challenges and sustainability sciences, including adaptation to climate change. Co-production of knowledge has become a key, intrinsic component in both sustainability sciences and adaptation research. In this review article, we investigate if and how the SDG agenda is included in the application of participatory approaches and co-production of knowledge for climate change adaptation. We review findings from such processes in projects whose objective is to foster adaptation in the context of SDGs and to categorize the methods employed to forward co-production. We investigate 1) whether and how co-production approaches localize SDG targets and address tradeoffs and synergies, 2) whether they focus on power asymmetries and political dimensions in such participatory processes, and 3) whether and how the literature show that the SDG agenda contributes to a shift in the role of researchers towards a more interventionist approach to co-production. Our results show that there is little evidence that the SDG agenda contributes to a shift towards more interventionist or transformative approaches within climate change adaptation. Further, we have a identified a missed opportunity in the exclusion of "social" SDGs (SDG 5 and 10) in the discussions of adaptation and co-production and SGDs. Most importantly, we find that participatory efforts, including the co-production of knowledge, for localizing SDG goals and resolving tradeoffs and benefits, are the most salient aspects that tie the three co-production - adaptation - the SDG agenda together. Such participatory localizing processes have a great potential in facilitating long-enduring empowerment and legitimacy in adaptation efforts.

Systems-based rice improvement approaches for sustainable food and nutritional security

An integrated research approach to ensure sustainable rice yield increase of a crop grown by 25% of the world's farmers in 10% of cropland is essential for global food security. Rice, being a global staple crop, feeds about 56% of the world population and sustains 40% of the world's poor. At ~ $200 billion, it also accounts for 13% of the annual crop value. With hunger and malnutrition rampant among the poor, rice research for development is unique in global food and nutrition security. A systems-based, sustainable increase in rice quantity and quality is imperative for environmental and biodiversity benefits. Upstream 'discovery' through biotechnology, midstream 'development' through breeding and agronomy, downstream 'dissemination and deployment' must be 'demand-driven' for 'distinct socio-economic transformational impacts'. Local agro-ecology and livelihood nexus must drive the research agenda for targeted benefits. This necessitates sustained long-term investments by government, non-government and private sectors to secure the future food, nutrition, environment, prosperity and equity status.

Transforming labor requirement, crop yield, and profitability with precision dry-direct seeding of rice and integrated weed management in Eastern India

In many parts of Eastern India that have a very high prevalence of rural poverty and food insecurity, the prevailing rice establishment practice of 'beushening' is characterized by low yields and modest profitability, while labor and energy inputs are high. Beushening consists of broadcasting ungerminated rice seed at high rates (>100 kg ha-1) prior to the onset of monsoon rain, followed by ploughing at 4-6 weeks after crop emergence to control weeds with subsequent manual gap filling through seedling redistribution to ensure stand uniformity. Dry-direct seeding of rice (DSR), both drill-DSR and precision broadcast-DSR in combination with integrated weed management (IWM) may offer a pathway for simultaneously reducing costs and markedly increasing productivity. On-farm trials were conducted from 2016 to 2018 in four districts of Odisha (Mayurbhanj, Cuttack, Bhadrak, and Puri) to evaluate the yield and economic performance of dry-DSR (drill and precision broadcast), coupled with herbicide-based IWM strategies, in comparison with conventional beushening. Drill-DSR with IWM increased grain yield by 1.7 t ha-1 in Mayurbhanj and 1.3 t ha-1 in Cuttack, but not in Bhadrak, compared to beushening. The combination of increased yield and lower variable cost in drill-DSR increased net benefit by 550, 395, and 166 US$ ha-1 in Mayurbhanj, Cuttack, and Bhadrak, respectively. For farmers without access to seed drills, precision broadcast-DSR with IWM increased yields by 0.91, 1.22 and 0.60 t ha-1, and net benefits by 270, 312, and 188 US$ ha-1 in Mayurbhanj, Puri, and Bhadrak, respectively. Among the IWM practices evaluated in dry-DSR, application of pretilachlor + safener @ 500 g ai ha-1 as pre-emergence, followed by bispyribac-sodium @ 20 g ai ha-1 at 15-25 days after sowing as post-emergence, and then one spot hand weeding at 30-35 days after sowing was effective in controlling weeds. These results suggest that rice yield gaps in eastern India can be reduced, and farmers' income from rice can be increased by more than 50 % by replacing beushening with drill-DSR or precision broadcast-DSR. The results could be applicable to approximately 6.4 million ha of lowland rice where beushening is currently practiced in Eastern India.