IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/waterr/v28y2014i5p1415-1429.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Groundwater Use for Irrigation and its Productivity: Status and Opportunities for Crop Intensification for Food Security in Bangladesh

Author

Listed:
  • Mobin-ud Ahmad
  • Mac Kirby
  • Mohammad Islam
  • Md. Hossain
  • Md. Islam

Abstract

Bangladesh has a large and growing population that will demand more food and place greater pressure on resources. Dry season irrigated Boro rice production is important for national food security. Dry season irrigation mainly uses groundwater, but the extent of its use is not well known. We assessed groundwater use and water productivity of Boro in the northwest region of Bangladesh using remote sensing based energy balance modelling, crop classification and secondary statistics. The energy balance modelling shows a large spatial variation in the actual evapotranspiration (ET a ) from about 325 to 470 mm, with an overall spatial average of 365 mm during dry season. The estimated values of ET a correspond well with independent values from field and regional scale soil and water balance modelling results. From spatial estimates of ET a and effective rainfall, we computed regional net groundwater use for Boro production in 2009 as 2.4 km 3 . Groundwater is being used unsustainably in some areas, and a spatial time series (1990 to 2010) of pre- and post-monsoon groundwater depth changes in the northwest region of Bangladesh suggests that, with the current level of groundwater use, falling groundwater levels may pose a long term threat to the sustainability of irrigated agriculture in much of the region. Boro water productivity varies from 0.95 to 1.35 kg/m 3 , allowing the identification of high performing “bright” and low performing “hot” spots and the development of strategies to reduce crop yield/productivity gaps and ensure future food security. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014

Suggested Citation

  • Mobin-ud Ahmad & Mac Kirby & Mohammad Islam & Md. Hossain & Md. Islam, 2014. "Groundwater Use for Irrigation and its Productivity: Status and Opportunities for Crop Intensification for Food Security in Bangladesh," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 28(5), pages 1415-1429, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:waterr:v:28:y:2014:i:5:p:1415-1429
    DOI: 10.1007/s11269-014-0560-z
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s11269-014-0560-z
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11269-014-0560-z?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Alauddin, Mohammad & Sharma, Bharat R., 2013. "Inter-district rice water productivity differences in Bangladesh: An empirical exploration and implications," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 210-218.
    2. Li, Zhouyuan & Liu, Xuehua & Ma, Tianxiao & Kejia, De & Zhou, Qingping & Yao, Bingquan & Niu, Tianlin, 2013. "Retrieval of the surface evapotranspiration patterns in the alpine grassland–wetland ecosystem applying SEBAL model in the source region of the Yellow River, China," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 270(C), pages 64-75.
    3. Md Ali & Ismail Abustan & Md Rahman & Abu Haque, 2012. "Sustainability of Groundwater Resources in the North-Eastern Region of Bangladesh," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 26(3), pages 623-641, February.
    4. L. Muthuwatta & Mobin-ud-Din Ahmad & M. Bos & T. Rientjes, 2010. "Assessment of Water Availability and Consumption in the Karkheh River Basin, Iran—Using Remote Sensing and Geo-statistics," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 24(3), pages 459-484, February.
    5. Zwart, Sander J. & Bastiaanssen, Wim G. M., 2004. "Review of measured crop water productivity values for irrigated wheat, rice, cotton and maize," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 69(2), pages 115-133, September.
    6. Molden, David, 2007. "Water for food, water for life: a comprehensive assessment of water management in agriculture," IWMI Books, Reports H040193, International Water Management Institute.
    7. Ahmad, M.D. & Turral, H. & Nazeer, A., 2009. "Diagnosing irrigation performance and water productivity through satellite remote sensing and secondary data in a large irrigation system of Pakistan," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 96(4), pages 551-564, April.
    8. Shamsuddin Shahid & Manzul Hazarika, 2010. "Groundwater Drought in the Northwestern Districts of Bangladesh," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 24(10), pages 1989-2006, August.
    9. Usman Awan & Bernhard Tischbein & Christopher Conrad & Christopher Martius & Mohsin Hafeez, 2011. "Remote Sensing and Hydrological Measurements for Irrigation Performance Assessments in a Water User Association in the Lower Amu Darya River Basin," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 25(10), pages 2467-2485, August.
    10. Jalota, S. K. & Arora, V. K., 2002. "Model-based assessment of water balance components under different cropping systems in north-west India," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 57(1), pages 75-87, September.
    11. Molden, David, 2007. "Water for food, water for life: a comprehensive assessment of water management in agriculture: summary," IWMI Books, Reports H039769, International Water Management Institute.
    12. Shamsuddin Shahid & Houshang Behrawan, 2008. "Drought risk assessment in the western part of Bangladesh," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 46(3), pages 391-413, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. José Sánchez & Juan Reca & Juan Martínez, 2015. "Water Productivity in a Mediterranean Semi-Arid Greenhouse District," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 29(14), pages 5395-5411, November.
    2. J. M. Kirby & M. Mainuddin & F. Mpelasoka & M. D. Ahmad & W. Palash & M.E. Quadir & S. M. Shah-Newaz & M. M. Hossain, 2016. "The impact of climate change on regional water balances in Bangladesh," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 135(3), pages 481-491, April.
    3. Alamgir Kabir & Md Nurul Amin & Kushal Roy & Md Sarwar Hossain, 2021. "Determinants of climate change adaptation strategies in the coastal zone of Bangladesh: implications for adaptation to climate change in developing countries," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 26(7), pages 1-25, October.
    4. Traverso, Silvio, 2016. "How to escape from a poverty trap: The case of Bangladesh," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 4(C), pages 48-59.
    5. Mainuddin, Mohammed & Maniruzzaman, Md. & Alam, Md. Mahbubul & Mojid, Mohammad A. & Schmidt, Erik J. & Islam, Md. Towfiqul & Scobie, Michael, 2020. "Water usage and productivity of Boro rice at the field level and their impacts on the sustainable groundwater irrigation in the North-West Bangladesh," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 240(C).
    6. Islam, AFM Tariqul & Islam, AKM Saiful & Islam, GM Tarekul & Bala, Sujit Kumar & Salehin, Mashfiqus & Choudhury, Apurba Kanti & Dey, Nepal C. & Mahboob, M. Golam, 2023. "Simulation of water productivity of wheat in northwestern Bangladesh using multi-satellite data," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 281(C).
    7. Yuanyuan Chen & Changhe Lu, 2018. "A Comparative Analysis on Food Security in Bangladesh, India and Myanmar," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-13, February.
    8. Manzoor H. Dar & Dilruba A. Bano & Showkat A. Waza & Najam W. Zaidi & Asma Majid & Asif B. Shikari & M. Ashraf Ahangar & Mosharaf Hossain & Arvind Kumar & Uma S. Singh, 2021. "Abiotic Stress Tolerance-Progress and Pathways of Sustainable Rice Production," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-19, February.
    9. Acharjee, Tapos Kumar & Ludwig, Fulco & van Halsema, Gerardo & Hellegers, Petra & Supit, Iwan, 2017. "Future changes in water requirements of Boro rice in the face of climate change in North-West Bangladesh," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 194(C), pages 172-183.
    10. Roquia Salam & Abu Reza Md. Towfiqul Islam & Shakibul Islam, 2020. "Spatiotemporal distribution and prediction of groundwater level linked to ENSO teleconnection indices in the northwestern region of Bangladesh," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 22(5), pages 4509-4535, June.
    11. Awada, Hassan & Di Prima, Simone & Sirca, Costantino & Giadrossich, Filippo & Marras, Serena & Spano, Donatella & Pirastru, Mario, 2022. "A remote sensing and modeling integrated approach for constructing continuous time series of daily actual evapotranspiration," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 260(C).
    12. Mojid, Mohammad A. & Mainuddin, Mohammed & Murad, Khandakar Faisal Ibn & Kirby, John Mac, 2021. "Water usage trends under intensive groundwater-irrigated agricultural development in a changing climate – Evidence from Bangladesh," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 251(C).
    13. Golam Saleh Ahmed Salem & So Kazama & Daisuke Komori & Shamsuddin Shahid & Nepal C. Dey, 2017. "Optimum Abstraction of Groundwater for Sustaining Groundwater Level and Reducing Irrigation Cost," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 31(6), pages 1947-1959, April.
    14. Kirby, J.M. & Ahmad, M.D. & Mainuddin, M. & Palash, W. & Quadir, M.E. & Shah-Newaz, S.M. & Hossain, M.M., 2015. "The impact of irrigation development on regional groundwater resources in Bangladesh," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 264-276.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mohammad Alauddin & Upali A. Amarasinghe & Bharat R. Sharma, 2014. "Four decades of rice water productivity in Bangladesh: A spatio-temporal analysis of district level panel data," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(1), pages 51-64.
    2. Jalota, S.K. & Singh, K.B. & Chahal, G.B.S. & Gupta, R.K. & Chakraborty, Somsubhra & Sood, Anil & Ray, S.S. & Panigrahy, S., 2009. "Integrated effect of transplanting date, cultivar and irrigation on yield, water saving and water productivity of rice (Oryza sativa L.) in Indian Punjab: Field and simulation study," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 96(7), pages 1096-1104, July.
    3. Sharma, Bharat & Molden, D. & Cook, Simon, 2015. "Water use efficiency in agriculture: measurement, current situation and trends," IWMI Books, Reports H046807, International Water Management Institute.
    4. Sharma, Bharat & Molden, D. & Cook, Simon, 2015. "Water use efficiency in agriculture: measurement, current situation and trends," Book Chapters,, International Water Management Institute.
    5. Scheierling, Susanne M. & Treguer, David O. & Booker, James F., 2015. "Water Productivity in Agriculture: Looking for Water in the Agricultural Productivity and Efficiency Literature," 2015 AAEA & WAEA Joint Annual Meeting, July 26-28, San Francisco, California 205677, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    6. Scheierling, Susanne M. & Treguer, David O. & Booker, James F. & Decker, Elisabeth, 2014. "How to assess agricultural water productivity ? looking for water in the agricultural productivity and efficiency literature," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6982, The World Bank.
    7. Katerji, Nader & Campi, Pasquale & Mastrorilli, Marcello, 2013. "Productivity, evapotranspiration, and water use efficiency of corn and tomato crops simulated by AquaCrop under contrasting water stress conditions in the Mediterranean region," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 14-26.
    8. Bingzhen Du & Lin Zhen & Rudolf De Groot & Xin Long & Xiaochang Cao & Ruizi Wu & Chuanzhun Sun & Chao Wang, 2015. "Changing Food Consumption Patterns and Impact on Water Resources in the Fragile Grassland of Northern China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(5), pages 1-20, May.
    9. Susanne Scheierling & David O. Treguer & James F. Booker, 2016. "Water Productivity in Agriculture: Looking for Water in the Agricultural Productivity and Efficiency Literature," Water Economics and Policy (WEP), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 2(03), pages 1-33, September.
    10. Nangia, V. & de Fraiture, C. & Turral, H., 2008. "Water quality implications of raising crop water productivity," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 95(7), pages 825-835, July.
    11. Zwart, Sander J. & Bastiaanssen, Wim G.M. & de Fraiture, Charlotte & Molden, David J., 2010. "A global benchmark map of water productivity for rainfed and irrigated wheat," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 97(10), pages 1617-1627, October.
    12. Drerup, Philipp & Brueck, Holger & Scherer, Heinrich W., 2017. "Evapotranspiration of winter wheat estimated with the FAO 56 approach and NDVI measurements in a temperate humid climate of NW Europe," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 192(C), pages 180-188.
    13. Bossio, Deborah A. & Noble, Andrew & Molden, David & Nangia, Vinay, 2008. "Land degradation and water productivity in agricultural landscapes," Book Chapters,, International Water Management Institute.
    14. Zwart, Sander J. & Bastiaanssen, Wim G.M. & de Fraiture, Charlotte & Molden, David J., 2010. "WATPRO: A remote sensing based model for mapping water productivity of wheat," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 97(10), pages 1628-1636, October.
    15. Farzad Emami & Manfred Koch, 2018. "Agricultural Water Productivity-Based Hydro-Economic Modeling for Optimal Crop Pattern and Water Resources Planning in the Zarrine River Basin, Iran, in the Wake of Climate Change," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-32, October.
    16. Molden, David, 2008. "Water security for food security: findings of the Comprehensive Assessment for Sub-Saharan Africa. [This report draws directly from the book Water for food, water for life: a Comprehensive Assessment ," IWMI Conference Proceedings 233268, International Water Management Institute.
    17. Molden, David & Oweis, Theib & Steduto, Pasquale & Bindraban, Prem & Hanjra, Munir A. & Kijne, Jacob, 2010. "Improving agricultural water productivity: Between optimism and caution," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 97(4), pages 528-535, April.
    18. Cai, X.L. & Sharma, B.R., 2010. "Integrating remote sensing, census and weather data for an assessment of rice yield, water consumption and water productivity in the Indo-Gangetic river basin," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 97(2), pages 309-316, February.
    19. Bastiaanssen, W.G.M. & Allen, R.G. & Droogers, P. & D'Urso, G. & Steduto, P., 2007. "Twenty-five years modeling irrigated and drained soils: State of the art," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 92(3), pages 111-125, September.
    20. Huang, Feng & Li, Baoguo, 2010. "Assessing grain crop water productivity of China using a hydro-model-coupled-statistics approach: Part I: Method development and validation," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 97(7), pages 1077-1092, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:waterr:v:28:y:2014:i:5:p:1415-1429. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.