Impacts of Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD) Irrigation System on Water Productivity, Profitability and Household Income of Modern Varieties (MV) of Paddy Producer in Bangladesh

The present study attempts to estimate Impacts of Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD) Irrigation System on Modern Variety (MV) Paddy Production in Bangladesh. Primary data were used in this study. A total of 140 MV boro producers were randomly selected from Manoharpur village of Monirampur Upazilla in Jessore district of which 70 farmers used technically advanced AWD irrigation technique and left 70 farmers used traditional irrigation technique in MV boro paddy cultivation. The necessary information on inputs and output of MV boro paddy cultivation the sampled farmers were colleted through comprehensive questionnaire. The findings of the study indicated that the average cost of irrigation per hectare MV boro paddy production was comparatively smaller in AWD irrigation than traditional irrigation system that was widely varied among the farmers. The sampled farmers used comparatively less proportion of chemical fertilizers such as urea, MP, zypsum, zinc, and manure except TSP in per hectare of MV boro paddy cultivation. The farmers used in more or less similar proportions of temporary hired and family supplied male and female labors in per hectare of MV paddy cultivation in both the irrigation techniques. The yield of MV boro was significantly higher in the method in AWD irrigation technique than in the method of traditional irrigation. Per hectare production cost of MV boro paddy cultivation was significantly lower in AWD irrigation technique than the application of traditional irrigation method. The net profit of per hectare MV boro paddy cultivation was more than four times higher in AWD irrigation than traditional irrigation technique. The study also found that the household income of the farmers who used AWD irrigation was significantly higher (about 1.20 times) than the farmers who used traditional irrigation technique in MV boro and aman paddy cultivation in the study area. The farmers had experienced constant return to scale in MV boro paddy farms using the AWD irrigation technique and traditional irrigation technique in the study area. The farm area, seed cost, pesticides cost, irrigation cost, urea cost and labor cost were the main factors that affect significantly the MV boro paddy production under the method of application AWD irrigation technique. On the other hand, the farm size, land preparation cost, urea, other chemical fertilizers and manure had significant positive impact on MV boro paddy under the application of traditional irrigation technique. The farmers did not optimally use the input resources in both the methods of AWD irrigation and the traditional irrigation technique in MV boro paddy cultivation and this hindered the generation of maximum level of output of paddy grain in the study area. The findings of the study also indicated that the water productivity of MV boro paddy production was significantly higher in AWD irrigation and traditional irrigation technique. In other words, water input efficiently used in MV boro paddy production in AWD irrigation technique compared to traditional irrigation technique.