School of Environmental and Rural Science, University of New England, Australia; Department of Agricultural Extension, Ministry of Agriculture, Bangladesh.
School of Environmental and Rural Science, University of New England, Australia.
J Environ Manage. 2021 Jun 15;288:112413. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.112413. Epub 2021 Apr 9.
The potential existence of threshold yield loss in dry season rice growing systems under coastal saline environment remains unexplored, a scenario that could have policy relevance in government planning of rice intensification in the coastal areas of Bangladesh. This study applied the adaptation tipping points (ATPs) approach to investigate threshold yield loss from multiple perspectives of farmers affected by salinity. Data were generated from 280 randomly-selected farmers (rice farmers, n = 109; shrimp farmers, n = 107; salt farmers, n = 64) from two coastal sub-districts using a semi-structured survey. Key informant interviews and focus group discussions were conducted to complement the survey results. Our study revealed that despite government actions to promote dry season rice cultivation, farmers have been growing less rice in this season, with salinity-affected yield loss being the prime reason. Most of the rice farmers have considered that they would discontinue rice cultivation in this season due to yield loss, while shrimp and salt farmers have already reduced rice cultivation for the same reason and shifted to shrimp and salt farming as they perceived these enterprises as highly profitable and require less labour than rice farming. Rice farmers would tolerate a greater rice yield loss (23%) under saline conditions compared with the shrimp (16%) and salt farmers (14%). The yield loss thresholds indicate the need for government actions to support and encourage integrated land management for rice, shrimp and salt farming, rather than research and extension efforts for dry season rice expansion alone. These actions could strengthen sustainable livelihood options to ensure food security, and contribute to the achievement of sustainable development goals, for instance no poverty (SDG-1), zero hunger (SDG-2), and good health and well-being (SDG-3).
沿海盐渍环境下旱季稻作系统潜在的阈产量损失尚未得到探索，这种情况可能对孟加拉国沿海地区政府规划水稻集约化具有政策意义。本研究应用适应转折点（ATPs）方法，从受盐度影响的农民的多个角度研究阈产量损失。数据来自两个沿海分区的 280 名随机选择的农民（水稻农民，n=109；虾农，n=107；盐农，n=64），采用半结构调查生成。关键知情人访谈和焦点小组讨论补充了调查结果。我们的研究表明，尽管政府采取行动促进旱季稻种植，但农民在这个季节种植的水稻越来越少，受盐度影响的产量损失是主要原因。大多数水稻农民认为，由于产量损失，他们将不再在这个季节种植水稻，而虾农和盐农已经出于同样的原因减少了水稻种植，并转向虾和盐的养殖，因为他们认为这些企业利润丰厚，而且比水稻种植需要的劳动力少。与虾农（16%）和盐农（14%）相比，在盐渍条件下，水稻农民能够容忍更大的水稻产量损失（23%）。产量损失阈值表明，政府需要采取行动支持和鼓励水稻、虾和盐的综合土地管理，而不仅仅是研究和推广旱季稻扩展。这些行动可以加强可持续生计选择，以确保粮食安全，并有助于实现可持续发展目标，例如无贫困（SDG-1）、零饥饿（SDG-2）和良好健康与福祉（SDG-3）。
