Issues in Irrigation Management for Crop Diversification with Special Reference to Sri Lanka Masao Kikuchi Agricultural Economist , Sri Lanka Field Operations

Content Provider	Semantic Scholar
Author	Internationa
Copyright Year	2011
Abstract	I x u c A n o N MANAGEMENT FOR diversified cropping, or crop diversification of rice-based agriculture in general, is an important research and policy issue which has been anractirig a lot of attention in Sri Laiika as well as elsewhere in tropical Asia. The rapidly growing body of literature it1 the field best testifies to this increasing attention in recent years (IIMI 1987; Schuh aiid Barghouti 1987; World Bank 1988; Bhuiyan 1989; Miranda 1989; Valera 1989; IIMI 1990a). A basic factor, among others, behind such a rather abrupt proliferation of research in this field is the fact that the rice sector of many countries in this part of the world has come to a tuniiiig pnint; the introduction and diffusion of new rice seed-fertilizer technology coupled with the expansion of irrigated rice land in the last two decades or so has helped a number of countries in the regioii to either approach or attain self-sufficiency in rice, with a consequence of a long-term declining trend in the world rice price. The farmers i n rice-based irrigation system aeed to diversify their income sources, while the demand fnr agricultural products diversifies from the major staple to various non-staple items as the economy grows. A logical deduction is that diversification of rice-based agriculture iii general aiid crop diversification of rice-based irrigation systems in particular, and research thereof, are a necessity. It is well-recognizc.d that the nature of this issue of irrigation management for crop diversification in rice-based systems is so multifaceted that multidisciplinary approaches, embracing eogineering, agronomy, soil science, economics, tnanagemeut, and other social as well as natural sciences, are necessary i n its research. h fact, research in this field, as any other farming-system research, has usually been carried out in this multidisciplinary mode. Generally speaking, however, this multifaceted nature of the issue, coupled with its very location specific nature, often leaves research in this field at loose ends, e.g., partiality in analyses with certain ad hoc assumptions in facets that are not in main focus, difficulty in
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