Opportunities of dry seeding for drought alleviation in rainfed lowland rice systems

In South Asia, 15%-66% of the arable land is under rainfed agriculture, where rice is the predominant crop. Uncertainty and variability of rainfall, in time, amount and frequency have significantly affected the rice production. Studies on rainfed rice systems in Northwest Bangladesh have shown that with the traditional technology of crop establishment by transplantation, droughts are expected at the beginning of the crop season during transplanting and near the end of the season during flowering and ripening of the grains. Opportunities for drought alleviation through dry seeding technology of crop establishment have been studied during the 1994–2000 wet seasons, by carrying out field experiments and farmers' surveys. From comparative analysis of water availability from rainfall and relative water supply, the dry seeding technology has been affirmed as technically more feasible for drought alleviation, but the socio-economic constraints limiting its adoption by the farmers need further research.