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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
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    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. 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).
    5. 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).
    6. 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.
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    9. 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).
    10. 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.
    11. Showmitra Kumar Sarkar & Fahad Alshehri & Shahfahad & Atiqur Rahman & Biswajeet Pradhan & Muhammad Shahab, 2025. "Mapping groundwater potentiality by using hybrid machine learning models under the scenario of climate variability: a national level study of Bangladesh," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 27(8), pages 19799-19827, August.
    12. Traverso, Silvio, 2016. "How to escape from a poverty trap: The case of Bangladesh," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 4(C), pages 48-59.
    13. 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.
    14. 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.
    15. 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).
    16. 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.

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