Development of coastal wetland through rice-fish integration system: a case study in Odisha, India

Abstract

Traditionally, local farmers of coastal waterlogged areas of eastern region of India plough the agricultural field twice or thrice before June with the help of premonsoon shower and broadcast dry seeds of local rice varieties of long duration (150 days) in the first week of June. But chances of profitable crop production depend upon the time and depth of flooding/waterlogging. The waterlogging during rainy season for most part of the crop growth reduces tillering and growth of the normal rice genotype. As a case study, development and management strategies of seasonal waterelogged coastal areas of Puri district of Odisha were developed through deep water rice cultivation, pond based farming and multiple use of water. Based on the rainfall-runoff relationship, it was observed that, flooding was highly dependant on rainfall in the catchments and rice yield production was highly influenced by time of flooding. Among 3 study years (2005, 2006, 2007), no yield was obtained in 2006 due to occurrence of early flood (1st week of July). Performance of improved deep water rice varieties (‘Hangseswari’, ‘Sabita’, ‘Ambika’, ‘Saraswati’) was compared with that of two local varieties (‘Bankui’ and ‘Dhalakaritk’) under 3 flooding depths. The net water productivity was enhanced from Rs. 1.22/m3 through sole rice to Rs. 6.26/m3 through integrated rice-fish pond based farming.