Assessment of irrigation potential for rice production in the Slakou River Basin, Cambodia | |
| Author | Chum Uttara |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no.WM-02-08 |
| Subject(s) | Irrigation--Cambodia--Slakou River Basin Rice--Irrigation--Cambodia--Slakou River Basin |
| Note | A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Engineering |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Abstract | Assessment of irrigation potential is of prime importance for planning sustainable food production. This can only be done, however, by simultaneously evaluating soil suitability, water resources availability and irrigation water requirements that in tum depends on the cropping pattern and climate data. The study was conducted in the Slakou River Basin located in Takeo Province, Cambodia, to assess the irrigation potential for rice crop cultivation in the lowland part of the basin. Water management in paddy field was viewed as a useful practice towards achieving not only high yield, but also saving water. Generally, irrigation water requirement for rice is estimated based on the net requirement in the field, which is influenced by the water budget in the paddy basin. In this study, net irrigation requirement was calculated based on climatic data from 1994 to 2000 for three cases of cropping system i.e. three-rice cultivation, two-rice cultivation, and one rice and one upland crop cultivation, according to the local planting practices. For this, a simple water balance approach in paddy field was used with due considerations of the water management practices from transplanting to yellow-ripening period. Moreover, the reference evapotranspiration was computed by FAQ Penman-Monteith equation from the past records of available climatic data. It was found from the water supply-demand analysis that it is not possible to provide full irrigation water for rice planting during the dry season. Only a very small area can be irrigated, but still the water shortage would occur for most months. For wet season, the water supply generally satisfied the demand for the proposed irrigable area of 3,500 ha. However, there were some periods of water shortage that occurred for the last few months of the season i.e. November and December. From the three cases simulated, it was also found that a cropping system, which involves one rice and one upland crop (Soybean) can be adopted since this has increased the acreage and also reduced water shortage months. |
| Year | 2003 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Engineering and Technology (SET) |
| Department | Department of Civil and Infrastucture Engineering (DCIE) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Water Engineering and Management (WM) |
| Chairperson(s) | Clemente, Roberto S. |
| Examination Committee(s) | Tawatchai Tingsanchali ;Gupta, Ashim Das ;Babel, Mukand S. |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | ASEAN Foundation |
| Degree | Thesis (M.Eng.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2003 |