Sustainable soil fertility management for low land rice cultivation in delta region of Myanmar by using GIS application | |
| Author | Hla Myo Thwe |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no.AS-06-14 |
| Subject(s) | Rice--Myanmar Soil fertility--Myanmar Geographic information systems |
| Note | A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science, School of Environment, Resources and Development |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Series Statement | Thesis ; no. AS-06-14 |
| Abstract | Rice is the most important staple food as well as one of the sources of cash economy in Myanmar. The main objective of the research was to find out sustainable soil fertility management for low land rice cultivation in delta region of Myanmar by using GIS application. According to national planning, rice yield per unit area is targeted to reach about 5.2 ton/ha but national average of rice grain yield is still stagnating at 3.2 to 3.5 ton/ha. To identify yield constraints, soil fertility management is the most important and fundamental issue. Delta region is the major rice cultivation area and the rainfed lowland area accounts for 68% of the total rice land. This study was conducted in three villages from Kawa township, Bago Division and three villages from Nyaung Done township, Ayeyarwady Division in Delta region of Myanmar during the month of July to November 2005. 90 farmers were selected from six villages for household survey of rice farming and 54 out of 90 farmers were selected for soil characteristics and nutrients status analysis according to their land holding sizes. Soil characteristics and nutrients status analysis were done before cultivation and after harvesting of rice in selected farm plots from both of the study area. Out of 54 soil samples, the overall soil pH status was decreased from weakly acidic (6.0-6.5) to moderately acidic (5.3-5.9) condition, soil organic matter content was increased double but still in very low rate (<1.0%), total nitrogen percentage was slightly decreased in low rate (0.1%-0.2%), phosphorus status was decreased in low rate (<20ppm) and potassium status was little increased of low (0.1-0.2 meq/1 OOgm soil) to medium rate ( 0.2-0.4 meq/1 OOgm soil) after rice cultivation in all different villages and farm categories of study area. All farmers used less than recommended N fertilizer rate and most of them did not apply any P and K, particularly during the rainy season.The actual overall average rice yield (2531 ± 92 kg/ha) of 2005 in both of study area did not reach the national level yield (2003-2004) of 3546 kg/ha and targeted yield goal of 5280 kg/ha because of poor farm management practices, insufficient amount of fertilizer application due to limited cash availability. Although they used insufficient amount of fertilizer for rice cultivation, their soil fertility was not severely decreased due to rice-legume-fallow cropping pattern. Although overall average income per hectare of small and medium farms was higher than large farms, input cost and labour cost were higher in those farms. Net return and benefit-cost ratio (BCR) of large farms were the highest among different farm categories in the study area. The overall average recommended nutrients for rice cultivation were 70.6, 10.4 and 32.0 kg/ha in N, P and Kand that of converted to inorganic fertilizers were 153, 53 and 64 kg/ha in form of urea, TSP and MP fertilizers respectively in the study area. The recommended fertilizer was calculated on the basis yield goal of 4.5 -5 ton/ha for lowland rice production. By using GIS application, the overall socio economic status of rice cultivation farms in delta region were presented and their rice production farms with soil nutrients status, fertilizers application, production of rice, income, costs and net return from lowland rice cultivation of the study area were clearly identified from different maps. All GIS application indicated the overall pictures of all selected farms as well as nearest farms in the study area for which soil samples were not collected. Thus, the findings from the field level survey were extrapolated using GIS which can be used for policy and management guidelines for rice cultivation in the delta region. |
| Year | 2006 |
| Corresponding Series Added Entry | Asian Institute of Technology. Thesis ; no. AS-06-14 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD) |
| Department | Department of Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources (Former title: Department of Food Agriculture, and BioResources (DFAB)) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Agricultural and Aquatic Systems (AS) |
| Chairperson(s) | Shivakoti, Ganesh P.; |
| Examination Committee(s) | Salokhe, Vilas. M. ;Preeda Parkpian; |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | RTG Fellowship; |
| Degree | Thesis (M.Sc.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2006 |