Improvement of land use efficiency in rainfed agriculture using drought tolerant crops
1999
Wasana Phlaraks | Anan Polthanee | Charoon Prohmchum (Khon Kaen Univ., Khon Kaen (Thailand). Faculty of Agriculture. Dept. of Agronomy)
Improvement of land use efficiency in rainfed upper paddy fields in Northeast Thailand by changing the cropping system from monocropping of rice to multiple cropping of short duration field crops, which require less water, was tested with the aim to increase farmer's income. The experiment was conducted on upper paddy field at Khon Kaen University experimental farm, Khon Kaen in the rainy season of 1996. Four cropping systems i.e. baby corn followed by groundnut (dry pod), fresh corn followed by mungbean, groundnut (fresh pod for boiling) followed by field corn, and monocropping of aromatic rice (KDML 105) were compared. The results indicated that all multiple cropping systems gave higher income than monocropping of rice. The highest income (5,092 baht/rai) was obtained from the baby corn-groundnut (dry pod) cropping system followed by the green corn-mungbean, and the groundnut (fresh pod for boiling)-field corn which generated income of 4,098 and 2,740 baht/rai, respectively. The lowest income (1,100 baht/rai) was obtained from monocropping of rice (KDML 105). It is, therefore, suggested that farmers who have upper-paddy fields should devote some parts of their fields for growing two successive short duration field crops instead of rice, to improve stability of the cropping system and increase the farmer's income.
Show more [+] Less [-]AGROVOC Keywords
Bibliographic information
This bibliographic record has been provided by Kasetsart University