Water Savings, Yield, and Economic Benefits of Using SRI Methods with Deficit Irrigation in Water-Scarce Southern Iraq

This study evaluated what intervals of irrigation in conjunction with the use of SRI methods could achieve the greatest economic, as well as agronomic returns when growing irrigated rice under the water-deficit conditions of southern Iraq. A field study at the Al-Mishkhab Rice Research Station in southern Iraq recorded input and output data for three different irrigation regimes: continuous submergence of the rice crop; irrigation at 3-day intervals; and irrigation at 7-day intervals. Benefit–cost analysis showed 3-day intervals with SRI methods, giving the highest net returns and highest internal rate of return, indicating that the continuous irrigation of rice fields is a waste of water, with neither agronomic nor economic benefit. In Iraq, there are large opportunity costs for any unnecessary use of irrigation water. The highest water productivity was achieved with 7-day intervals of irrigation together with SRI methods, but this entails some sacrifice of the yield ha⁻¹, as 13% less grain is produced than with continuous submergence of the crop. With 7-day intervals compared to 3-day intervals, water-saving was 44%, but compared to continuous submergence of the crop, the saving was 72%. This large amount of water could, if redeployed, enable many more farmers to cultivate larger areas of the land, increasing total rice production for Iraq, and some of the water saved could be put to other, high-value uses. It would thus benefit the country and many farmers if, in return for rice farmers’ using irrigation water more productively, those who currently grow rice could be persuaded to accept a grain yield somewhat lower than they could produce with 3-day intervals of irrigation and SRI crop management. The redeployment of water saved by having longer irrigation intervals coupled with SRI methods could raise Iraq’s rice output more than enough to compensate the farmers for forgoing some attainable production by their accepting 7-day irrigation intervals. If no such incentive scheme could be established, there would still be a significant benefit for farmers and for the country by moving to SRI production methods with 3-day intervals rather than continuing the present practice of routinely flooding rice fields and using conventional methods.