An Assessment of Crop Water Productivity in the Indus and Ganges River Basins: Current Status and Scope for Improvement

Abstract

This research study was initiated as part of the “Basin Focal Project for the Indus and the Ganges River Basins (BFP-IGB)” (PN 60) of the CGIAR Challenge Program on Water and Food (CPWF). It formed part of the wider network of the “Basin Focal Projects.”

As part of the ‘Basin Focal Project for the IGB’ supported by the CGIAR Challenge Program on Water and Food (CPWF), a study has been carried out to assess the basin agricultural water management performance to reveal the implications for food security while securing sustainable development of the basin. This research report assesses the agricultural WP of the basin with focus on the predominant rice and wheat cropping system. The report presents a new approach to integrate remotely sensed imagery, meteorological data, ground survey, and national crop and land use census to assess crop water productivity at basin scale. The causes for its variations and potential for improvement were also analyzed. The section, The Study Area, briefly describes the characteristics of the study area. The section, Data and Method of Analysis, details the data sources and method of analysis. We present the detailed results of basin crop yield, ET and water productivity and the related maps in the section, Basin Crop Yield, ET and Water Productivity, followed by the causes for variation and scope for improvement of water productivity in the section, Causes for Variation and Scope for Improvement. Major conclusions, recommendations and suggestions are presented in the section, Conclusions.

Citation

Cai Xueliang; Sharma, B.R.; Matin, M.A.; Devesh Sharma; Gunasinghe, S. An Assessment of Crop Water Productivity in the Indus and Ganges River Basins: Current Status and Scope for Improvement. International Water Management Institute, Colombo, Sri Lanka (2010) 34 pp. ISBN 978-92-9090-735-0 [DOI: 10.5337/2010.232]

An Assessment of Crop Water Productivity in the Indus and Ganges River Basins: Current Status and Scope for Improvement

Updates to this page

Published 1 January 2010