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The purpose of this paper is to examine the status of the supply reliability of groundwater irrigation, and discuss how it is affected by climate change and tubewell density in rural China.

This study is based on a nine-province village survey and secondary climate data. A Tobit model (or censored regression model) was used to estimate the determinants of supply reliability of groundwater irrigation.

Results show that the supply reliability of groundwater irrigation was 89 percent on average in the past three years. The non-linear relationship in the econometric results revealed that the 30-year annual temperature significantly influenced the supply reliability of groundwater irrigation. When the temperature rises above the turning point (6.30°C), it shifts from a positive to a negative relationship with the supply reliability of groundwater irrigation. The 30-year annual temperature in eight of the nine provinces (i.e. except for Jilin Province) was higher than the turning point. If the temperature increases by 20°C in the future, other factors being constant, the supply reliability of groundwater irrigation will decline by 20 percent. However, if precipitation increases by 10 percent, the supply reliability of groundwater irrigation could improve by 3 percent, while reducing precipitation by 10 percent will lower the supply reliability of groundwater irrigation by 3 percent. Increasing the density of tubewells considerably improves the supply reliability of groundwater irrigation. However, although increasing the density of tubewells may yield enough groundwater for irrigation, this one-sided approach raises sustainability concerns.

Although increasing the density of tubewells may ensure that enough groundwater is available for irrigation, such a conclusion is one sided, and sustainability concerns should be raised in assessing this method of creating supply reliability.

This paper improves the understanding of the impact of climate variables on agriculture irrigation and water supply reliability in the micro scale, and provides a scientific basis for relevant policy making.

The purpose of this paper is: to track the methods by which farmers access groundwater for irrigation in the North China Plain (NCP); to explore whether climate factors influence farmers’ decisions on the methods of groundwater access for irrigation; and to examine whether the amount of groundwater use for irrigation and crop yield systematically differ across groups of farmers using various methods of groundwater access, and how climate factors affect them.

Descriptive statistical analysis and econometric models are used on household survey data collected over several years and county-level climate data.

Over the past few decades, a significant share of farmers have switched the methods of groundwater access from collective tubewells to own tubewells or groundwater markets. Farmers who bought water from groundwater markets applied less water to wheat plots than those who had their own tubewells. However, wheat yield was not negatively affected. Both average climate conditions and long-term variations were found to be related to farmers’ choice of methods of groundwater access for irrigation. More frequent droughts and increasingly volatile temperatures both increased the likelihood of farmers gaining groundwater irrigation from markets.

The analysis results suggest farmers are using groundwater markets to help them adapt to climate change. Applying empirical analysis to identify the impact of the methods by which farmers access groundwater for irrigation on the amount of groundwater use and crop yield will help policy makers design reasonable adaptation policies for the NCP.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of four components of social capital on farmers’ participative behaviour in collective actions for constructing and operating small-scale groundwater irrigation systems on the Guanzhong Plain, Shaanxi Province, China.

The four components (social networks, social trust, social reciprocity and social participation) were derived by employing exploratory factor analysis. Logistic model was used to estimate the influence of these components on farmers’ participative behaviour. Information was obtained from a field survey covering six counties in 2011 of Shaanxi Province, China.

The findings indicate that considering different components of social capital allows for a better understanding of farmers’ participative behaviour. The authors find that higher levels of social trust and social participation lead to a higher propensity for collective action, while social reciprocity reduces the probability of participation. Other socio-economic factors and farming characteristics such as education levels, cultivated area, cropping patterns and grain subsidies also have a significant impact.

The findings suggest creating favourable conditions for communication and information exchanges between households, which enhance their trust of each other, and encourage farmers to participate in collective affairs. Moreover, supportive rules are necessary for the future development of collective action. The results of this study also have implications for national irrigation plans for small-scale irrigation facilities in other developing countries.

A consideration of the different components of social capital allows for a more precise understanding of farmers’ participative behaviour.

The present study aims to determine the residue levels in the soil and water prior to, and after fertilization, as previous soil investigations in Kuwait indicated that different types of fertilizers are used leaving residues in the soil, in order to assist the prospective farmers in choosing environmental sound chemicals for each crop. The importance of the following is to determine the geologic conditions of the soil in such a productive farm area and the effect of the use of fertilizers.

To achieve the study purpose soil and water samples were collected over a wide area and chemical parameters (pH, electrical conductivity (ECe), cations (Ca⁺², Mg⁺²), and anions (CO₃⁻²,HCO₃⁻,Cl⁻)) were obtained via the suitable and most appropriate chemical analyses.

The soils have several levels of calcareous contents along with varying salinity and alkalinity. Before fertilization on average, soil ECe ranges from 0.93 to 4.37 mS/cm, pH from 7.4 to 7.60, cations 8.00 to 36.00 meq/l, and anions from 4.85 to 29.61 meq/l. After fertilization pH ranges from 7.09 to 7.47, ECe ranged from 3.79 to 12.85 mS/cm, cations ranges from 29.75 to 66.36 meq/l, and anions ranges from 15.18 to 63.32 meq/l; showing that ECe, cations and anions average values has increased by almost three to four orders of magnitude. Furthermore, ECe, pH, cations, and anions values have sharply increased with depth. The evidence from this study shows that vertical leaching adversely contributes to the deterioration of the groundwater quality and rate.

The output of this study is intended to be the building block or the nuclei for a data bank on the prevailed agricultural practices in different aspects, and upon which further studies on the southern area of Kuwait will depend.

The farm areas in the southern region of Kuwait state (case study: Al‐Wafrah farms) suffer from misuse and mismanagement of the agricultural lands in different aspects. This paper provides new source of information on the historical record of farm development and the nature, performance and results of the associated agricultural practices in such areas, as so to be the base or the starting point form which further studies can go forth.

Arsenic contamination in shallow groundwater aquifers in the lower Gangetic basin constitutes a major health hazard in the Bengal basin extended over Bangladesh and India. It has been estimated that at least 35 million people in Bangladesh and 6 million people in India are severely affected by arsenic-contaminated water. More so, about 57 and 9 million people in Bangladesh and West Bengal, respectively, are exposed to arsenic-contamination risk. The use of hazardous, arsenic-bearing groundwater for drinking, cooking, and irrigation in West Bengal and Bangladesh has led to what has been described by the WHO as the worst case of mass poisoning in human history. In case of West Bengal, the problem of arsenic contamination was discovered in the 1980s; since then several mitigation measures were adopted by the provincial and federal governments, community organizations, and NGOs. Yet, poor infrastructural arrangements, dire poverty, lack of awareness, and education increased the risk of arsenic exposure over the decades. In this chapter, an effort has been made to critically analyze the extent of mitigation measures adopted so far in the state of West Bengal. It discusses in detail the chronological responses of the provincial government in arsenic risk mitigation, implementation of adopted mitigation measures, and the consequent response and actions of arsenic-affected communities in West Bengal. The chapter also highlights the emerging challenges of arsenic risk mitigation in West Bengal and proposes a “system-based” framework for risk mitigation.

Of all the natural disasters, drought is the most gradual and the most hard to predict. However, this insidious disaster continually affects the lives and livelihoods of farmers living in drought-affected areas. The northwestern part of Bangladesh is recognized as being more severely affected by drought than the rest of the country, as drought is a recurring event in this area. It has substantial impacts on agriculture and causes great suffering for farmers – in particular, poor and small farmers, who are more vulnerable to drought. Therefore, this study tries to illustrate farmers’ existing coping practices with regard to drought. It also addresses their prioritized adaptation practices, which are based on local context and available resources. This study not only focuses on the implementation of these adaptation practices from the national to the local level, but it also mentions various roles of stakeholders and a definite timeframe for each adaptation practice.

The elevated level of nitrate in groundwater is a serious problem in Texas aquifers. To control and manage groundwater quality, the characterization of groundwater contamination and identification of the factors affecting the nitrate concentration of groundwater are significant. The purpose of this paper is to determine factors which have significant impacts on the elevated groundwater nitrate concentrations of the Southern High-Plains and the Edwards-Trinity aquifers.

The characterization of groundwater nitrate contamination was undertaken by analyzing the hydrochemical data of groundwater within a statistical framework. The multivariate statistical analysis (ordinary least square) and geographically weighted regression (GWR) models were used to study the relationship between groundwater nitrate contamination and land use of the study areas.

Results show groundwater nitrate contamination is typically due to an overapplication of N fertilizers to cotton in the Southern High-Plains aquifer and to grassland in the Edwards-Trinity aquifer. Adjusted R² (0.45) explains variations of nitrate concentration by well-depth, cotton production, shrubland and grassland in the Edwards-Trinity aquifer. The results of an analysis of variations in N concentration with well depth for all 192 wells indicate that nitrate concentrations in water from wells in the Southern High-Plains and Edwards-Trinity aquifers tend to decrease with increasing well-depth.

In this study, the GWR model was built to identify nitrate concentration within a geographic framework to ensure sustainable use of groundwater, which is important for local management purposes. The analysis should include local spatial variations of elements such as hydrologic characteristics and the land use activities if groundwater nitrate contamination causes adverse effects on human and ecosystem health.

The purpose of this paper aims to reduce the manpower, electricity, and water consumption for irrigation.

The IoT-based smart irrigation system designed with various sensors to collect farm field data, and stored all the data in the cloud for scheduling the irrigation.

This system reduces the water and electricity consumption, and labor cost.

Difficult to implement on a small farm field with different crops.

Crop type, soil type and environment data should be considered for better saving of water.

Reduces the water consumption, electricity, man power and increase production.

The soil type, crop type and environment data have been added before irrigation. The climate data also included before scheduling. Dynamic changing of irrigation timings based on the climate and sensor data.

Increasing environmental concerns have placed the need for an enhanced water resources management on the policy agenda. In this context, a restrictive regulation of water withdrawals for irrigation has gained in importance. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how a reduction in water quotas and increased water prices affect risk‐efficient crop choices and the related economic implications for northern German farmers.

The authors apply a whole‐farm risk programming approach to a typical arable farm in northern Germany. By using irrigation field trials, production activities with varying irrigation intensities and inherently incorporated crop yield uncertainty are defined.

In contrast to increased water prices, a reduction in water quotas leads to higher water savings and lower economic disadvantages for farmers. Due to an adjusted portfolio crop choice, as well as irrigation intensity, the reduction in the expected total gross margin is partially offset.

This example ensures volumetric water monitoring at the farm level which, however, remains a major pitfall in many other countries. From a methodological perspective, the crop yield distribution choice might affect the findings. Likewise, the consideration of downside risk in an irrigation context appears to be interesting for future research.

This is the first paper to compare the implications of differentiated water quotas and water pricing schemes suggested by the European Water Framework Directive, while taking risk‐efficient crop portfolio considerations into account. This approach facilitates water reallocation not only between crops, but also in terms of the crop‐specific irrigation intensity. Crop yields are based on a unique panel of micro data rather than expert opinions or simulations.

All over the world, Bangladesh is well known as a flood- and cyclone-affected country. But in the recent years the slow onset disaster of drought is more frequent in Bangladesh due to climatic as well as nonclimatic variability. As a consequence, agriculture along with its dependent farmers’ livelihoods tremendously experience its adverse impacts. Therefore, the main focus of this chapter is to discuss about drought, its effects on different sectors, and how in different levels a number of drought risk management actions are carried out to cope with this insidious disaster in the context of Bangladesh.