Assessing Opportunities to Increase Yield and Profit in Rainfed Lowland Rice Systems in Indonesia

Abstract

In this study, we aimed to improve rice farmers’ productivity and profitability in rainfed lowlands through appropriate crop and nutrient management by closing the rice yield gap during the dry season in the rainfed lowlands of Indonesia. The Integrated Crop Management package, involving recommended practices (RP) from the Indonesian Agency for Agricultural Research and Development (IAARD), were compared to the farmers’ current practices at ten farmer-participatory demonstration plots across ten provinces of Indonesia in 2019. The farmers’ practices (FP) usually involved using old varieties in their remaining land and following their existing fertilizer management methods. The results indicate that improved varieties and nutrient best management practices in rice production, along with water reservoir infrastructure and information access, contribute to increasing the productivity and profitability of rice farming. The mean rice yield increased significantly with RP compared with FP by 1.9 t ha−1 (ranges between 1.476 to 2.344 t ha−1), and net returns increased, after deducting the cost of fertilizers and machinery used for irrigation supplements, by USD 656 ha−1 (ranges between USD 266.1 to 867.9 ha−1) per crop cycle. This represents an exploitable yield gap of 37%. Disaggregated by the wet climate of western Indonesia and eastern Indonesia’s dry climate, the RP increased rice productivity by 1.8 and 2.0 t ha−1, with an additional net return gain per cycle of USD 600 and 712 ha−1, respectively. These results suggest that there is considerable potential to increase the rice production output from lowland rainfed rice systems by increasing cropping intensity and productivity. Here, we lay out the potential for site-specific variety and nutrient management with appropriate crop and supplemental irrigation as an ICM package, reducing the yield gap and increasing farmers’ yield and income during the dry season in Indonesia’s rainfed-prone areas.

Agronomic and yield selection of doubled haploid lines of rainfed lowland rice in advanced yield trials

“…Rainfed rice is the second-largest source of Indonesian rice production after irrigated lowland rice. Indonesia has a rainfed area of 3.3 million hectares of rice fields (Ministry of Agriculture 2019) with average of productivity 3.3 tons ha -1 (Erythrina et al 2021). The productivity of rainfed rice is lower than irrigated rice which produces 5.3 tons ha -1 (Ministry of Agriculture 2019).…”

Increase of Cropping Index in Dryland Supported by Groundwater Irrigation

“…The farmers' profit was 12,288,000 IDR ha -1 with a B/C value of 1.28. Rice productivity in dryland during the rainy season can be increased by the application of recommended technology components (Erythrina et al, 2021). Technological components are new high-yielding varieties (Shoidah and Adnan, 2021), the jajar legowo system (Witjaksono, 2018), the application of organic fertilizers, soil nutrients and supplementary irrigation (Anshori et al, 2021a) The increase in productivity will be largely determined by the performance and interaction of the recommended technology components and the growing environment.…”

Peningkatan Hasil Padi Melalui Penerapan Pengelolaan Hara Spesifik Lokasi di Lahan Sawah Tadah Hujan

“…Hasil penelitian Romdon et al (2021), diketahui bahwa pemupukan berdasarkan hasil uji PUTS di Kabupaten Tegal dengan dosis 2 ton/ha bahan organik, Urea 200 kg/ha, dan Phonska 300 kg/ha mampu meningkatkan hasil padi Inpari 32 sebesar 20,36% dibanding eksisting petani. Lebih lanjut Erythrina et al (2021), menyampaikan bahwa pengelolaan tanaman terpadu di lahan sawah tadah hujan mampu meningkatkan produktivitas padi sebesar 1,925 ton/ha atau 60,85% lebih tinggi dibanding pengelolaan eksisting petani. Adopsi teknologi pemupukan berimbang pada tanaman padi selain dapat meningkatkan produksi padi, juga dapat meningkatkan efisiensi pemupukan NPK, menurunkan biaya pemupukan, melestarikan kesuburan tanah, dan mengurangi pencemaran lingkungan (Warsito et al, 2010).…”