Assessment of farmers' water and fertilizer practices and perceptions in the North China Plain

Abstract

Irrigation and fertilization are vital to increasing crop yield, but their application often exceeds crop requirements. Excessive fertilization under inefficient irrigation depletes the already scarce water resources while contributing to water pollution. To overcome these problems, the introduction of fertigation in combination with modern irrigation technologies has been promoted in the North China Plain (NCP), but farmers have been reluctant to adopt such technologies. To better understand the current situation and farmers' perceptions, we performed a case study in the People's Victory Canal Irrigation District (PVCID) of NCP. A field survey was carried out using a participatory approach, and field monitoring was conducted on a representative farm. We found that

Fertigation Strategies to Improve Water and Nitrogen Use Efficiency in Surface Irrigation System in the North China Plain

“…Furthermore, the simulation results show high percolation in all seasons, especially in the wheat seasons. Understandably, surface irrigation under farmers' control results in low application efficiency (average of 40% and 60% for wheat and maize, as reported by Sun et al [43]).…”

“…The two-year field experiment of winter wheat-summer maize rotation was conducted from October 2017 to October 2019. The set-up was based on existing farming, irrigation and fertilisation practices of farmers in the region [42]. Ten closed-end border strips were set, measuring 200 m × 3.5 m and named plots A to J.…”

“…Ten closed-end border strips were set, measuring 200 m × 3.5 m and named plots A to J. Plots H to J were set up following actual farmers' practice, while the improved practice of the split top-dressing application of urea was applied in plots A to G, as reported in another report [43]. The crop pattern was the same as current farmers' practice: wheat was planted in mid-October and harvested the following June, followed by maize from June to early October.…”

“…• S1: reduced irrigation depth with farmers' fertilisation practice. For each irrigation event, fixed irrigation depths were applied: 95 mm for wheat and 80 mm for maize, as recommended by Sun et al [43]. • S2: optimal irrigation schedule based on the irrigation depth in S1 and the optimal depletion of readily available water.…”

Cross-Regional Crop Classification Based on Sentinel-2

“…By further integrating water usage characteristics and fertilizer input of various crops [9], it is feasible to advance the acquisition of water consumption data from post-usage statistics to pre-usage assessment. This is vital for regional water resource allocation, water resource scheduling, as well as large-scale water and fertilizer management, and agricultural diffuse pollution assessment [10,11]. Additionally, large-scale precise and rapid crop type identification is closely related to agricultural finance [12] and agricultural insurance [13].…”