Anticipate of Climate Change Impacts in Rainfed Lowland Rice Through Applying Appropriate Technology

Abstract

Rainfed lowland covers about 2.1 million ha in Indonesia that are generally distributed in Java, Sumatera, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, and Nusa Tenggara. Rainfed lowland ecosystems have great potentially to be more productive agriculture to avert possible food shortage. However, productivity of rainfed lowland rice is low due to low soil fertility, lack of water resources and its infrastructure, high weeds infestation, drought stress, and susceptible to climate change. The higher rainfed lowland rice yields can be attained by implementing appropriate crop and soil management technique. Incorporating 5 ton cattle manure per ha into soil significantly increased grain yield of DSR, also improve soil tillage and supply nutrients required by rice plants. The application of composted organic matter, slow release materials, and direct seeded system could reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and water harvesting could be used as adaptation of climate change. During the TPR and the upland crops, the crops often suffer from severe drought, resulting in drastic yield reduction. One of the alternatives to solve drought stress is to collect excess water during the water surplus rainy season in on-farm reservoirs (OFR) and use the water for the dry season crops.