Author(s)

K. Okamoto. S. Shindo & H. Kawashima

Abstract

Estimation of available water resources and potential irrigation land area in Asia K. Okamotol, S. shindo' & H. ~awashima~ 1 National Institute for Agro-Environmental Sciences, Japan 2 Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, University of Tokyo, Japan Abstract At present, one-half of the world's population lives in Asia. The population in Asia is expected to grow continuously. It is feared that water resources would become scarce. Will the Asian farmers always have sufficient water to cultivate rice? Focusing on rice-cropping zones in Asia, available water resources for cultivating rice in a typical rice-cropping season were calculated. The potential irrigation land area under the present climatic conditions was also evaluated. It was found that water resources in Southeast Asia are abundant in the first rice-cropping season but not in the second rice-cropping season, and those in South Asia are scarce. It would be necessary to efficiently utilize the water resources for rice croppi

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