Table 5.
Rice cropping systems and cultural practices used by rice farmers in the study area.
| Practices | Modalities | Percentage of farmers | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| North (N = 227) |
Centre (N = 53) |
South (N = 138) |
Study area (N = 418) |
||
| Culture zone | Lowland | 95.4 | 96.4 | 100 | 97 |
| Upland | 4.6 | 3.6 | – | 3 | |
| Rice production | Pluvial | 89.4 | 100 | 68.4 | 83.2 |
| Irrigated | 10.6 | – | 31.6 | 16.8 | |
| Type of irrigation | No | 89.4 | 100 | 78.3 | 87.1 |
| Intermittent | 10.6 | – | 10.1 | 9.1 | |
| Continued | – | – | 11.6 | 3.8 | |
| Type of produced rice | Local | 39.9 | – | – | 21.7 |
| Improved | 32.9 | 100 | 100 | 63.5 | |
| Local and improved | 27.2 | – | – | 14.8 | |
| Ploughing period | January–March | 9.3 | 2 | 23.2 | 13.7 |
| April–June | 82.3 | 74 | 53 | 70.3 | |
| July–September | 8.4 | 24 | 10.7 | 11.1 | |
| October–December | – | – | 13.1 | 4.9 | |
| Soil labour | Manual | 56 | 96.4 | 95.1 | 73.7 |
| Plough | 29.1 | – | – | 16 | |
| Tractors | 14.9 | 3.6 | 4.9 | 10.3 | |
| Sowing period | January–March | 9.8 | – | 12.7 | 9.5 |
| April–June | 75.1 | 17.6 | 33.6 | 54.4 | |
| July–September | 10.7 | 82.4 | 36.6 | 28 | |
| October–December | 4.4 | – | 17.1 | 8.1 | |
| Soil treatment before sowing | Yes | 9.3 | – | – | 5.1 |
| No | 90.7 | 100 | 100 | 94.9 | |
| Type of sowing | Sowing in pockets | 79.7 | 80.9 | 24.5 | 61.4 |
| Nursery transplantation | 16.8 | 19.1 | 75.5 | 36.8 | |
| Broadcast sowing | 3.5 | – | – | 1.8 | |
| Seedling spacing | 10 × 10 cm | 10.1 | 7.5 | – | 6.5 |
| 15 × 15 cm | 7.5 | – | – | 4.1 | |
| 20 × 20 cm | 20.3 | 73.6 | 59.4 | 39.9 | |
| 25 × 25 cm | 15.9 | 7.5 | 23.9 | 17.5 | |
| 30 × 30 cm | 31.7 | 1.9 | 8.7 | 20.3 | |
| 40 × 30 cm | 5.3 | – | 7.2 | 5.3 | |
| Random | 9.2 | 9.5 | 0.8 | 6.4 | |
| Cultural association | Yes | – | 1.9 | – | 0.2 |
| No | 100 | 98.1 | 100 | 99.8 | |
| Weed management | Manual | 44.7 | 58.1 | 56.4 | 50.7 |
| Herbicide | 55.3 | 41.9 | 43.6 | 49.3 | |
| Number of weeding | No weeding | 60.4 | 1.9 | 3.6 | 33.3 |
| 1 | 15.1 | 15.4 | 5.8 | 12.6 | |
| 2 | 22.7 | 46.2 | 44.2 | 32.9 | |
| 3 | 1.8 | 36.5 | 46.4 | 21.2 | |
| Soil fertility management | Chemical fertilizers | 66.9 | 81.1 | 92.8 | 77.3 |
| Organic fertilizers | – | 1.9 | – | 0.2 | |
| No fertilizer | 33.1 | 17 | 7.2 | 22.5 | |
| Insect pest management | Chemical pesticides | 7.1 | 3.8 | 14.5 | 9.1 |
| No management | 92.9 | 96.2 | 85.5 | 90.9 | |
| Months for bird scaring | January–March | 0.4 | – | 19.2 | 9.1 |
| April–June | 11 | 2.4 | 8.3 | 11.8 | |
| July–September | 80.2 | 92.7 | 59.2 | 66.3 | |
| October–December | 8.4 | 4.9 | 13.3 | 12.8 | |
| Harvest period | January–April | 3.9 | – | 20.2 | 9.2 |
| May–August | 19.8 | 1.9 | 26.8 | 20.3 | |
| September–December | 76.3 | 98.1 | 53 | 70.6 | |
| Post-harvest straw management | Arrange in a pile in the fields | 76.7 | 83.3 | 90.6 | 82.1 |
| Remove in the fields | 4.4 | 16.7 | 9.4 | 7.6 | |
| Burn | 2.6 | – | – | 1.4 | |
| Compost | 16.3 | – | – | 8.9 | |