Cryosphere-fed kuhl irrigation system forms a major lifeline for agriculture and livelihood development in the Himalayan region. The system is highly vulnerable to climate change impacts like glacier retreat, glacial lake outburst floods, snow avalanches and landslides especially in the upper Indus Basin (UIB). It is necessary to conduct reassessment of climate change impacts and find coping strategies for sustainable agriculture development in this mountainous region. In the present study, risks of glacier depletion , lakes outburst flood, snow avalanche and landslide hazards impacting cryosphere-fed kuhl irrigation system in 10 river basins of the UIB of Pakistan were analyzed using multi-hazard indexing approach. High risk of glacier depletion was observed in the Astore and Swat river basins likely because of the combined effect of reduced snow precipitation and rising warm temperatures in these basins. The risk of expansion in aggregate lake area was high in the Indus sub-basin, moderate in the five basins (i.e., Hunza, Shigar, Shyok, Shingo and Astore), while it was low in the four basins (i.e., Swat, Chitral, Gilgit and Jhelum). More than 2% areas of Hunza and Shigar basins in the Karakoram range exhibited high risk of snow avalanche and landslide (SAL) hazard, while moderate SAL hazard was found in >40% areas of Chitral, Gilgit, Hunza and Shigar river basins. An effective early warning mechanism and provision of adequate resources for preparedness are essential to cope with negative impacts of climate change on irrigated agriculture in this region in future.
Excessive irrigation application and intensive tillage is the norm on Pakistani farms, which exacerbate water logging and salinity and reduce the water productivity of major crops. Addressing these issues, a long term experiment (2000 to 2009) under wheat-maize (9 seasons each) cropping pattern was conducted on raised beds (with furrow spacing of 65 cm (Narrow Bed-NB), 130 cm (Medium Bed-MB) and 180 cm (Wide Bed-WB)), with controlled traffic regime emplaced, in comparison with traditional intensive cultivated flat basin (FB) for evaluating impacts on soil, crop and water productivity. The results showed reduced bulk density by 7%, 6% and 5% and increased hydraulic conductivity by 90%, 106% and 72% for WB, MB and NB respectively, when compared with FB. The irrigation water saving was 36%, 40% on WB, 34%, 31% on MB and 7%, 8% on NB, for wheat and maize crops respectively, when compared with FB. The crop yields were higher by 14%, 25% on WB, 12%, 10% on MB and 3%, 13% on NB, respectively, compared with FB. Consequently, the water productivity was also increased by 43%, 71% on WB, 30%, 30% on MB and 4%, 18% on NB for wheat and maize crops respectively. This study have shown the prospects of improved soil physical properties and water productivity by adopting controlled traffic raised bed farming (CTRBF) system, which may be helpful for agriculture sustainability and food security.
Water application is generally assumed to be uniformly applied during furrow irrigation into the root zone of crops between the wetted furrows. However, non‐uniform distribution of applied water has been widely demonstrated along the field length, but there have been few studies focused on quantifying the lateral distribution of the wetting front from wetted furrows into the bed middle. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the lateral infiltration potential of wetted furrows spaced 132 cm apart for optimizing the bed width under silty clay. The results indicated a non‐uniform distribution of soil water shown by 33% less soil water movement into the middle of the bed compared with the furrow centre after 7 h of infiltration time, when field capacity was attained in the bed middle. Soil water movement simulation using the Hydrus 2D model was appropriate, which helped in identifying the optimized bed width for variable infiltration time under existing field conditions. The evaluation procedure and graphical presentation outcome may increase knowledge of the wetting time and lateral movement interaction that may support decision making in optimizing the bed width for improving water productivity by reducing yield loss due to a dry bed middle in the study area. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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