The study aimed to estimate the level of the yield gaps of maize in major producing areas, point out the causes of yield gaps in farmers’ maize fields, and identify opportunities to the existing yield gaps through management practices of maize production in Central Java. This is the strategy for closing the existing yield gaps to achieve food self-sufficiency in agricultural land. Methods to estimates the yield gaps should cover data sources on physical conditions (weather and soil), management practices, and smallholder shapes. The relevant methods for estimating actual yields (Ya), potential (Yp), and water-limited (Yw) were compared. The yield gaps of maize under intensive cropping systems in rainfed ecosystems resulted in significant differences in all cultivation situations. The lowland rainfed maize showed Ya, Yp, and Yw values of 5.57, 12.83, and 12.47 ton/ha, respectively. The major causes of the yield gaps include variety, land preparation, and water issues concerned with the limited water inputs.
<p>Rice (<em>Oryza sativa </em>L.) is the most important and strategic food crop in Indonesia, but low productivity in tidal paddy fields is a serious problem that must be overcome. The application of ameliorant would be worthy to increase the growth and yield of rice in tidal paddy fields. The study aimed to investigate the effect of ameliorant application on growth and yield of rice varieties in tidal paddy fields. The study was arranged in a split plot design with five replications. Rice varieties tested were Inpari 34, Dendang, Inpara 9, Inpari 35, and Ciherang as the main plot, and ameliorant types studied were humic acid, gypsum, zeolite, and organic fertilizer as the subplot. The results showed that the use of different rice varieties and amelioran types significantly increased the growth and yield of rice. Inpara 9 produced 7.6 t.ha-1 dry milled grain (DMG) or increased by 33.3% compared to Ciherang variety. Humic acid application at 25 kg ha-1 increased grain yield by 21.3% higher than that without ameliorant treatment. The best treatment to increase the growth and yield of rice in tidal paddy field was a combination of humic acid 25 kg.ha-1 and Inpari 34 which produced the DMG of 8.6 t ha-1 or 41% higher compared to Ciherang without ameliorant.</p>
WeRise is a rainfed specific technology (IRRI-JIRCAS-IAARD) that helps farmers to determine planting time according to rainfall distribution and specific variety. The research was conducted in West Nusa Tenggara (WNT) and Central Java at 2018, involving 15 farmers in each location. It compared planting time according to WeRise’s recommendation (1) and farmers’ practice (2), using the same variety, namely Inpari 41, which is a specific high yielding variety for rainfed. It was analyzed using the T test at the 5% level. The best WeRise’s recommendations in WNT was ± 1 December 2018, while farmers’ planting time was carried out on ± 15 November 2018. Meanwhile, in Central Java WeRise’s recommendations was same as the farmers, on ± 15 November 2018. However, testing was still carried out following the second / third alternative WeRise recommendation even though the yield prediction were lower (1 December 2018). The yield from WeRise treatment and farmer practices was not significantly different with an average yield of 5.01 t ha-1 for the WeRise treatment and 4.84 t ha-1 for farmer practice in Central Java and an average yield of 5.44 t ha-1 for the WeRise treatment and 5.65 t ha-1 for farmer practice in WNT. This means that in this initial validation WeRise had shown a fairly good performance with equivalent yield to farmers. However, it was suspected that Werise’s prediction in Central Java was still too low or 54% lower than the actual yield, while the prediction in NTB reaches 102%.
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