Rotational Cropping and Irrigation Prevailed in Chinese Taipei

Journal
The 3rd APEC Workshop on Sustainable Agricultural Development
Part Of
農業試驗所特刊第109號
Pages
35-51
ISBN
957-01-6962-1
Date Issued
2004-03
Date
2004-03
Author(s)
Hai-Sheng Ko
URI
Abstract
Uneven distribution of precipitation in space and time, together with lack of suitable storage dam sites due to weakness in geological land formation have caused the water utilization in Taiwan under unfavorable condition, regardless of its annual average precipitation being one of the highest in the World. Scarcity in water resources utilization still occurred so often that the rotational cropping pattern and rotational irrigation had to be developed to cope with that, the limited water resources could be shared equally by rotation with more water users; and the efficiency of water utilization could be enhanced by precisely arranging water distribution schedule also by rotation. In particular, during the period of 1950s tol98Os, these two practices had assisted the agriculture of Taiwan in fulfilling its designated contemporary goal of producing adequate food to meet the need of that era with comparatively small amount of water. This achievement might attribute to the technical renovation on water management and heavy investment in the improvement of irrigation facilities. Contemplatively, these practices had enabled water controllers to convince water users that, the scarcity of water is being distributed equitably to a maximum extent so that the use of water in the field could maintain orderly, of which might ascribe equally or even more than the technical amelioration and heavy investment to the success and sustainability of water management. Moreover, cropping rotated with paddy rice, upland crops and sugarcane has extended the paddy wet land covering area, which is deemed to be in favor of conserving ecosystem and enhancing biodiversity for the environment. Recognizing the fact that the profit of irrigation is no longer able to pay the strict rotational cropping and irrigation, these two practices have gradually relaxed and modified nowadays. The Government agency concerned is aware of this change and tries to preserve and apply the spirit of equity of these two practices to the allocation of agricultural resources in a more sustainable way.
Event(s)
The 3rd APEC Workshop on Sustainable Agricultural Development
Subjects
Rotational cropping pattern
Rotational irrigation
Equity
Water scarcity
On-farm and off-farm irrigations
Publisher
農業試驗所
Type
conference paper
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