In Pakistan, climate change is affecting water resources and also agriculture productivity. Rice-Wheat cropping zone is one of the prone regions that use water coming from upstream of the Indus Basin in Pakistan. In this study Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model was used to evaluate the climate change adaptation practices in agriculture. The model was calibrated for the years 2005-2010 at Tarbela and Mangla reservoirs. Reasonably good performance of the calibrated model was achieved by estimated Coefficient of Determination (R-2), Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE), Percent Bias (PBIAS) at 0.87, 0.82 and 10.7 % for Tarbela and 0.70, 0.72 and 15.7 % for Mangla, respectively. Direct-Seeded Rice (DSR) practice for rice and Zero Tillage practice for wheat crops were tested in comparison to conventional methods by using SWAT. In parallel to the modeling approach, the field experiment was performed for two years i.e 2016-17 and-2017-18 at district Sahiwal. The results showed that overall water productivity of DSR was 0.58 and 0.54 kg per m(3) in the year 2017 and 2018, respectively, which was higher than Transplanting Rice Practice (TRP) having 0.43 and 0.40 kg per m(3) in 2017 and 2018, respectively. In wheat crop trails, overall water productivity of zero tillage was 1.3 and 1.2 kg per m(3) in the years 2017 and 2018, respectively. Two climate change scenarios Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) 4.5 and 8.5 were tested in a combination of best management practices to evaluate climate change adaptation strategies for rice-wheat cropping zones. The results showed that DSR and Zero Tillage practices would be helpful in the future to adapt the expected climate change conditions without compromising the yield and water productivity of rice and wheat crops.
Khan, MM; Cheema, MJM; Arshad, M; Khaliq, T
EVALUATION OF CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION PRACTICES IN THE AGRICULTURE SECTOR USING SATELLITE IMAGERY IN PAKISTAN
Pakistan Journal Of Agricultural Sciences