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Benefits of irrigation against heat stress in agriculture: Evidence from wheat crop in India

Pratap Birthal, Jaweriah Hazrana, Digvijay Negi () and Ghanshyam Pandey

Agricultural Water Management, 2021, vol. 255, issue C

Abstract: Applying the fixed effects regression technique to the highly spatially disaggregated district-level data from 1966–67 to 2011–12 this paper has assessed the impact of heat stress on wheat production in India and concurrently evaluated the role of irrigation towards offsetting its harmful impact. It has brought out three key highlights. One, heat stress negatively impacts crop yield, and the impact has increased over time. Two, irrigation, besides its contribution towards improving crop yield, also moderates the harmful impact of heat stress, but over time its effectiveness has declined. Three, the measure of heat stress built on multiple aspects of excess temperature (i.e., intensity, persistence, and frequency) explains variation in crop yield better than does a single aspect of it. Given the increasing scarcity of irrigation water and rising temperature, these findings suggest the need for exploring technological and policy options for improving irrigation water-use efficiency and breeding of crops for heat tolerance and low water footprints.

Keywords: Heat-stress; Yield loss; Adaptation; Irrigation; India (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:agiwat:v:255:y:2021:i:c:s0378377421002158

DOI: 10.1016/j.agwat.2021.106950

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