Farmers agronomic management responses to extreme drought and rice yields in Bihar, India

In 2022, the Indian state of Bihar experienced its sixth driest year in over a century. To document the consequences and farmer responses to the meteorological drought, real-time survey data was collected across 11 districts of Bihar. We then developed a causal machine learning model to quantify dro...

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Main Authors: Mkondiwa, Maxwell, Kishore, Avinash, Veetil, Prakashan Chellattan, Sherpa, Sonam, Saxena, Satyam, Pinjarla, Bhavani, Urfels, Anton, Poonia, Shishpal, Ajay, Anurag, Craufurd, Peter, Malik, Ram, McDonald, Andrew
Format: Journal Article
Language:Inglés
Published: Elsevier 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/177078
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author Mkondiwa, Maxwell
Kishore, Avinash
Veetil, Prakashan Chellattan
Sherpa, Sonam
Saxena, Satyam
Pinjarla, Bhavani
Urfels, Anton
Poonia, Shishpal
Ajay, Anurag
Craufurd, Peter
Malik, Ram
McDonald, Andrew
author_browse Ajay, Anurag
Craufurd, Peter
Kishore, Avinash
Malik, Ram
McDonald, Andrew
Mkondiwa, Maxwell
Pinjarla, Bhavani
Poonia, Shishpal
Saxena, Satyam
Sherpa, Sonam
Urfels, Anton
Veetil, Prakashan Chellattan
author_facet Mkondiwa, Maxwell
Kishore, Avinash
Veetil, Prakashan Chellattan
Sherpa, Sonam
Saxena, Satyam
Pinjarla, Bhavani
Urfels, Anton
Poonia, Shishpal
Ajay, Anurag
Craufurd, Peter
Malik, Ram
McDonald, Andrew
author_sort Mkondiwa, Maxwell
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description In 2022, the Indian state of Bihar experienced its sixth driest year in over a century. To document the consequences and farmer responses to the meteorological drought, real-time survey data was collected across 11 districts of Bihar. We then developed a causal machine learning model to quantify drought impacts on rice production and to characterize how access to affordable irrigation from electric pumps mitigated productivity losses. This model addresses the empirical challenge of conducting a counterfactual causal analysis when a factor like drought affects nearly all sampled farmers. In the 2022 event, drought led to rice acreage reduction, transplanting delays, damage to seedling nurseries, and higher use rates of supplemental irrigation. For fields that were planted, average yield losses from water stress were estimated as 0.94 t/ha (∼23 % yield loss) with these losses reduced by 0.3 t/ha in fields with access to electric tubewells. Agronomic management practices such as earlier transplanting were also identified as complementary strategies that increased the adaptation value of investments in irrigation. To reduce the impact of drought in Bihar, additional investments in electric irrigation infrastructure are needed along with focused extension efforts and decision support systems that empower farmers to make economically and sustainably rational use of available water resources to maintain yield and profitability.
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spelling CGSpace1770782025-12-08T09:54:28Z Farmers agronomic management responses to extreme drought and rice yields in Bihar, India Mkondiwa, Maxwell Kishore, Avinash Veetil, Prakashan Chellattan Sherpa, Sonam Saxena, Satyam Pinjarla, Bhavani Urfels, Anton Poonia, Shishpal Ajay, Anurag Craufurd, Peter Malik, Ram McDonald, Andrew farmers drought rice yields machine learning irrigation agronomic practices In 2022, the Indian state of Bihar experienced its sixth driest year in over a century. To document the consequences and farmer responses to the meteorological drought, real-time survey data was collected across 11 districts of Bihar. We then developed a causal machine learning model to quantify drought impacts on rice production and to characterize how access to affordable irrigation from electric pumps mitigated productivity losses. This model addresses the empirical challenge of conducting a counterfactual causal analysis when a factor like drought affects nearly all sampled farmers. In the 2022 event, drought led to rice acreage reduction, transplanting delays, damage to seedling nurseries, and higher use rates of supplemental irrigation. For fields that were planted, average yield losses from water stress were estimated as 0.94 t/ha (∼23 % yield loss) with these losses reduced by 0.3 t/ha in fields with access to electric tubewells. Agronomic management practices such as earlier transplanting were also identified as complementary strategies that increased the adaptation value of investments in irrigation. To reduce the impact of drought in Bihar, additional investments in electric irrigation infrastructure are needed along with focused extension efforts and decision support systems that empower farmers to make economically and sustainably rational use of available water resources to maintain yield and profitability. 2025-11 2025-10-14T16:56:54Z 2025-10-14T16:56:54Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/177078 en https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5077316 Open Access application/pdf Elsevier Mkondiwa, Maxwell; Kishore, Avinash; Veetil, Prakashan Chellattan; Sherpa, Sonam; Saxena, Satyam; Pinjarla, Bhavani; et al. Farmers agronomic management responses to extreme drought and rice yields in Bihar, India. 2025. Agricultural Water Management 320: 109830. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2025.109830
spellingShingle farmers
drought
rice
yields
machine learning
irrigation
agronomic practices
Mkondiwa, Maxwell
Kishore, Avinash
Veetil, Prakashan Chellattan
Sherpa, Sonam
Saxena, Satyam
Pinjarla, Bhavani
Urfels, Anton
Poonia, Shishpal
Ajay, Anurag
Craufurd, Peter
Malik, Ram
McDonald, Andrew
Farmers agronomic management responses to extreme drought and rice yields in Bihar, India
title Farmers agronomic management responses to extreme drought and rice yields in Bihar, India
title_full Farmers agronomic management responses to extreme drought and rice yields in Bihar, India
title_fullStr Farmers agronomic management responses to extreme drought and rice yields in Bihar, India
title_full_unstemmed Farmers agronomic management responses to extreme drought and rice yields in Bihar, India
title_short Farmers agronomic management responses to extreme drought and rice yields in Bihar, India
title_sort farmers agronomic management responses to extreme drought and rice yields in bihar india
topic farmers
drought
rice
yields
machine learning
irrigation
agronomic practices
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/177078
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