Grain yield optimisation in the Plain of Reeds in the context of climate variability¹

Otimização da produtividade de grãos na Planície de Reeds no contexto da variabilidade climática

HIGHLIGHTS:

Crop yield areas expected to decline under the adverse effects of climate factors.

Applying suitable cultivation periods (SCPs) may help improve crop yields.

SCPs create higher potential grain yields compared to the baseline.

ABSTRACT

The Plain of Reeds is a large floodplain in the Mekong Delta, where natural disasters such as droughts, off-season rainfall and floods have dramatically increased, leading to declining in crop yields. The objective of this study was to evaluate the adverse impacts of climate factors (ICF) on grain yield of the main growing crops in the Plain of Reeds to define the suitable cultivation period (SCP) for rice-growing areas as an adaptation solution to minimise the adverse impacts of climate factors. To conduct this research, a crop model was applied to define the suitable cultivation periods based on simulating the grain yields of each rice-growing season. When the suitable cultivation periods were deployed, the grain yield of all simulated growing crops improved significantly compared to the current cultivation periods (baseline), which, for the main growing crops in the Plain of Reeds, are no longer suitable for the current weather conditions that have been deeply affected by climate variability in recent years.

Key words:
Oryza sativa; crop model; grain yield; cultivation