Rice production constraints and ‘new’ challenges for South Asian smallholders: insights into de facto research priorities

South Asia has the largest food-insecure population in the world, and rice is the most important staple crop in many areas.
This study – published in the open access journal Agriculture and Food Security – reviews agricultural research to determine how far it has looked at the factors that most limit smallholder productivity in South Asia, and explored how far research has connected the production constraints and environmental challenges that rice farmers face.
The study reveals that peer-reviewed research has been heavily skewed towards abiotic constraints (e.g. water and soil quality), while socio-economic factors had received relatively little attention even though such factors  account for more than 22% of rice yield losses in the South Asian farming systems in this study. A range of other medium and small production constraints have also received little research attention, despite the fact that the sum of these less severe constraints represents the largest contribution to total rice yield losses.
Many research areas, particularly in the social sciences, are not receiving the attention they warrant when compared to the opportunities for improvement in the sector demonstrated in this study. The research community needs incentives and support to increase the impact of their research. Research institutions should place greater emphasis on the needs of smallholders and rural populations. This would promote participatory research focused on farmers, as well as research coordination. Ultimately, such a shift in approach could improve livelihoods and reduce poverty.

View the article here (open access journal article)