Bioscience Evidence 2024, Vol.14, No.6, 270-280 http://bioscipublisher.com/index.php/be 277 9.2 Socioeconomic and resource constraints Socioeconomic factors and resource constraints also pose significant challenges to achieving high rice yields. In SSA, the lack of integration of improved technologies and socio-economic constraints largely explain the existing yield gaps (Nhamo et al., 2014). Smallholder farmers often face financial limitations that prevent them from adopting advanced agronomic practices and technologies, such as the use of fertilizers and improved irrigation methods (Awio et al., 2022). In Bangladesh, increasing population pressure, decreasing resources, and climate vulnerabilities like salinity, drought, and submergence further exacerbate these challenges (Bhuiyan et al., 2021). The high cost of fertilizers and other inputs can also reduce the net income of farmers, making it difficult for them to invest in practices that could potentially increase yields (Awio et al., 2022). 9.3 Yield gaps and limitations of current practices Despite advancements in agronomic practices, significant yield gaps persist. In China, the average yield gap was found to be 16.0% in the 2000s, primarily due to water and nitrogen stresses (Zhang et al., 2019). In SSA, recommended agronomic practices (RAP) and farmer-selected best practices (FIP) have shown potential to reduce yield gaps, but the high cost of fertilizers poses a risk to profitability (Awio et al., 2022). The annual rate of rice yield increase has declined globally, from 2.7% in the 1980s to 1.1% in the 1990s, indicating that current crop and resource management practices are not fully exploiting the large yield potential of rice. In intensive rice cropping systems, steady agronomic and genetic interventions have helped sustain high annual production, but they have not achieved the necessary yield increases to keep pace with growing global demand (Ladha et al., 2021). Moreover, the lack of integration of improved technologies and socio-economic constraints largely explain the existing yield gaps (Nhamo et al., 2014). Acknowledgments I am deeply grateful to Professor R. Cai for his multiple reviews of this paper and for his constructive revision suggestions. I would also like to thank the two anonymous peer reviewers for their valuable comments and recommendations. Conflict of Interest Disclosure The author affirms that this research was conducted without any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. References Abdou N., Abdel-Razek M., El-Mageed S., Semida W., Leilah A., El-Mageed T., Ali E., Majrashi A., and Rady M., 2021, High nitrogen fertilization modulates morpho-physiological responses, yield, and water productivity of lowland rice under deficit irrigation, Agronomy, 11(7): 1291. https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy11071291 Alfred R., Obit J., Chin C., Haviluddin H., and Lim Y., 2021, Towards paddy rice smart farming: a review on big data, machine learning, and rice production tasks, IEEE Access, 9: 50358-50380. https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2021.3069449 Altaf A., Gull S., Shah A., Faheem M., Saeed A., Khan I., and Zhu M., 2021, Advanced genetic strategies for improving rice yield, Journal of Global Innovations in Agricultural Sciences, 9(4): 167-172. https://doi.org/10.22194/jgias/9.9520 An N., Fan M., Zhang F., Christie P., Yang J., Huang J., Guo S., Shi X., Tang Q., Peng J., Zhong X., Sun Y., Lv S., Jiang R., and Dobermann A., 2015, Exploiting co-benefits of increased rice production and reduced greenhouse gas emission through optimized crop and soil management, PLoS One, 10(10): e0140023. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0140023 Atwill R., Krutz L., Bond J., Reddy K., Gore J., Walker T., and Harrell D., 2018, Water management strategies and their effects on rice grain yield and nitrogen use efficiency, Journal of Soil and Water Conservation, 73: 257-264. https://doi.org/10.2489/jswc.73.3.257 Awio T., Senthilkumar K., Dimkpa C., Otim-Nape G., Struik P., and Stomph T., 2022, Yields and yield gaps in lowland rice systems and options to improve smallholder production, Agronomy, 12(3): 552. https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy12030552 Bhuiyan M., Islam A., Sarkar M., Mamun M., Salam M., and Kabir M.S., 2021, Agronomic management and interventions to increase rice yield in Bangladesh, 24(2): 161-181. https://doi.org/10.3329/BRJ.V24I2.53453
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