Abstract
Sri Lanka is well known worldwide for its ancient water civilization, and the development and evolution of irrigation systems in the country are well documented. Of them, the cascaded tank-village systems (CTVSs) are of greater significance. They exist in the country with their unique environment which comprises of tanks, paddy fields and the passages of surface water movement. Low cropping intensity, tank sedimentation, high tank water losses and low resource productivity have been identified as the major problems related to the CTVS. Various water management practices have been adopted in Sri Lanka to improve land productivity under small tanks. There is a need to understand the underlying principles and mechanisms of the evolution of the CTVSs with a focus on its each component. Building awareness among farmers on the ecological aspects of the components in the CTVSs would help to introduce novel cascade management systems towards improving its ecological conditions and land productivity.
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Notes
- 1.
Bethma is a practice that temporarily redistributes plots of land among shareholders (paddy landowners) in part of the command area (territory) of a tank (reservoir) during drought periods.
- 2.
Kekulama is a dry sowing of seed paddy in the asweddumized fields. Farmers advance the cultivation time in Kekulama using early seasonal rains whenever they feel that tanks would not get enough water to cultivate the command area. They have the experience that if September (second inter-monsoonal) rains are high, the total seasonal rainfall is not adequate to fill the tank.
- 3.
Subsequently developed upper land strip of the irrigable paddy land is known as Akkarawela.
- 4.
Cropping intensity is the number of times a crop is planted per year in a given agricultural area.
- 5.
An area planted with large trees of the same species that acts as a wind break to minimize evaporation from the surface of the tank. It also provides a number of ecosystem services, including the provision of dry season fruits and habitats for wild animals such as nesting birds.
- 6.
A strip of grass and reeds on the periphery of the water body (dark green) that acts as sieve or filter to trap silt. A good habitat for herons and bitterns, as well as a breeding area for fish.
- 7.
A thick strip of vegetation located between tank bund and paddy fields. It also has a water hole called yathuru wala to retain saline water seeping from the tank. Various plants of salt absorbing features are found on kattakaduwawa, which reduce the salinity of the water seeping through the bund before it reaches the paddy fields.
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Dharmasena, P.B. (2020). Cascaded Tank-Village System: Present Status and Prospects. In: Marambe, B., Weerahewa, J., Dandeniya, W. (eds) Agricultural Research for Sustainable Food Systems in Sri Lanka. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-2152-2_3
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