Comparative evaluation of rice production systems for their sustainability

An index was developed to measure the sustainability of rice production systems at a farm level by identifying nine indicators grouped under the three dimensions of sustainability namely ecological, economic and social. The index was applied to rice farmers sampled from irrigated, rainfed lowland, rainfed upland and tankfed rice systems. Although significant differences were found among the four systems, each system had positive and negative attributes. Rainfed lowland production was the best system followed by irrigated production. The rainfed upland system was the least sustainable. The rainfed lowland system did not dominate in any of the dimensions of sustainability but emerged as the best in a composite index. This confirms the general agreement that sustainable farming avoids maximising any single outcome variable, but instead balances all the dimensions of sustainability.