Climate change will affect irrigation water demand of rice via changes in
rice physiology and phenology, soil water balances, evapotranspiration and effective
precipitation. As agriculture is themain sector of water use in Bangladesh, estimation
of the agricultural water demand in the changing environment is essential for longterm
water resources development and planning. In the present paper, a study has
been carried out to estimate the change of irrigation water demand in dry-season
Boro rice field in northwest Bangladesh in the context of global climate change.
The study shows that there will be no appreciable changes in total irrigation water
requirement due to climate change. However, there will be an increase in daily use
of water for irrigation. As groundwater is the main source of irrigation in northwest
Bangladesh, higher daily pumping rate in dry season may aggravate the situation of
groundwater scarcity in the region.