MapAWD 

Mapping suitability of the Alternate Wetting and Drying practice for rice production

MapAWD is a Microsoft® Excel-based tool developed to evaluate the bio-physical suitability of the AWD water-saving technique. In this method, a spatially explicit water balance model is used to analyze the climatically suitable area for AWD. The method only requires simple input data (e.g., rice extent, cropping season, rainfall, potential evapotranspiration, and soil percolation rates) and can -- in principle be applied to all rice growing areas. 

The original method has been improved by integrating climate risks and unfavorable soil information in its analysis process. The MapAWD was developed as a generic tool to support users to quickly analyze AWD suitability at any geographical scale.

How does it work?

The core of MapAWD is an Excel workbook with programming codes written using Visual Basic for Application (VBA) language. MapAWD includes components for input and output data. Input data includes bio-physical data for suitability analysis and mapping the base map. The user inputs data on land characteristics, rainfall, decadal potential evapotranspiration data, crop data, AWD suitability thresholds, and climate risks data. The tool will then generate seasonal AWD suitability of individual grids in tabular format and in ESRI ASCII raster format.

MapAWD Tool Brochure