Agroecological Nutrient Management Strategy for Attaining Sustainable Rice Self-Sufficiency in Indonesia

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report (Previous Reviewer 2)

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

My rewiew questions have all been answered. The contribution has improved a lot.

 

Please edit table 1 - to be on one page - same for firgure 1.

Please check again the References, e.g. No. 3..., 119, 124 etc.

Author Response

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

My review questions have all been answered. The contribution has improved a lot.

AU: Thank you.

Please edit table 1 - to be on one page - same for firgure 1.

AU: Done

Please check again the References, e.g. No. 3..., 119, 124 etc.:

AU: We have checked again we are sure they are accurate.

Reviewer 2 Report (New Reviewer)

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The paper is very well written and presents interesting information. But, I am offering the following recommendations for further improvement:

 

1.     An abundance of literature is available on biofertilizers that should be critically evaluated and added to the review. Although much more information is available, authors have given concise information on phosphorus-solubilizing bacteria. Biofertilizers are crucial for agroecological nutrient management and therefore this portion of the paper should be strengthened

2.     Section 4.2 should also need to be rewritten to provide elaborative information on the role of microbes. Here also, Phosphate solubilizing microbes are the key players in nutrient recycling. Also, it should be emphasized how this recycled P can be used for agricultural use.

3.     As the conclusion defines the aim of increasing productivity, nutrient management through recycling is an important aspect that needs to be systematically reviewed and reported.

Author Response

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The paper is very well written and presents interesting information. But, I am offering the following recommendations for further improvement:

 

1. An abundance of literature is available on biofertilizers that should be critically evaluated and added to the review. Although much more information is available, authors have given concise information on phosphorus-solubilizing bacteria. Biofertilizers are crucial for agroecological nutrient management and therefore this portion of the paper should be strengthened.

 

AU: We have added a few more information on this aspect to strengthen the review.  

 

2. Section 4.2 should also need to be rewritten to provide elaborative information on the role of microbes. Here also, Phosphate solubilizing microbes are the key players in nutrient recycling. Also, it should be emphasized how this recycled P can be used for agricultural use.

 

AU: We appreciate this suggestion. However, we added more explanation in Section 3.3., under Phosphate-solubilizing Microbes, instead. Adding it to Section 4.2 may cause redundancy of what has been explained in Section 3.3.

 

3. As the conclusion defines the aim of increasing productivity, nutrient management through recycling is an important aspect that needs to be systematically reviewed and reported.

 

AU: Thank you. To strengthen this aspect, we inserted Table 4, to show the potential contributions of alternative sources of nutrients. This, we believe will make it easier for readers, to comprehend.      

 

Reviewer 3 Report (New Reviewer)

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

There is a review manuscript with title Agro ecological nutrient management to attain Indonesia’s sustainable rice self-sufficiency  the review has good idea and new strategy for management and  attain the nutrient for  increasing the rice production  in Indonesia through sustainable environmental conditions.

Manuscript is written well but has some defects from my opnion:

Title: For author it is good to add strategy in the title to become

Agroecological nutrient management strategy to attain Indonesia’s sustainable rice self-sufficiency

Abstract: Very poor about the information in the manuscript, i cant see any information about the results you got, like in figures. You should add some data in the abstract, like  how much well be increase in the production during coming years, also, how much nutrients will dispense and exchange them with other forms (organic, biofertilizers …..etc)

Introduction: good written but has some issue like, authors should start the introduction by the importance of rice and diagnose the problem then start with their opinion to solve this problem.

Material: authors, must add the title of material before the management in page 6 then, start the management

Results:  like material authors must add results then, add 4. Improvement of agro ecological functions

Conclusion: very long authors must make shortness for this chapter.

Generally the review manuscript has good idea but stell need some work to fix the issue above mentioned, in addition, authors must add some information about best and diseases control and other environmental conditions will effect and how they will meet these during future years.

Author Response

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

There is a review manuscript with title Agro ecological nutrient management to attain Indonesia’s sustainable rice self-sufficiency the review has good idea and new strategy for management and  attain the nutrient for  increasing the rice production  in Indonesia through sustainable environmental conditions.

Manuscript is written well but has some defects from my opnion:

Title: For author it is good to add strategy in the title to become

Agroecological nutrient management strategy to attain Indonesia’s sustainable rice self-sufficiency

AU: Thank you, and we have revised accordingly.

Abstract: Very poor about the information in the manuscript, i cant see any information about the results you got, like in figures. You should add some data in the abstract, like  how much well be increase in the production during coming years, also, how much nutrients will dispense and exchange them with other forms (organic, biofertilizers …..etc)

AU: We have added some data about yield and production increase. We have also added some figure of nutrient contribution from alternative nutrient sources, but the Abstract has a limited space to mention nutrient contributions from all alternative sources.

Introduction: good written but has some issue like, authors should start the introduction by the importance of rice and diagnose the problem then start with their opinion to solve this problem.

AU: We have added in the first two paragraphs the importance of rice and diagnose the problem. Then we mentioned that agroecological nutrient management, with simultaneous control of rice area conversion will be the solution for maintaining rice self-sufficiency.

Material: authors, must add the title of material before the management in page 6 then, start the management

AU: You seem to suggest us to use the format of (original) Article. However, our submission is a Review paper. So, we follow the format of “Review” paper.     

 

Results:  like material authors must add results then, add 4. Improvement of agro ecological functions

AU: See our explanation as above. This is a “Review” paper, instead of Original Article.

Conclusion: very long authors must make shortness for this chapter.

AU: Thank you. We now have shortened the Conclusion from 436 words to 254 words, without losing the main messages. 

 

Generally the review manuscript has good idea but stell need some work to fix the issue above mentioned, in addition, authors must add some information about best and diseases control and other environmental conditions will effect and how they will meet these during future years.

AU: We feel that inclusion of the pest and diseases control would broaden the scope of this Review. There were also suggestions to narrow the scope. Sorry that we do not include this subject in the revised version.   

Reviewer 4 Report (New Reviewer)

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Agroecological nutrient management to attain Indonesia’s sus- tainable rice self-sufficiency

 

Abstract

Is ok

 

Introduction

 

add some recent studies

give importance of the work

 

Discuss, if there is a special problem.

Shorter all parameters

Ok, but if wanted to add some parameters.

add some recent studies

 

Reference:

make reference according to format.

 

Comments on the Quality of English Language

Minor editing of English language required

Author Response

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Agroecological nutrient management to attain Indonesia’s sustainable rice self-sufficiency

 

Abstract

Is ok

 

Introduction

 

add some recent studies

 

AU: From the References 1-17, 10 of them was from the last 5 year publication. We added a few more recent publications. I think we are in good support of recent studies. 

 

give importance of the work

 

AU: The importance and novelty of the work has been included in the last paragraph of Introduction section.

 

Discuss, if there is a special problem.

 

AU: Problem, or limitation of the study has been mentioned in paragraph 14.

 

Shorter all parameters

Ok, but if wanted to add some parameters.

add some recent studies

 

AU: In the first round of review we have done a combined shortening of all sections and adding a new parameter, i.e. biodiversity.  We have also added new studies in this second edited version.   

 

Reference:

make reference according to format.

 

AU: Indeed, we have closely referred to and followed the Sustainability format of reference.

 

 

Round 2

Reviewer 3 Report (New Reviewer)

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Authors assigned and answered all my comments

This manuscript is a resubmission of an earlier submission. The following is a list of the peer review reports and author responses from that submission.

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Title seems less attractive and general, it may be made more specific indicating how to attain self-sufficiency. Also in such a broad subject, what is the focus of the authors.

 

Keywords: Some of the keywords should apperar in title. Fertilizer, greenhouse gas, stonemeal etc. are not focussed in title. Either revise the keyword or the title. Moreover, words like agroecology and self-sufficiency are not present in keyword.

 

Focus of review:

The focus of review, is not as per the title. 

The review is divided into following sections

1. Introduction - 805 words

2. Paddy rice soils and their nutrient status - >1378 words (including tables)

3. Nutrient sources and fertilization - 1000 words

4. Agroecological nutrient management - 4770 words (including tables)

5. Improvement of agroecological functioning - 1442 words

6. Intensification and control of paddy field conversion - 626 words

7. Challenges in implementing agroecological management - 380 words

8. Conclusions and Recommendation - 543 words

This clearly shows that the major focus of the review is on agroecological nutrient management. 

Agroecological management refers to agricultural practices employed in agroecology including crops rotation to prevent erosion, biological fixation of nitrogen, minimal tillage, use of manure as fertilizers instead of synthetic ones, efficient management of water, etc (Garcia-Oliveira et al., 2022; Future Foods). There are many other upcoming approaches such as renewable energy development, carbon sequestration, biodiversity management etc. The authors have discussed many things, but I did not find a comprehensive management strategy that will attain self-sufficiency.

Under section 4, which is the longest discussion is basically general. Several reviews have discussed that use of biofertilizers and organic fertilizers would improve rice soil. The authors need to focus on the current status of biofertilizer and organic fertilizer use in Indonesia and how the supply can be improved. As all the rice HYVs are fertilizer responsive, and economics is in favor of chemical fertilizers, how farmers can be educated to either bear the loss by using organic and biofertilizer for the sake of environment or to add value to the product, such as certification of organic produce for additional income. 

 

Specifically the review needs to discuss

1. What should be the production level for attaining self-sufficiency, and from where additional production will come.

2. What is the status of rice biodiversity in Indonesia and how those can be sustained under agroecological management.

3. What is the loss expected in Indonesia in terms of soil degradation or greenhouse gas emission due to intensive rice cultivation and how those can be better managed under agroecologicla management suggested by the authors.

4. Water management has not been addressed, which is a key issue for rice cultivation. Will Indonesia get sufficient water for rice cultivation in future?

 The authors should either balance the review or change the title to 'Agroecological nutrient management' in rice. 

The size of the review should preferably be within 6000 words.

 

Comments on the Quality of English Language

Minor syntax and grammar check.

Author Response

Reviewer 1

Comments	Authors’ Responses
Title seems less attractive and general, it may be made more specific indicating how to attain self-sufficiency. Also in such a broad subject, what is the focus of the authors.	Thank you for your suggestions. We have revised the title and it now reads: “Agroecological nutrient management to attain Indonesia’s sustainable rice self-sufficiency”. With this new title we focus on nutrient management in environmentally friendly way. We retain some other sections such as land conversion, as it is so central in influencing the attainment of rice self-sufficiency.
Keywords: Some of the keywords should apperar in title. Fertilizer, greenhouse gas, stonemeal etc. are not focussed in title. Either revise the keyword or the title. Moreover, words like agroecology and self-sufficiency are not present in keyword.	In line with the new title, we revised the keywords. It now reads: Agroecology; Biochar; Biofertilizers; Climate change; Greenhouse gases; Inorganic Fertilizers; Nutrient management; Organic matter; Paddy field conversion; Rice self-sufficiency, Stonemeal
Focus of review: The focus of review, is not as per the title.    The review is divided into following sections 1. Introduction - 805 words 2. Paddy rice soils and their nutrient status - >1378 words (including tables) 3. Nutrient sources and fertilization - 1000 words 4. Agroecological nutrient management - 4770 words (including tables) 5. Improvement of agroecological functioning - 1442 words 6. Intensification and control of paddy field conversion - 626 words 7. Challenges in implementing agroecological management - 380 words 8. Conclusions and Recommendation - 543 words   This clearly shows that the major focus of the review is on agroecological nutrient management.	The focus of the review is on nutrient management, and we believe it now aligns with the new title. After a major revisions, the word counts become:   Introduction - 921 words 2. Paddy rice soils and their nutrient status - >1480 words (including tables) 3. Nutrient sources and fertilization – This chapter has been removed, because it shows some redundance. The relevant contents were merged to “Agroecological Nutrient Management” 4. Agroecological nutrient management - 3650 words (including tables) 5. Improvement of agroecological functioning - 1027 words 6. Intensification and control of paddy field conversion - 734 words 7. Challenges in implementing agroecological management - 388 words, including table. 8. Conclusions and Recommendation - 402 words   While the focus remains on the Agroecological nutrient management, the manuscript is much shorter now, as suggested.
Agroecological management refers to agricultural practices employed in agroecology including crops rotation to prevent erosion, biological fixation of nitrogen, minimal tillage, use of manure as fertilizers instead of synthetic ones, efficient management of water, etc (Garcia-Oliveira et al., 2022; Future Foods). There are many other upcoming approaches such as renewable energy development, carbon sequestration, biodiversity management etc. The authors have discussed many things, but I did not find a comprehensive management strategy that will attain self-sufficiency.	We removed some of these broad coverages and focusing on Agroecological nutrient management. We added Section 3.6 on cropping systems and crop rotation. However, we did not include the broader subjects such as minimum tillage (as they may be more relevant for upland/unflooded and non-terraced farming system), and renewable energy development, as they are beyond the scope of this paper.      We added the relationship of conventional and agroecological nutrient management on biodiversity. We emphasized agroecological nutrient   management system as the main strategy for increasing rice yield in a sustainable manner as it reduces GHG emissions, enhancing biological N fixation, etc. The other side of the strategy for attaining self-sufficiency is by controlling paddy field conversion to less than 30,000 ha annually. We argued that unless these two main approaches are administered, the rice self-sufficiency will go astray.
Under section 4, which is the longest discussion is basically general. Several reviews have discussed that use of biofertilizers and organic fertilizers would improve rice soil. The authors need to focus on the current status of biofertilizer and organic fertilizer use in Indonesia and how the supply can be improved. As all the rice HYVs are fertilizer responsive, and economics is in favor of chemical fertilizers, how farmers can be educated to either bear the loss by using organic and biofertilizer for the sake of environment or to add value to the product, such as certification of organic produce for additional income.	We add in this revised version a paragraph about greenhouse gases (GHG) emission avoidance from the use of organic fertilizers and biofertilizers. We do not recommend certification of organic produce because in our view, applications of biofertilizers and organic fertilizers are supplementary to chemical fertilizers for national scale rice production, i.e. without Chemical fertilizers, it’s impossible to attain rice self-sufficiency.
Specifically the review needs to discuss   1.   What should be the production level for attaining self-sufficiency, and from where additional production will come.     2.   What is the status of rice biodiversity in Indonesia and how those can be sustained under agroecological management.   3.   What is the loss expected in Indonesia in terms of soil degradation or greenhouse gas emission due to intensive rice cultivation and how those can be better managed under agroecologicla management suggested by the authors.       4.   Water management has not been addressed, which is a key issue for rice cultivation. Will Indonesia get sufficient water for rice cultivation in future?   5.   The authors should either balance the review or change the title to 'Agroecological nutrient management' in rice.	Thank you for this elaborated suggestion.   1. The scenario analysis (Figure 3) has shown the level of production that need to be achieved and that combined yield increase and control of conversion will be the must for self sufficiency attainment. 2. We feel that biodiversity is another separate and broad topic, and hence does not fit in this article.   3. We do not have enough reference to address this analysis. We note that in the intensively managed rice areas of Java and Bali, N use seems excessive. We have recommended the use of Paddy soil test kit which include leaf color chart for N use efficiency. We reemphasize the importance of sustainable intensification in the revised version.   4. Indeed it was discussed in Section 4.6. Assessment of future sufficiency of irrigation water is a challenging task. We added that discussion to reenforce Section 4.6.  5.  The title has now been modified  according to the reviewer’s suggestion.
The size of the review should preferably be within 6000 words.	We eliminate the relatively less important reviews to shorten the manuscript. However, the length of the manuscript is still about 8600 words.
Comments on the Quality of English Language Minor syntax and grammar check.	We conducted the check, and hopefully it’s acceptable now.

 

 

 

 

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

 

 

References

Yoru contribution appears to be a significant contribution to the field of agriculture and sustainable rice production in Indonesia.

What is missing, is a section about the method applied for the comprehensive literature review. This shall also include the limitation(s) of review done.   

Please check if this is well references according to the guidlines Rizzo, G.; Agus, F.; Susanti, Z. Is potassium a yield-limiting factor in intensive crop systems in the humid tropics 2023. (manu- script in preparation)

Reference 70. (Richmond, K.E.; Sussman, M. ), between plant and nutrient is a space too much. Same in  129 (Arsil, P.; Sahirman, S.; Hidayat, H.H) between Earth and Envi

Author Response

Comments	Authors’ Responses
Your contribution appears to be a significant contribution to the field of agriculture and sustainable rice production in Indonesia.	Thank you. We hope this will be used not only by academicians, but also by policy makers.
What is missing, is a section about the method applied for the comprehensive literature review. This shall also include the limitation(s) of review done.	We inserted in para 12-15, the method and limitation of the review in the Introduction Section.
Please check if this is well references according to the guidlines Rizzo, G.; Agus, F.; Susanti, Z. Is potassium a yield-limiting factor in intensive crop systems in the humid tropics 2023. (manu- script in preparation)	We updated this reference.
Reference 70. (Richmond, K.E.; Sussman, M. ), between plant and nutrient is a space too much. Same in  129 (Arsil, P.; Sahirman, S.; Hidayat, H.H) between Earth and Envi	Revised. Thank you.

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The nutrients N, P, K, Ca, sulfur (S), Mg, C, oxygen (O), and H are grouped into macronutrients (i.e.; the nutrients essential to plants and needed in relatively large amounts). Of these, Ca, Mg, and S are also called secondary macronutrients because they are needed by plants in relatively smaller amounts than N, P, and K and are usually applied to the soil from organic matter, lime, and other sources

Improve writing: Are they macronutrients or micronutrients? Ca, Mg and S

There are no images on this topic: 2.3. Nutrient status maps currently available and 4.1

The whole article talks about maps but there are none.

I don't understand why copy the tables from another article. There is no one else who works with fertilizers in rice crops. Your search for information is very poor. There is not enough discussion if you only use a single item in the tables. I invite you to enrich these same tables with more authors.

Table 1. Soil P and K statuses and fertilizer recommendations.

Table 2a. Recommendation of elemental N, P, and K (kg ha-1) at different P and K statuses and different target yields (adapted from Widowati et al., 2021 [20]).

Table 2b. Recommendation of compound fertilizers N P2O5 K2O 15-10-12 or its equivalent in elemental form of NPK 15-4.4-10 and Urea rates at different P and K status and different target yield (modified from Widowati et al., 2021 [20] to show the elemental nutrient application).

It remains to present the conceptual model, the mathematical model, calibration with a base year to be able to understand the generated scenario.

To demonstrate the importance of yield increase and control of land conversion, a two-variable scenario analysis is conducted as follows:

This article presents a rice cultivation guide with general materials, without dosage or justification of various published works

Author Response

Comments	Authors’ Responses
The nutrients N, P, K, Ca, sulfur (S), Mg, C, oxygen (O), and H are grouped into macronutrients (i.e.; the nutrients essential to plants and needed in relatively large amounts). Of these, Ca, Mg, and S are also called secondary macronutrients because they are needed by plants in relatively smaller amounts than N, P, and K and are usually applied to the soil from organic matter, lime, and other sources Improve writing: Are they macronutrients or micronutrients? Ca, Mg and S	Thank you for the suggestions.   Ca, Mg, and S belong to the group of macronutrients, but they are not needed as much as N, P, K, C, O, and H, and hence they are also called secondary macronutrients. This terminology is acceptable and widely used among agronomists.
There are no images on this topic: 2.3. Nutrient status maps currently available and 4.1 The whole article talks about maps but there are none.	We have added a map (Figure 1)
I don't understand why copy the tables from another article. There is no one else who works with fertilizers in rice crops. Your search for information is very poor. There is not enough discussion if you only use a single item in the tables. I invite you to enrich these same tables with more authors. Table 1. Soil P and K statuses and fertilizer recommendations. Table 2a. Recommendation of elemental N, P, and K (kg ha-1) at different P and K statuses and different target yields (adapted from Widowati et al., 2021 [20]). Table 2b. Recommendation of compound fertilizers N P2O5 K2O 15-10-12 or its equivalent in elemental form of NPK 15-4.4-10 and Urea rates at different P and K status and different target yield (modified from Widowati et al., 2021 [20] to show the elemental nutrient application).	Tables 1 and 2 have been modified and enriched with data from other references.  All nutrients in the table are converted to the elemental forms, now.
It remains to present the conceptual model, the mathematical model, calibration with a base year to be able to understand the generated scenario. To demonstrate the importance of yield increase and control of land conversion, a two-variable scenario analysis is conducted as follows:	This is a conceptual model, calibrated with the base year condition. We expanded the text for easier reading.
This article presents a rice cultivation guide with general materials, without dosage or justification of various published works	We included the dosages for NPK and a few micronutrients. Other nutrients such as Ca, and Mg is rarely deficient and it could be supplied by liming and/or organic matter. And we have added these.  In our view, for other macro and micronutrients it suffices to say that regular application of organic fertilizers will supply enough micro nutrients.