Erosion is a serious problem in upland rice areas because on steep slopes the fields are neither bunded nor terraced. That is causing serious sedimentation problems in lowland irrigation systems. Alley cropping as well as terracing are being introduced in some areas, but these cultural practices have not as yet been widely adopted by farmers. In irrigated and favorable rainfed lowlands, the relatively heavy application of fertilizers plus the fairly high yields make nutrient imbalance a serious problem. In the upland ecosystem, where soils are more weathered and leached, acidity, Al toxicity, P and other nutrient deficiencies combine to reduce yields.
Soil acidity is serious in tidal swamps because of acid sulfate soils.
That is accompanied by Fe toxicity, as well as some deficiencies of P and micronutrients. The same holds true for other communication facilities. As a result, marketing of farm products is slow, especially for commodities other than rice, which require further processing before being consumed. The movement of inputs to the farm is also slow. The government has been allocating a sizable amount of its budget to the agricultural sector.