Manuscript number: PONE-D-23-09867
Title: Spatiotemporal mapping of rice acreage and productivity growth in Bangladesh
Journal: PLOS ONE
Dear Academic Editor,
Thank you for the comments concerning our manuscript. We deeply appreciate your positive
evaluation of our work. Those comments are valuable and very helpful. We have read
through comments carefully and have made corrections. Please see below; all tasks
and revisions taken are shown point-by-point.
Response to Academic Editor comments
Comments #1: Please ensure that your manuscript meets PLOS ONE's style requirements,
including those for file naming.
Response to comment #1: We tried to meet the PLOS ONE’s style requirements.
Comments #2: Thank you for submitting the above manuscript to PLOS ONE. During our
internal evaluation of the manuscript, we found significant text overlap between your
submission and previous work in the [introduction, conclusion, etc.]. Please revise
the manuscript to rephrase the duplicated text, cite your sources, and provide details
as to how the current manuscript advances on previous work.
Response to comment #2: Thank you for this comment. We made an attempt to rephrase
the manuscript.
Comments #3: We note that you have indicated that data from this study are available
upon request. PLOS only allows data to be available upon request if there are legal
or ethical restrictions on sharing data publicly. In your revised cover letter, please
address the following prompts: a) If there are ethical or legal restrictions on sharing
a de-identified data set, please explain them in detail (e.g., data contain potentially
sensitive information, data are owned by a third-party organization, etc.) and who
has imposed them (e.g., an ethics committee). Please also provide contact information
for a data access committee, ethics committee, or other institutional body to which
data requests may be sent. b) If there are no restrictions, please upload the minimal
anonymized data set necessary to replicate your study findings as either Supporting
Information files or to a stable, public repository and provide us with the relevant
URLs, DOIs, or accession numbers. We will update your Data Availability statement
on your behalf to reflect the information you provide.
Response to comment #3: We have uploaded the minimal anonymized dataset and subsequently
adjusted the data availability statement accordingly.
Comments #4: We note that Figure 1, 4, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14 in your submission contain
[map/satellite] images which may be copyrighted. All PLOS content is published under
the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which means that the manuscript,
images, and Supporting Information files will be freely available online, and any
third party is permitted to access, download, copy, distribute, and use these materials
in any way, even commercially, with proper attribution. For these reasons, we cannot
publish previously copyrighted maps or satellite images created using proprietary
data, such as Google software (Google Maps, Street View, and Earth). For more information,
see our copyright guidelines: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/licenses-and-copyright.
Response to comment #4: We obtained the necessary permission from the authority to
use the shape file, and a copy of the permission letter has been attached.
Thank you once again for your precious comments and advice. Those comments are all
valuable and very helpful for revising and improving our manuscript. We have revised
the manuscript accordingly, and our point-by-point responses are presented above.
We hope you are satisfied with our answers and the new data we have provided. Our
deepest gratitude goes to you for your careful work and thoughtful suggestions that
have helped improve this paper substantially.
Sincerely yours
All Authors’
Manuscript number: PONE-D-23-09867R1
Title: Spatiotemporal mapping of rice acreage and productivity growth in Bangladesh
Journal: PLOS ONE
Dear Academic Editor,
Thank you for the comments concerning our manuscript. We deeply appreciate your positive
evaluation of our work. Those comments are valuable and very helpful. We have read
through comments carefully and have made corrections. Please see below; all tasks
and revisions taken are shown point-by-point.
Response to Academic Editor comments
Comments #1: Fails to show any novelty even after the major revision. Please see the
reviewer's comment.
Response to comment #1: Thank you for your thorough review and valuable feedback.
While we respect your perspective, we assert that our manuscript offers unique contributions
not fully covered in previous studies. Recognizing the significance of novelty in
research, we have carefully revised the introduction section to highlight the distinctive
aspects of our work. Additionally, we have incorporated relevant citations to address
updated references, aiming to enhance the overall value of our manuscript. We hope
that upon reevaluation, you will find our revised work to be a meaningful addition
to the existing literature.
Regarding your comment on our research paper's publication in PLOS ONE, we appreciate
your acknowledgment. In our previous study, we focused on the regional context within
14 specific locations, but we recognize the inherent diversity in Bangladesh's rice-growing
ecosystem. To address this, our current study takes a more detailed approach, analyzing
data from 64 locations for a comprehensive understanding of rice cultivation dynamics.
This shift enhances the statistical validity of our research and facilitates the formulation
of more effective, location-specific policies. We have incorporated these refinements,
including the research novelty, into the introduction section based on your insightful
comments. For detailed insights into the novelty of our research, kindly refer to
response of Comment #1 from Reviewer #1.
Our research findings have significant practical implications for informing and guiding
future agricultural practices and policies in rice-intensive areas of Bangladesh.
The study provides valuable insights into the dynamic changes in the area and production
of rice cultivation at a more disaggregated level, representing diverse ecosystems
and management constraints. Policymakers can utilize this information to develop targeted
strategies and interventions aimed at enhancing rice production in specific regions.
For instance, regions with favorable environmental conditions and fertile soil content
can be encouraged to prioritize expanding rice cultivation. Efforts can be directed
towards providing farmers in these regions with access to modern high-yielding varieties
and advanced agricultural technologies to improve productivity. Conversely, areas
facing challenges such as salinity or hilly terrain require tailored approaches to
overcome these limitations, such as the development of stress-tolerant rice varieties
and the implementation of appropriate irrigation systems. Additionally, identifying
regions where rice production is declining, or farmers are shifting to alternative
crops can guide initiatives aimed at revitalizing rice cultivation through improved
irrigation facilities, training programs, and the development of short-duration varieties.
The study highlights the areas that require closer attention to overcome challenges
and enhance productivity, ultimately contributing to achieving Sustainable Development
Goal 2.3 of doubling agricultural productivity and income for smallholder farmers
by 2030. In summary, these practical implications can contribute to sustainable agricultural
practices, enhance food security, and improve the livelihoods of farmers in Bangladesh.
We express our sincere gratitude for your valuable comments and advice, which have
significantly contributed to the improvement of our manuscript. Your thorough review
has been instrumental in shaping our revisions, and we trust that our responses and
the additional data provided meet your expectations. Once again, thank you for your
careful work and thoughtful suggestions.
Sincerely yours
All Authors’
Manuscript number: PONE-D-23-09867
Title: Spatiotemporal mapping of rice acreage and productivity growth in Bangladesh
Journal: PLOS ONE
Dear Reviewer,
Thank you for the comments concerning our manuscript. We deeply appreciate your posi-tive
evaluation of our work. Those comments are valuable and very helpful. We have read
through comments carefully and have made corrections. Please see below; all tasks
and re-visions taken are shown point-by-point.
Response to Reviewer’s comments
Reviewer #1:
Comment #1: In this paper, the authors performed a spatio-temporal mapping of the
area, production, and yield of rice from 2006-2007 to 2019-2020 using secondary data
for dis-aggregating 64 districts in Bangladesh. They also looked at the adoption rate
of high-yielding varieties of rice and did cluster analysis. The authors of this paper
has also pub-lished a similar paper (same lead author) in PLOS One with the title
“Growth and trend analysis of area, production and yield of rice: A scenario of rice
security in Bangladesh (Al Mamun M.A, Nihad SAI, Sarkar M.AR, Aziz M.A, Qayum M.A,
Ahmed R, et al. 2021. Growth and trend analysis of area, production and yield of rice:
A scenario of rice security in Bangladesh. PLoS ONE 16(12): e0261128. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0261128”). The current manuscript is a sub-set of the other published paper. In the published
paper, they used data for the period of 1969–70 to 2019–20 at the region level (old
district level, there were 20 old districts which are currently named as region, the
statistical data until early 2005 were available only at that level). In this paper
they are using the current 64 districts (20 regions were divided into 64 districts)
for which data are available for the period of 2006 to 2020 which they used in this
manuscript). Many things are common between these two papers (such as maps of area,
production, yield and adoption rate, statistical parameters, cluster analysis, etc.).
There is no new message in this manuscript. So, what is the novel aspect of this paper?
Response to comment #1: Thank you for your comment. Yes, our research paper on the
growth and trend analysis of rice area, production, and yield has been published in
PLOS ONE. In the aforementioned publication, our primary focus was on the regional
context, aiming to derive meaningful findings within the framework of 14 specific
locations. How-ever, it is important to recognize that the rice-growing ecosystem
in Bangladesh is charac-terized by a high degree of diversity, driven by factors such
as geographical position, socio-economic conditions, and environmental variations.
So, the findings of the previous study have limitations in terms of their statistical
robustness and generalizability for the formula-tion of region-specific policies.
To address these limitations, our current study takes a more disaggregated approach,
analyzing data from 64 locations, in order to provide a comprehen-sive understanding
of the dynamics of rice cultivation in Bangladesh. We believe that this shift in focus
not only enhances the statistical validity of our research but also facilitates the
formulation of more effective policies tailored to specific locations. However, we
greatly appreciate your insightful comments, and as a result, we have made efforts
to incorporate the research novelty into the introduction section of our manuscript.
For a detailed elabora-tion of the novelty and distinctiveness of our current research,
please refer to the table pro-vided below.
Table 1. Comparison of two manuscripts
Particulars Previous pa-per Current paper Remarks
Study area 14 agricultural regions 64 districts The rice growing ecosystem in Bangladesh
exhibits significant diversity, making it essen-tial to initiate strategies and policy
formula-tion at the grassroots level. In our previous study, we focused on 14 agricultural
regions to gather information at the regional level. However, in our current study,
we analyzed data at a disaggregated level, specifically ex-amining the 64 districts
of Bangladesh. Ex-panding the study from 14 locations to 64 locations in Bangladesh
was justified for sev-eral reasons. Firstly, by including a larger number of locations,
we were able to capture a more comprehensive and representative pic-ture of rice cultivation
practices and produc-tion across the country. This broader scope allowed us to identify
regional variations, un-derstand diverse agricultural practices, and uncover unique
challenges specific to each location. More specifically, by studying 64 districts,
we gained a deeper understanding of the spatial distribution and dynamics of rice
cultivation, which would have been limited in a study confined to only 14 regions.
Second-ly, the inclusion of additional locations en-hanced the statistical robustness
and generali-zability of our findings. With a larger sample study location, we were
able to obtain more reliable estimates and draw more meaningful conclusions about
rice cultivation patterns in Bangladesh. The increased geographical cov-erage provided
a more accurate representation of the overall situation, minimizing potential biases
that could arise from studying a small-er subset of regions. Furthermore, the expan-sion
to 64 districts enabled us to better tailor our recommendations and policy implications
to the specific needs and challenges faced by a wider range of regions, ensuring that
the findings have practical relevance and applica-bility at a national level.
Data period 1969-70 to 2019-20 2006-07 to 2019-20 In order to align with the research
objectives of our present study, we utilized 14 years of data (from 2006-07 to 2019-20)
pertaining to rice area, production, and yield at the district level. For this purpose,
we relied on the Bang-ladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) as the sole national statistical
data repository in the country. The availability of data at the district level spans
from 2006 onwards, while data prior to 2006 was only available at the region-al level.
Therefore, in our previous study, we conducted a regional-level analysis using data
ranging from 1969-70 to 2019-20. In that study, we utilized national-level data from
1969-70 to 2019-20 and regional-level data from 1984-85 to 2019-20, taking into consid-eration
the availability of relevant data for each level of analysis. Thus, the choice of
data period in our studies is primarily guided by the study objectives and the availability
of data.
Statistical method Durbin-Watson test, Exponential growth
model, Cochrane-Orcutt itera-tion method, and k-means cluster analy-sis Augmented
Dickey-Fuller test, Shapiro-Wilk normality test, Exponential growth model, Principal
compo-nent analysis, and Hierarchical clus-ter analysis This study nature is a partial
continuation of the previous one, employing a similar growth model to estimate growth
and conduct trend analysis in both cases. However, there are notable differences in
the methodology. In the previous study, we utilized the k-means cluster method, where
only average data points were considered for clustering. In con-trast, for the present
study, we applied robust multivariate time series clustering techniques, specifically
dynamic time warping, which enabled us to use time series data points for more precise
cluster identification. Addition-ally, we employed principal component analy-sis and
optimal clustering methods to identify the most suitable clusters in our current study.
Study ob-jective Region map-ping via growth, trend and cluster analysis District mapping
via growth, trend and cluster analy-sis
Nexus between adoption and pro-duction growth
District-level area and production forecasting The present study aims to provide a
compre-hensive understanding of rice cultivation at the district level through growth,
trend, and cluster analysis. Specifically, we focus on mapping the growth patterns
and trends in rice production within each district, while also exploring the relationship
between adop-tion rates of new technologies and the corre-sponding production growth.
Additionally, we aim to forecast rice cultivation area and pro-duction at the district
level. In contrast, our previous study focused on regional mapping, analyzing growth,
trends, and clusters at a broader regional level rather than the district level. By
shifting our focus to the district lev-el in the present study, we can provide more
granular insights into the spatial dynamics of rice cultivation and better inform
policy and decision-making processes.
Study con-text-1 - District-wise de-scriptive statistics of area, produc-tion and
yield In the current paper, we employed descriptive statistics to offer a comprehensive
overview of rice cultivation area, production, and yield at the district level over
a 14-year period. This analysis enables us to summarize data, ex-plore patterns, facilitate
comparisons, and support arguments. Moreover, it provides a crucial foundation for
subsequent analysis and interpretation while enhancing the clarity and communicability
of our research findings.
Study con-text-2 Production contribution by seasons and regions - While the current
paper includes comprehen-sive descriptive statistics, it does not present the results
regarding production contribution.
Study con-text-3 Periodic trend and growth assessment by regions and seasons Yearly
trend and growth by dis-tricts and seasons In the previous study, our focus was on
con-ducting trend and growth analyses within a regional context, limited by specific
periods, which hindered our ability to uncover region-al heterogeneity. In contrast,
in the present study, we expanded our examination to the district level, enabling
us to conduct trend and growth analyses that capture a greater degree of regional
heterogeneity.
Study con-text-4 Periodic adop-tion of modern varieties by regions and seasons The
average adoption rate (%) of modern varie-ties and its tem-poral variation via GIS
map In the earlier study, the adoption rate (%) of high-yielding variety (HYV) of
rice was pre-sented across three distinct periods; however, the spatial distribution
of this adoption was not analyzed. In contrast, our current paper offers a more comprehensive
analysis by ex-amining the spatiotemporal variation of HYV adoption at the district
level and representing it through GIS mapping. This approach pro-vides a valuable
understanding of the geo-graphical patterns and temporal changes in HYV adoption,
enhancing our knowledge of this important factor (technological adoption) in rice
cultivation.
Study con-text-5 Clustering rice growing re-gions based on the production growth and
HYV adoption Spatial clustering and classification of rice-growing districts based
on cultivation area, production, and yield In our previous paper, we employed the
k-means clustering technique to cluster 14 re-gions based on the growth rates of rice
pro-duction and high-yielding variety adoption. However, this approach had limitations
in identifying regional heterogeneity as it fo-cused on mean values and had a limited
scope. Considering the highly diverse and regionally specific factors influencing
the rice growing ecosystem in Bangladesh, we sought to address this limitation in
our current study. To achieve more comprehensive and precise results, we utilized
time series data of rice cultivation area, production, and yield at the district level
as input parameters for cluster-ing. We employed robust multivariate cluster-ing techniques,
specifically dynamic time warping (DTW), which takes into account technological advancements,
farmers' prefer-ences, government initiatives, and environ-mental interactions associated
with rice culti-vation. The cluster analysis resulted in group-ing similar districts,
facilitating the creation of a rice zoning map and providing valuable insights for
policy implications.
Study con-text-6 - Effect of modern varieties adoption on rice produc-tion by districts
and seasons This section represents a new addition to our current paper, focusing
on examining the im-pact of high-yielding variety (HYV) adoption on rice production
in various districts of Bangladesh, assuming all other factors re-mained constant.
Our findings revealed that a 10% increase in HYV adoption led to a vary-ing range
of rice production increase, ranging from 0.04% to 5.8% across different seasons,
with a few exceptions. In this analysis, HYV adoption served as a proxy for technological
advancement. To the best of our knowledge, the extent to which this technological
ad-vancement has influenced rice production in specific seasons and districts of Bangladesh
has not been previously revealed. This study provides novel evidence in this regard,
shed-ding light on the relationship between HYV adoption and rice production at the
district level.
Study con-text-7 - District-level pro-jections of rice area and produc-tion changes
an-ticipated by the year 2030 This section introduces a new addition to our current
paper, with a focus on identifying future challenges that may hinder the achievement
of doubling agricultural produc-tivity by 2030, specifically in sustaining rice production.
While previous studies have of-fered forecasts for national-level rice area and production,
our study takes a step further by providing projections for changes in district-level
area and production from 2020 to 2030, visualized through GIS mapping. This ap-proach
enables a comprehensive situational analysis, offering valuable insights into the
required actions and strategies to effectively implement the 2030 global development
agenda.
Comment #2: The paper is mostly the presentation of the secondary data in maps and
charts though they are hardly readable. The quality of the figures and graphs are
very poor as I mentioned in detail in my specific comments below.
Response to comment #2: We appreciate your feedback regarding the presentation of
the secondary data in maps and charts. We acknowledge that the figures and graphs
may have been difficult to read due to their low resolution in the PDF copy. However,
we would like to inform you that we have uploaded the figures in TIFF format, ensuring
higher resolution and larger file sizes. We kindly request you to refer to the original
figures for better clarity and readability.
Comment #3: The discussion section of the paper is mostly not much relevant. Many
sig-nificant factors such as rapid urbanization and industrialization on the agricultural
lands, varieties of rice grown in different districts, problems of flood, drought
and salinity in the coastal region are significant factors in future rice cultivation
which should have been dis-cussed.
Response to comment #3: Thank you for your comment and valuable suggestions. We have
taken your feedback into consideration and made revisions to the discussion section
accord-ingly. We have included a more comprehensive discussion on significant factors
such as rapid urbanization and industrialization affecting agricultural lands, the
diversity of rice varieties grown in different districts, and the challenges posed
by issues like flood, drought, and salinity in the coastal region. We believe these
additions have enhanced the relevance and completeness of our discussion. We appreciate
your input and the opportunity to im-prove the paper.
Comment #4: Abstract and introduction and in other places in the manuscript: Spatial
– temporal should be spatio-temporal
Response to comment #4: Thank you for your comment. We have made the necessary changes
throughout the manuscript by replacing the term "Spatial - temporal" with "Spatio-temporal"
to ensure consistency and accuracy.
Comment #5: Lines 59-68: The word rice is used and the statistics for milled-rice
is given for the world (787 tons) in lines 59-65. However, in line 66 the authors
mentioned about the average paddy yield. Please clarify the average paddy yield. Is
this milled-rice or yield at the farm after the harvest, un-milled rice? This always
create confusion and it is not clear in the Bangladesh statistics whether the yield
reported in for milled rice or un-milled paddy rice.
Response to comment #5: Thank you for bringing this to our attention. Here, paddy
means un-milled rice. We have made the necessary clarification by adding the definition
of "pad-dy" in the brackets.
Comment #6: Line 74: Projected population growth to 189.9 – provide reference for
that.
Response to comment #6: Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We have added
a reference to support this projection.
Comment #7: Line 76: Reference 9 given in the list does not have journal name.
Response to comment #7: Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We have made
the necessary correction to the reference.
Comment #8: Fig.1 What does inter-district alignment mean? The text in the figure
partic-ularly in the right on is not readable.
Response to comment #8: Thank you for your comment. In this context, inter-district
alignment refers to the occurrence of agro-ecological zones (AEZs) overlapping in
different districts. In Bangladesh, there are 30 AEZs distributed across 64 districts
with overlapping zones. We acknowledge that the figures in the PDF copy may have had
low resolution, mak-ing them difficult to read. However, we would like to inform you
that we have uploaded the figures in TIFF format, ensuring higher resolution and larger
file sizes. We kindly request you to refer to the original figures for better clarity
and readability.
Comment #9: Line 193: Showing area in has up to 2 decimals is unnecessary. Please
re-move decimal places in all.
Response to comment #9: Thank you for your suggestion. We have made the necessary
re-visions to this section accordingly.
Comment #10: Lines 205 to 212: Please explain whether this is the yield of milled
rice or unmilled rice.
Response to comment #10: Thank you for bringing this to our attention. In fact, this
refers to milled rice, and we have already mentioned milled rice in the first line
of the paragraph.
Comment #11: Lines 217-218: Among the three seasons Aman season …., respectively –
not clear. Please rephrase.
Response to comment #11: Thank you for your suggestion. We have revised the sentence
as per your recommendation. Please see the text, “The Aman season exhibited standard
error of the mean (SEM) values of 2.17% for cultivation area, 3.87% for production,
and 2.91% for yield”.
Comment #12: Line 229-230: “We examined season-wise assessments and their aggregated
aspects to determine the impact of the leading season on national rice security in
Bangla-desh” - Not clear.
Response to comment #12: Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We have revised
the sentence as per your recommendation.
Comment #13: Fig.7: What does this % numbers mean? It is not clear in the text. What
are the 10 principal components as mentioned in the fig caption?
Response to comment #13: Thank you for your comment. Regarding the principal compo-nent
analysis (PCA), the percentages represent the amount of explained variation by each
individual principal component (PC). The PCA technique allows us to specify the number
of components to consider. In our analysis, we utilized 10 PCs to capture the variation
in the multivariate data. These components serve as indicators of the explanatory
power of the da-ta, with the first few components explaining the majority of the variation.
Specifically, we observed that the first five PCs accounted for approximately 93.21%,
97.14%, and 96.02% of the total variances in the Aus, Aman, and Boro seasons, respectively.
Comment #14: Figs 8-10: What additional information do they provide? The information
presented here can be easily presented in the Fig.2 district wise and then arranging
them in ascending or descending order to show the cluster. In addition, there is spatial
maps which shows the variations. So new information do they provide? Just another
figures. The text in the figures are not readable at all.
Response to comment #14: Thank you for your comment. In our analysis, Figure 2 illus-trates
the average performance (mean and standard error) of area, production, and yield for
different seasons spanning from 2006-2007 to 2019-2020. It provides an overview of
the trends without considering the clustering aspect. Our research focuses on three
parameters: area, production, and yield. When dealing with a single parameter, clustering
is relatively straightforward. However, when multiple parameters are involved, clustering
becomes more challenging, requiring the application of statistical techniques.
For example, if we were to cluster based on ascending order of area using the mean
value, the time variation effect would be disregarded, resulting in a regional area
cluster. On the other hand, clustering based on production or yield could potentially
result a different re-gional cluster. With multiple parameters, it becomes challenging
to establish fixed regional clusters as the cluster of area may not be similar to
the production cluster or yield cluster. To address this issue, we rely on multivariate
statistical techniques to identify unique clus-ters based on the three parameters:
area, production, and yield.
To achieve more comprehensive and precise results, we employed robust multivariate
time series clustering techniques, specifically dynamic time warping, which enables
us to utilize time series data points for more accurate cluster identification. Furthermore,
we utilized principal component analysis and optimal clustering methods to identify
the most suitable clusters for our study. By incorporating time series data of rice
cultivation area, production, and yield at the district level as input parameters,
we captured the heterogeneity in patterns across districts, attributable to geographical
positions, technological dissemination, farmers' responsiveness, and climatic and
edaphic factors. So, the cluster analysis resulted in the grouping of similar districts,
facilitating the creation of a rice zoning map and providing valuable insights for
policy implications.
We acknowledge that the text in the figures may have been difficult to read in the
PDF copy due to their low resolution. However, we have uploaded the figures in TIFF
format, ensuring higher resolution and larger file sizes. We kindly request you to
refer to the original figures for better clarity and readability.
Comment #15: Lines 314: What are the characteristics of different clusters? In Fig.
8, C1 to C5 were used as clusters? What C1 to C5 indicates in terms of area, yield,
and production?
Response to comment #15: Thank you for your comments. In our study, we utilized long-term
data of area, production, and yield as input parameters for identifying clusters using
a multivariate clustering technique. The logic behind cluster analysis is to uncover
hidden structures or patterns within a dataset and group similar observations together.
More specif-ically it helps to identify groups or clusters within a dataset based
on similarities or dissimi-larities between observations. In the case of the Aus season
(Fig. 8), we identified five clus-ters out of the 64 districts. Each cluster represents
a group of districts with similar charac-teristics in terms of cultivation area, production,
and yield. Additionally, these clusters cap-ture regional heterogeneity and agro-ecological
conditions, enabling effective policy formu-lation and implementation.
For example, the characteristics of Cluster 5 in Fig. 8 includes three districts (Bhola,
My-mensingh, and Patuakhali) with similar dynamics in Aus rice cultivation. These
districts are located in two coastal and one central region of Bangladesh. The rice
cultivation area (high-est among the clusters) in this cluster ranges from 15,000
to 88,000 hectares, with more sta-ble rice production ranging from 40,000 to 170,000
tons and the highest mean rice produc-tion. The average yield is 1.8 tons per hectare,
with a minimum of 1.2 tons per hectare and a maximum of 2.8 tons per hectare. Furthermore,
six agro-ecological zones (AEZs) namely 8, 9, 13, 18, 28, and 29 have been identified
in terms of Aus rice cultivation area, production, and yield within this cluster,
indicating similar agro-ecological conditions in those regions for Aus cultivation.
Similarly, each cluster exhibits unique characteristics that provide valuable insights
for pol-icymakers and researchers in formulating effective policies and taking immediate
initia-tives to sustain rice production in Bangladesh.
Comment #16: Lines 319: Elbow criterion – not readable so difficult to understand.
Response to comment #16: Thank you for your comments. We have included a footnote
to provide a clear explanation of the 'elbow criterion'. Please refer to the following
text: “The elbow criterion is a method used in cluster analysis to determine the optimal
number of clusters in a dataset. It involves plotting the variance explained by the
clusters against the number of clusters. The plot typically resembles an arm, and
the "elbow" or bend in the plot represents the point where the addition of more clusters
does not significantly reduce the variance. This point is considered the optimal number
of clusters for the given dataset. The elbow criterion helps in selecting a reasonable
number of clusters that balance capturing meaningful patterns in the data while avoiding
overfitting.”
Comment #17: Lines: 321- 329: Please see my comments above.
Response to comment #17: Thank you for your comments. We have addressed the im-portance
of clustering in response to comment #14 and provided an explanation of the key characteristics
of each cluster in response to comment #15. Please refer to the aforemen-tioned responses
for more details.
Comment #18: Line 325: Poorest rice production – what does it mean? I think you wanted
to mean lowest total production.
Response to comment #18: Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We have revised
the sentence as per your recommendation.
Comment #19: Lines 337 – 365: Comments related to cluster analysis mentioned above
applies here as well.
Response to comment #19: Thank you for your comments. We have addressed the im-portance
of clustering in response to comment #14 and provided an explanation of the key characteristics
of each cluster in response to comment #15. Please refer to the aforemen-tioned responses
for more details.
Comment #20: Lines 366 – 370: Increasing trend of what? I understand this could be
the area but there is no mention of it in the text or in the figure 11. This should
be clear that of the total cultivated area, xx% were on HYV cultivation. This is also
country level data. Up to this point, the data was presented at the district level.
Here, there is no mention of wheth-er the data and the figure are at country level
or district level.
Response to comment #20: Thank you for your comments. We have made the necessary re-visions
to this section accordingly.
Comment #21: Fig 11: Adoption (%) - % of what? Should be mentioned. Same applies to
Fig. 12.
Response to comment #21: Thank you for your comments. We have made the necessary re-visions
to these figures accordingly.
Comment #22: Fig 12: Spatial distribution of adoption rate presented here is very
confus-ing. Adoption rate for each district for 14 years were classified into different
groups. But this data should have two dimensions on is temporal and the other is spatial.
How the au-thors presented these in these maps? What is the point of presenting the
previous years? I think the authors can take the adoption rate of the last year and
then classify them in differ-ent group (64 district into different group) which then
can be presented in a map.
Response to comment #22: Thank you for your comments. We sincerely apologize for any
confusion caused by Fig 12 and appreciate the opportunity to clarify it. In Fig 12,
we have utilized 14 years of high-yielding variety (HYV) adoption data from 64 districts.
This data encompasses two dimensions: temporal and spatial. Our aim is to illustrate
the spatial dis-tribution and temporal variations in the adoption rate of HYVs in
rice cultivation across Bangladesh.
If we were solely interested in the spatial distribution, it would be sufficient to
present the adoption rate of the current year. However, this approach would not capture
the dynamic changes and fluctuations in HYV adoption over time. As varietal adoption
is subject to dy-namic shifts, relying solely on the current year's data might overlook
important temporal variations. Moreover, cultivating a particular variety in a single
year does not guarantee its cultivation in the following year.
Given the two-dimensional nature of the data and our objective to track both spatiotemporal
variations, a statistical technique is required. For the spatial distribution, we
have employed the mean value of the 14-year data for each district, which is represented
in the map as one of the legends "HYV adoption (%)." Additionally, we have included
another legend in the form of "coefficient of variation (%)" to depict the temporal
variability of HYV adoption in each district. The coefficient of variation (CV) was
calculated using the 14-year data points for each district and visualized as circles
on the map.
Therefore, to fulfill our research objective and ensure clarity, it is essential to
consider the multi-year data. We have revised the title of Fig 12 accordingly. We
hope that our explana-tion satisfactorily addresses your concerns.
Comment #23: Line 395 -396: Districtwide adaptation scenario – is it adaptation or
adop-tion? In the whole section of 3.5, adaptation was used in the text whether in
the title it is adoption.
Response to comment #23: Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We sincerely
apol-ogize for the typo mistake. The correct term should be "adoption" instead of
"adaptation" in section 3.5. We appreciate your feedback, and we have made the necessary
revisions to en-sure consistency throughout the section.
Comment #24: Fig 13: Again it is hard to understand the message from the figure caption
or the axis headings. What does influence mean here? Increase or decrease of yield
or pro-duction?
Response to comment #24: Thank you for your comments. We deeply regret any confusion
caused by Fig 13 and we are grateful for the chance to provide clarification. We have
re-vised Section 3.5 and included the methodology in Section 2.4 to ensure a clear
explanation and improve understanding. We kindly request you to review these sections,
and we hope that the revisions will address your concerns adequately.
Comment #25: Lines 432-441: Mostly already described in the introduction (lines 78
to 86).
Response to comment #25: Thank you for your comments. We have taken note of your sug-gestion
and have removed the redundant information as per your recommendation. We ap-preciate
your feedback in streamlining the content of the manuscript.
Comment #26: Lines 448-452: Repetition of results
Response to comment #26: Thank you for your continued feedback. We have carefully
con-sidered your comment and have made the appropriate changes to ensure that the
content is concise and avoids repetition. We appreciate your diligence in reviewing
our manuscript and helping us enhance its quality.
Comment #27: Line 452-453: “The bulk of the aromatic rice is grown during the Aman
season which may lead to high Aman rice production in Dinajpur” what about area. Aro-matic
rice nothing to do with the high production it is the area or the yield. There is
no dis-cussion on the yield differences and on varieties. In some areas, local varieties
or HYV with lower yield are grown which has impact on overall production.
Response to comment #27: Thank you for your comments. We have made the necessary re-visions
to this section accordingly.
Comment #28: Lines 454- 462: Any references for this?
Response to comment #28: Thank you for pointing out the need for references in lines
454-462. We apologize for the oversight and have now included the relevant citations
as per your suggestion.
Comment #29: Lines 491 – 496: Any data or references?
Response to comment #29: Thank you for pointing out the need for references in lines
491-496. We apologize for the oversight and have now included the relevant citations
as per your suggestion.
Comment #30: Lines 499-502: Vertical and hydroponic farming for rice? Any references?
Response to comment #30: Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We appreciate
your comment and have removed the reference line to vertical and hydroponic farming
for rice from the manuscript.
Comment #31: Lines 529-532: Repetitive.
Response to comment #31: Thank you for your comments. We have taken them into consid-eration
and have removed the mentioned lines from the manuscript.
Thank you once again for your precious comments and advice. Those comments are all
val-uable and very helpful for revising and improving our manuscript. We have revised
the manuscript accordingly, and our point-by-point responses are presented above.
We hope you are satisfied with our answers and the new data we have provided. Our
deepest gratitude goes to you for your careful work and thoughtful suggestions that
have helped improve this paper substantially.
Sincerely yours
All Authors’
Manuscript number: PONE-D-23-09867
Title: Spatiotemporal mapping of rice acreage and productivity growth in Bangladesh
Journal: PLOS ONE
Dear Reviewer,
Thank you for the comments concerning our manuscript. We deeply appreciate your posi-tive
evaluation of our work. Those comments are valuable and very helpful. We have read
through comments carefully and have made corrections. Please see below; all tasks
and re-visions taken are shown point-by-point.
Response to Reviewer’s comments
Reviewer #2:
Comment #1: The research topic “Spatiotemporal mapping of rice acreage and productivity
growth in Bangladesh” is substantive and is within the scope of the journal. In general,
the paper is thoroughly researched and well-written. By the way, I have some minor
comments for the authors that would help to improve the quality of the manuscript.
Response to comment #1: We would like to express our gratitude for your valuable and
in-sightful suggestions and comments regarding the improvement of our manuscript.
We firm-ly believe that they have significantly enhanced the scientific value of the
manuscript, and we sincerely appreciate your contributions.
Abstract
Comment #2: Line # 35: Authors wrote “… performed a spatial-temporal mapping of the
area, production, and yield….”. Is the word “area” sufficient or it is “cultivated/cultivation
area”?
Response to comment #2: Thank you for the suggestion. The word “cultivation” has been
added.
Comment #3: Line # 37 – 38: Replace “Results show that …” with “Results showed that….”.
Response to comment #3: The word 'show' has been replaced with 'showed'.
Comment #4: Line # 41: “…the rice area in 19 districts, 11 districts, and 13 districts
de-clined significantly”. The word “rice area” is not a suitable wording. Please replace
it with “rice-cultivation-area” or “cultivation area”.
Response to comment #4: The word "cultivation" has been added before the word "area".
Introduction
Comment #5: Line # 60-63: Please add the information “over 3.5 billion people are
solely dependent upon rice for at least 20% of their daily required calories” from
Introduction sec-tion of “Alam, M. J., Alamin, M., Sultana, M. H., Ahsan, M. A., Hossain,
M. R., Islam, S. S., & Mollah, M. N. H. (2020). Bioinformatics studies on structures,
functions and diversifica-tions of rolling leaf related genes in rice (Oryza sativa
L.). Plant Genetic Resources, 18(5), 382-395” with the sentence “With over half of
the world's population depending on rice for their daily energy, and it supplies approximately
62% carbohydrate, 46% protein, 8% fat, 7% calcium, and 44% phosphorus of the recommended
dietary allowance” and cite Alam et al. 2020.
Response to comment #5: We appreciate your suggestion, and we have included the provid-ed
information and incorporated the reference you suggested. Thank you for your valuable
input.
Comment #6: Line # 65-66: Please add citation for the sentence “China is the leading
rice-producing country, followed by India, Bangladesh, and Vietnam”.
Response to comment #6: We appreciate your observation. The citation for the sentence
"China is the leading rice-producing country, followed by India, Bangladesh, and Vietnam"
has been duly included.
Comment #7: Line #103-104: “This paper analyzed spatiotemporal” is not a standard
word-ing. Please reshape the sentence as “In this study, we analyzed spatiotemporal
data on culti-vation area, and production and yield of rice to examine/investigate
the trends and growth patterns from 2006-2007 to 2019-2020 in Bangladesh. Do not mention
the data sources un-der Introduction section, rather write it under Materials and
Methods section.
Response to comment #7: Thank you for the suggestion. We have revised the sentence
ac-cordingly.
Materials and Methods
Comment #8: Line # 120: Replace the word “area” with “cultivation area”. Also, this
is ap-plicable for whole body of this manuscript.
Response to comment #8: We have made the necessary adjustment by replacing the term
"area" with "cultivation area" throughout the entire manuscript, as suggested.
Comment #9: Please add a sentence to mention the level of significance considered
for dif-ferent statistical tests (e.g., normality test, t-test, etc.) under “Statistical
analysis” subsec-tion.
Response to comment #9: As per your recommendation, we have included the significance
level of 5% in the analysis. Thank you for the suggestion.
Results
Comment #10: 1. Line # 233: “… seasons in Bangladesh is illustrated in Fig 4”. Replace
“is” with “are”.
Response to comment #10: The word 'is' has been replaced with 'are'.
Comment #11: 2. Line # 293: Add unit of measurement for area, production and yield
with-in brackets.
Response to comment #11: We have incorporated the percentage as a unit of measurement
for the growth rate.
Comment #12: 3. Line # 425: Replace “will” with “would” in line # 425.
Response to comment #12: The word 'will' have been replaced with 'would'.
Discussion
Comment #13: Line # 484: Add an “and” before the phrase “declined over time”.
Response to comment #13: We have corrected it accordingly.
Comment #14: Line # 485: Replace “rice area” with “rice cultivation areas”.
Response to comment #14: We have corrected it accordingly.
Comment #15: Line # 555: Add “were” verb before the phrase “revealed in five ….” in
line no. 555.
Response to comment #15: We have added ‘were’ verb before the phrase “revealed in
five ….” accordingly.
Comment #16: Line # 561: Replace “will” with “would” in line no. 561.
Response to comment #16: The word 'will' have been replaced with 'would'.
Comment #17: I would suggest to add practical implications of this research under
the Dis-cussion section.
Response to comment #17: Thank you for the suggestion. We have made an effort to incor-porate
the practical implications of this research into the discussion section. Please see
the text, “The research findings have significant practical implications for informing
and guid-ing future agricultural practices and policies in rice-intensive areas of
Bangladesh. The study provides valuable insights into the dynamic changes in the area
and production of rice cultivation at a more disaggregated level, representing diverse
ecosystems and man-agement constraints. Policymakers can utilize this information
to develop targeted strate-gies and interventions aimed at enhancing rice production
in specific regions. For instance, regions with favorable environmental conditions
and fertile soil content can be encouraged to prioritize expanding rice cultivation.
Efforts can be directed towards providing farmers in these regions with access to
modern high-yielding varieties and advanced agricultural technologies to improve productivity.
Conversely, areas facing challenges such as salinity or hilly terrain require tailored
approaches to overcome these limitations, such as the de-velopment of stress-tolerant
rice varieties and the implementation of appropriate irrigation systems. Additionally,
identifying regions where rice production is declining, or farmers are shifting to
alternative crops can guide initiatives aimed at revitalizing rice cultivation through
improved irrigation facilities, training programs, and the development of short-duration
varieties. The study highlights the areas that require closer attention to overcome
challenges and enhance productivity, ultimately contributing to achieving Sustainable
De-velopment Goal 2.3 of doubling agricultural productivity and income for smallholder
farm-ers by 2030. In summary, these practical implications can contribute to sustainable
agricul-tural practices, enhance food security, and improve the livelihoods of farmers
in Bangla-desh.”
Comment #18: In the Discussion section limitation of this study and future scope could
be added.
Response to comment #18: Thank you for the suggestion. We have made an effort to incor-porate
the limitation and future research scope into the discussion section. Please see the
text, “Despite the valuable insights provided by this study, there are certain limitations
that should be acknowledged. First, this research focused primarily on the quantitative
analysis of rice cultivation area and production trends, and did not delve into the
underlying socio-economic factors that may influence these trends. Additionally, this
study relied on second-ary data sources, which may be subject to limitations such
as data accuracy and availabil-ity. Conducting primary data collection through field
surveys and interviews could enhance the accuracy and reliability of the findings.
Furthermore, the study's scope was limited to a specific timeframe (2006-2019), and
it is important to recognize that future changes in cli-mate, technology, and agricultural
practices could impact rice cultivation in unforeseen ways.
Building on the findings and limitations of this study, there are several areas for
future re-search that can further contribute to the understanding of rice cultivation
in Bangladesh. Firstly, investigating the socio-economic factors that influence farmers'
decision-making processes regarding rice cultivation, including factors such as market
conditions, govern-ment policies, and farmers' preferences, would provide valuable
insights into the drivers of rice production. Secondly, exploring the impact of climate
change on rice cultivation, in-cluding the effects of rising temperatures, changing
rainfall patterns, and increased occur-rences of extreme weather events, is crucial
for developing climate-resilient agricultural strategies. Additionally, examining
the adoption and effectiveness of specific interventions aimed at improving rice productivity,
such as the dissemination of high-yielding varieties, the implementation of irrigation
systems, and the provision of training and extension ser-vices, would help in identifying
best practices and areas for improvement. Finally, integrat-ing remote sensing and
geospatial analysis techniques can enhance the accuracy and time-liness of monitoring
rice cultivation dynamics, allowing for more precise and up-to-date assessments of
cultivation area and production trends.”
Conclusion
Comment #19: Line 545-550: First four sentences of Conclusion section are repetition
that are already told in objective and method section. Rewrite these into one introductory
sen-tence of Conclusion and write the conclusion with more focus on main finding and
recom-mendation and policy making for government.
Response to comment #19: We greatly appreciate your valuable suggestion, which has
prompted us to thoroughly revise the conclusion section and incorporate essential
policy recommendations.
Thank you once again for your precious comments and advice. Those comments are all
val-uable and very helpful for revising and improving our manuscript. We have revised
the manuscript accordingly, and our point-by-point responses are presented above.
We hope you are satisfied with our answers and the new data we have provided. Our
deepest gratitude goes to you for your careful work and thoughtful suggestions that
have helped improve this paper substantially.
Sincerely yours
All Authors’
Manuscript number: PONE-D-23-09867R1
Title: Spatiotemporal mapping of rice acreage and productivity growth in Bangladesh
Journal: PLOS ONE
Dear Reviewer,
Thank you for the comments concerning our manuscript. We deeply appreciate your positive
evaluation of our work. Those comments are valuable and very helpful. We have read
through comments carefully and have made corrections. Please see below; all tasks
and re-visions taken are shown point-by-point.
Response to Reviewer’s comments
Reviewer #3:
Comment #1: If the authors have adequately addressed your comments raised in a previous
round of review and you feel that this manuscript is now acceptable for publication,
you may indicate that here to bypass the “Comments to the Author” section, enter your
conflict of interest statement in the “Confidential to Editor” section, and submit
your "Accept" recommendation.
Reviewer response: All comments have been addressed.
Response to comment #1: Thank you for your comment. We appreciate your positive feedback.
Comment #2: Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?
The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with
data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously,
with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be
drawn appropriately based on the data presented.
Reviewer response: Yes
Response to comment #2: Thank you for your valuable insights.
Comment #3: Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?
Reviewer response: Yes
Response to comment #3: Thank you for your positive feedback.
Comment #4: Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript
fully available?
The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described
in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please
refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should
be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited
to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points
behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions
on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those
must be specified.
Reviewer response: Yes
Response to comment #4: Thank you for your valuable feedback.
Comment #5: Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in
standard English?
PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles
must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should
be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.
Reviewer response: Yes
Response to comment #5: Thank you for your comment.
Comment #6: Review Comments to the Author
Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You
may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual
publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as
an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)
Reviewer response: The authors have fairly addressed all the comments. In this regard,
this article can be published in this journal. Good luck!
Response to comment #6: Thank you once more for your valuable comments and feedback.
Sincerely yours
All Authors’
Manuscript number: PONE-D-23-09867R1
Title: Spatiotemporal mapping of rice acreage and productivity growth in Bangladesh
Journal: PLOS ONE
Dear Reviewer,
Thank you for the comments concerning our manuscript. We deeply appreciate your positive
evaluation of our work. Those comments are valuable and very helpful. We have read
through comments carefully and have made corrections. Please see below; all tasks
and re-visions taken are shown point-by-point.
Response to Reviewer’s comments
Reviewer #4:
Comment #1: If the authors have adequately addressed your comments raised in a previous
round of review and you feel that this manuscript is now acceptable for publication,
you may indicate that here to bypass the “Comments to the Author” section, enter your
conflict of interest statement in the “Confidential to Editor” section, and submit
your "Accept" recommendation.
Reviewer response: All comments have been addressed
Response to comment #1: Thank you for your comment. We appreciate your positive feedback.
Comment #2: Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?
The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with
data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously,
with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be
drawn appropriately based on the data presented.
Reviewer response: No
Response to comment #2: Thank you for your comment. Indeed, our primary emphasis was
on delving into the regional context, striving to extract meaningful insights within
the framework of 64 specific locations. It's crucial to acknowledge that the rice-growing
ecosystem in Bangladesh exhibits considerable diversity, influenced by factors such
as geographical position, socio-economic conditions, and environmental variations.
Consequently, the previous study's findings have limitations in terms of statistical
robustness and generalizability for shaping region-specific policies. In response
to these limitations, our current study adopts a more granular approach by analyzing
data from 64 locations. This approach aims to offer a comprehensive understanding
of the dynamics of rice cultivation in Bangladesh. We believe that this shift not
only enhances the statistical validity of our research but also facilitates the formulation
of more effective policies tailored to specific locations. For the technical soundness
and scientific evidence, please refer to results and discussion sections for details.
In addressing the data support aspect, we employed information related to rice cultivation
area, production, and yield over a 14-year period across 64 districts, covering the
Aus, Aman, and Boro seasons from 2006-2007 to 2019-2020. The data were sourced from
the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), a government department with national authorization,
which consistently collects rice area, production, and yield data for all 64 districts
annually since 2006. Consequently, our study's sample initiation was from 2006, extending
up to the latest available data, ensuring the utilization of a nationally representative
data source in Bangladesh. Regarding sample size, our time series dataset comprises
2688 observations or data points for each variable, establishing a comprehensive and
nationally representative sample.
In the context of replicating our study, our methodology can be applied to datasets
in other rice-growing countries and diverse crops. Despite revealing potential threats
to agricultural sustainability, such as temporal variations and regional disparities
in rice production, these aspects have received limited exploration. Consequently,
other nations cultivating rice can replicate our methodology to investigate the dynamics
of regional rice cultivation in their respective contexts.
Our study's conclusions, succinctly presented in the conclusion and abstract sections,
highlight significant findings from the analyzed data. Notably, we like to refers
the following text for your reference, “To ensure the sustainability of rice production
in Bangladesh, it is imperative to have a comprehensive understanding of the spatiotemporal
distribution of rice cultivation area, production, and yield. This knowledge will
enable the formulation of region-specific policies tailored to the specific needs
of different areas. The study has introduced novel methodological approaches for trend
analysis and spatial clustering. Our findings showed that 14 years averages of rice
cultivation area, production, and yield for three major seasons, Aus, Aman, and Boro,
differ significantly among the study districts in Bangladesh. The Aus season has the
highest temporal variability of rice production determinants, followed by the Aman
and Boro seasons. Regional disparities in production were revealed in five cluster
groups for the Aus season, seven for the Aman, and six for the Boro season. The share
of HYV adoption significantly increased for most of the season. A significant increasing
trend in Aus (0.007-0.521%), Aman (0.004-0.039%), and Boro (0.013-0.584%) were observed
in 28, 34, and 36 districts, respectively, with an increase of 1% adoption of HYV.
Predictions revealed that more than 5% of rice production would be increased in 28
districts in the Aus season, and for Aman and Boro, more than 5% would be increased
in Narail and Bogura, respectively. Moreover, a 1-5% increase will be found in 50,
54, and 41 districts in Aus, Aman, and Boro seasons, respectively. These findings
underscore the importance of formulating tailored and targeted policies at the regional
level to effectively enhance rice productivity in Bangladesh”.
We sincerely appreciate your insightful comments, and in light of your input, we have
taken steps to incorporate the novelty of our research into the introduction section
of our manuscript. We hope you are satisfied with our response, and if necessary,
we are happy to provide further clarification.
Comment #3: Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?
Reviewer response: No
Response to comment #3: We applied a robust and rigorous statistical method for data
analysis. Augmented Dickey-Fuller test and Shapiro-Wilk normality test were applied
to check the stationarity of time series and normality test of the respective data
series. In growth analysis, we employed exponential growth model to estimate growth
and trend nature. To achieve more comprehensive and precise results, we utilized time
series data of rice cultivation area, production, and yield at the district level
as input parameters for clustering. We employed robust multivariate clustering techniques,
specifically dynamic time warping (DTW). This approach had overcome the limitations
in identifying regional heterogeneity as it focused on mean values and had a limited
scope. Additionally, we employed principal component analysis and optimal clustering
methods to identify the most suitable clusters in our study. The cluster analysis
resulted in grouping similar districts, facilitating the creation of a rice zoning
map and providing valuable insights for policy implications. Moreover, we employed
Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression to investigate the adoption rate and rice
production in Bangladesh, aiming to evaluate the influence of adopting high-yielding
varieties on rice production. Please see the details in the “Materials and Methods”
section.
Comment #4: Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript
fully available?
The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described
in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please
refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should
be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited
to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points
behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions
on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those
must be specified.
Reviewer response: No
Response to comment #4: We have uploaded the minimal anonymized dataset and subsequently
adjusted the data availability statement according to the journal data availability
guideline. Please see the PLOS ONE data availability guideline.
Comment #5: Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in
standard English?
PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles
must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should
be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.
Reviewer response: No
Response to comment #5: We acknowledge the reviewer's valuable feedback regarding
the need for a thorough check for grammatical and typographical errors throughout
the manuscript. We have carefully addressed this concern and made the necessary revisions
to ensure the quality and accuracy of the text. Thank you for your thoughtful input.
Comment #6: Review Comments to the Author
Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You
may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual
publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as
an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)
Reviewer response: Sorry to say that there is nothing new in the manuscript. A lot
of similar studies have been performed. These cited studies are missing in this paper.
I suggest rejecting this paper due to lack of novelty.
Response to comment #6: Thank you for your comment. While we appreciate your perspective,
we believe there are unique contributions in our manuscript that may not have been
fully captured in the previous studies. We acknowledge the importance of novelty in
research and have carefully revised our manuscript to emphasize the distinctive aspects
of our work in the introduction section. We have also incorporated relevant citations
to address the updated references. We hope that upon reevaluation, you may find the
revised manuscript to be a valuable addition to the existing literature. For detailed
insights into the novelty of our research, kindly refer to response of Comment #1
from Reviewer #1 and Introduction section of our manuscript. Your insights have been
instrumental in shaping our improvements, and we appreciate your time and consideration.
Sincerely yours
All Authors’
- Attachments
- Attachment
Submitted filename: Response to Reviewer 4.docx
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7535-1743
