Asian Research Thesis Index

Abstract

Pakistan is an agricultural country. Agriculture is the mainstay of the country’s economy. Wheat as a staple food crop of Pakistan is grown on about 8 million hectares every year. It is a Rabi (winter) crop and follows by rice and cotton in rice-wheat and cotton-wheat systems, respectively. Pakistan’s population is increasing at an alarming pace and it has reached to about 170 million already. It is, therefore, imperative to enhance wheat yield by encouraging farmers, predominantly small farmers, to grow more wheat with efficient and judicious use of land and water resources. Land and water resources especially for agricultural purposes are getting scarce day by day due to mismanagement. This water deficient scenario is also posing serious threats to food security for coming generations. A shift in the irrigation techniques intervening flooded irrigation methods for efficient utilization of resources are being recommended and same has been actively adopted in many areas of the Pakistan. The irrigation water saving technologies mainly include Watercourse Improvement, Improved farm layout, Laser land leveling and bed planting of wheat. The techniques adopted in the Punjab have shown encouraging results. To see the adoption of latest technologies at small farms, district Faisalabad was selected as study area, which consists of five Tehsils; Faisalabad, Jaranwala, Sammandri, Chak Jhumra and Tandlianwala. To see implications of the water saving irrigation interventions a tehsile wise list of improved watercourses was collected from the office of the District Officer, Water Management Faisalabad. A list of 25 watercourses was separately prepared duly authenticated by water management officer, where maximum water saving interventions were applied. Ten improved watercourses where maximum (5 or 6 out of 10 water saving irrigation interventions)were found applied, were selected by using Randomizer.com pathway from each Tehsil, thus total 30 improved watercourses were taken where maximum water saving irrigation interventions were applied. From these 30 watercourses 9 small farmers (having landholding<12.5 acres) were selected randomly from each watercouse, 3 from Head, Middle and Tail, respectively. Quantitative data were analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. Descriptive statistics, including frequencies, percentages, means, standard deviations and rank orders were used to summarize different variables. Chi-square, Contingency Coefficient test was also used to find out the association and degree of association between dependent and independent variables. The adoption level of farmers regarding water saving irrigation was 90%and increase in wheat yield was significantly affected. Overall the results of the data show that adoption of the water saving interventions affected the income of the respondents. Furthermore the adoption of water saving interventions as well as wheat sowing recommendations also affected upon the socio economic conditions of the respondents. There also existed significant association among different independent and dependent attributes.

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