TITLE:
Comparative Water Efficiency Analysis of Sole and Multiple Cropping Systems under Tunnel Farming in Punjab-Pakistan
AUTHORS:
Hina Fatima, Lal K. Almas, Sehrish Haroon
KEYWORDS:
Water Efficiency, Irrigated Agriculture, Sole and Multiple Cropping, Tun-nel Farming, Punjab-Pakistan, Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), Tobit Analysis
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Water Resource and Protection,
Vol.12 No.6,
June
5,
2020
ABSTRACT: Water scarcity is the growing concern of present
times, requiring its efficient utilization deemed as necessity. Rapidly growing
population has significantly exerted pressure on its demand, in Pakistan. In
order to fulfill it, all factors of production are required to be used in the
possibly most efficient way. Good quality and quantity of water are the growing
concerns of producers in Pakistan and around the globe. The efficient water
utilization is crucial to optimize the farm returns under the selected sole and
multiple cropping systems. This study considered the water efficiency analysis
of multiple and sole cropping systems, with the aim of finding out cropping
patterns more efficient in terms of water utilization in Pakistan. In order to
estimate the water efficiency analysis, the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is
run to find out the water efficient cropping systems among sole and multiple
cropping systems. The Tobit analysis is also used to find out the factors
affecting the water efficiency of selected farms in the study area. The results
of the study report an inefficient water usage in terms of irrigation, the
inefficient use of water instigates the wastage of one of the most important as
well as scarce farm inputs especially water, in case of multiple cropping
system. Around 51% and 13% of water inefficiency are present under multiple and sole cropping systems, respectively. Basin
irrigation is the method for irrigation, used by the farmers of the study area
approximating to be 95% - 97%. It is one of the most conventional and least efficient methods of
irrigation. Only 2.67 and 4.67 percent of farms were using the Furrow
irrigation method, which is way more efficient and steady as compared to Basin
irrigation method, respectively. It appears as a requirement that the most
efficient methods regarding water application in Pakistan should be recognized.
Lack of management in water application on both selected cropping systems
resulted in over utilization of water and depletion of one of the fundamental
natural resource. In order to overcome the inefficiency in water management,
farmers’ farming knowledge, adoption of new irrigation techniques, efficient
application of inputs is needed.