Groundwater resource management for efficient agricultural production of wheat and sugarcane crops in Central Punjab, Pakistan | |
| Author | Asghar, Sobia |
| Call Number | AIT Diss. no.NR-18-04 |
| Subject(s) | Ground-water management Wheat--Irrigation--Pakistan--Management sugarcane--Irrigation--Pakistan--Management |
| Note | A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Natural Resources Management, School of Environment, Resources and Development |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Series Statement | Dissertation ; no. NR-18-04 |
| Abstract | Groundwater irrigation plays a key role in agricultural production in arid regions specially Pakistan, but excessive mining of groundwater resources has resulted in falling water tab les and water scarcity. Deeper water levels and Yvater scarcity . lead to technical and all ocative ineffici ency in production of major crops, i.e., wheat and sugarcane, but there is lack of empirical evidence on inefficiency. Therefore, firstly, this study aimed to analyse the level of technical, groundwater-use and allocative efficiency of wheat and sugarcane crop produc tion and to identify the determinants of allocative efficiency. Secondly, the study attempted to understand the factors affecting the choice of groundwater irrigation source in terms of ownership status. A cross-sectional dataset of 224 farmers from Fai sa labad District of Punjab including 84 tubewell owners, 65 tubewell shareholders, and 75 water buyers was used. Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method was appli ed for the assessment of technica l, allocative and groundwater use efficiency. To identify the factors influencing the allocative efficiency, a Tobit regression model was employed. To identify the determinants of tubewell ownership status, multinomial logit model was used. For wheat production, the average technical efficiency score was 0.99 for both tubewell owners and tubewell shareholders, and 0.97 for the water buyers. The mean groundwater-use efficiency score for the t11bewell owners, tubewell shareholders, and water buyers was 0.97, 0.96, and 0.94, respectively, while the mean allocative efficiency was 0. 7 1, 0.57, and 0.71 for the tubewell owners, tubewell shareholders, and water buyers, respectively. For sugarcane production, the average technical effi ciency score was 0.94, 0. 96, and 0.95 for tubewell owners, tubewell shareholders, and the water buyers, respectively. The mean groundwater-use efficiency score was 0.90, 0.92, and 0.83 for the tubewell owners, tubewell shareholders, and water buyers, respectively, while the mean allocative efficiency score was 0.54, 0.52, and 0.53 for the tubewell owners, tubewell shareholders, and water buyers, respectively. The techni cal and groundwater-use effi ciency was fairly high for both wheat and sugarcane production. For wheat production, the difference in level of techni cal and groundwater-use efficiency among tubewell owners, tubewell shareholders, and water buyers was insignificant. For sugarcane production, however, the groundwater-use efficiency of water buyers was markedly less than that of tubewell owne rs and tubewell shareholders. These findings suggest that for high water demanding crops such as sugarcane, the water buyers are less efficient in groundwater use. lt could be attributed to the higher irrigation demand in sugarcane crop production, which leads to competition in water users. Despite being technically efficient, a substantial number of the wheat and sugarcane farmers did not achieve allocative efficiency. The low allocative efficiency scores implied that, if the farmers optimised their input allocation, they could attain the same output level with markedly lower production costs. The tubewell shareholders had the lowest allocative effi ciency among all three groups of farmers. The two-limit Tobit analys is showed that water di scharge capacity of tubewell, had a significant and negative effect on allocative efficiency of wheat crop production if the farmer obtained water from a shared tubewell and/or used a tractor-operated tubewell. As for sugarcane crop production, the results showed that discharge capacity of tubewell and land holding size of farmer had significant and negative effects on allocative efficiency. It indicates that water discharge capacity oftubewells had a significantly negative influence on allocative efficiency in production of both crops. The use of higher capacity tubewells decreased allocative efficiency by leading to energy overuse and incurring a higher cost of production. The choice analysis showed that age of farmer, groundwater depth, and salin ity perception increased the odds of selecting shared tubewells over exclusively owned tu bewells. The price of groundwater in the village signifi cantly decreased the odds of opting for shared tubewells. The odds of purchasing water signi fica ntly increased with an increase in salini ty. On the other hand, land size, price of groundwater in the village and ownership of a tractor decreased the odds of purchasing water. The results implied that the groundwater users should be provided with groundwater management, appropri ate capacity of tubewell, and soil conservation knowledge for short-term gains and long-term social benefits. |
| Year | 2018 |
| Corresponding Series Added Entry | Asian Institute of Technology. Dissertation ; no. NR-18-04 |
| Type | Dissertation |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD) |
| Department | Department of Development and Sustainability (DDS) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Natural Resources Management (NRM) |
| Chairperson(s) | Sasaki, Nophea; |
| Examination Committee(s) | Grnnbuhel, Clemens;Tsusaka, Takuji W.;Badir, Yuosre;Rahman, Sanzidur; |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Higher Education Commission (HEC), Pakistan; Asian Institute of Technology Fellowship; |
| Degree | Thesis (Ph.D.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2018 |