Crop and Economical Water Productivity of Wheat at Perennial and Non-Perennial Canals in Sindh

Abstract

The freshwater resources are under immense pressure to provide water and food security. New climate change projections for current and future water availability suggest that farmers and policymakers must move from traditional per-acre crop yield measurement to crop and economics water productivity. This research aimed to assess wheat-crop CWP and EWP at perennial and non-perennial canals. The Nara and Rice canals were selected, and both canals were off-take at Sukkur Barrage from Indus. Two distributaries were selected from each canal with the location of the head and tail. A survey tool was designed to collect data. In total, 431 farmers were randomly selected. The collected data was analyzed by using CWP, EWP, Vw, Cobb-Douglas production function, and DEA techniques. Results show that the tail of the Rice canal, CWP, EWP, and Vw was higher than the head. But at the head of the Nara canal, CWP, EWP, and VW were higher than at the tail. The Cobb-Douglas results show the significant impact of irrigation, fertilizer, and watercourse position on production. Further, in DEA results, the tail reaches of both canals were more efficient. Similarly, higher water-saving potential is observed at the head of both canals.