Abstract
In Pakistan, excessive lowering of the groundwater table has made crop irrigation costlier and without improving production efficiency, Pakistan’s rural economy will be adversely affected. This study estimated the technical, allocative, and groundwater use efficiency of wheat producers, identified the factors affecting their allocative efficiency, and suggested policy implications from these results. The data were collected from 84 tubewell owners, 65 tubewell shareholders, and 75 water buyers. The technical, allocative, and groundwater use efficiency were estimated by the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method, and the important factors affecting the allocative efficiency were identified by two-limit tobit regression analysis. The results highlighted that the tubewell owners, tubewell shareholders, and water buyers had above 90% technical and groundwater use efficiency. However, allocative efficiency was substantially lower for all groups, indicating that wheat production costs could be significantly reduced by the optimal allocation of inputs. The allocative efficiency of wheat farmers decreased significantly with the increasing capacity of the tubewells, with the sharing of tubewells, and with the use of tractor-operated tubewells. The results imply that wheat farmers should be provided with technical and decision-making support to select an appropriate tubewell system that minimises their cost of production and improves their allocative efficiency. Furthermore, the resource allocation system of tubewell shareholders should be further studied to improve the allocative efficiency of wheat farmers.
Highlights
Groundwater irrigation plays a key role in agricultural production in arid regions due to its advantages, such as the provision of a more secure water supply than surface water, and its reliability during extended droughts [1]
Pakistan has the fourth largest area equipped with groundwater irrigation covering approximately 5.2 million hectares [2], with the Punjab and Balochistan Provinces predominately irrigated with groundwater
Sustainability 2018, 10, 1619 costs and improving profit margins, this study focused on the allocative efficiency in wheat production among groundwater users in Pakistan
Summary
Groundwater irrigation plays a key role in agricultural production in arid regions due to its advantages, such as the provision of a more secure water supply than surface water, and its reliability during extended droughts [1]. Pakistan has the fourth largest area equipped with groundwater irrigation covering approximately 5.2 million hectares [2], with the Punjab and Balochistan Provinces predominately irrigated with groundwater. The proportion of area under groundwater irrigation has increased gradually from 8% in 1960 to 47% in 2010 [3] to cope with insufficient canal water supplies. Excessive mining of aquifers in fresh groundwater areas has resulted in falling water tables, to the extent that groundwater has become inaccessible in 5% and 15% of the irrigated areas of the Punjab and Balochistan provinces, respectively [4]. Excessive lowering of the groundwater table has left farmers with no choice other than to drill deeper wells, which has made pumping costlier and energy intensive
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
