Pak. J. Agri., Agril. Engg., Vet. Sci.

, 2012, 28 (1)

ISSN 1023-1072
5

Pak. J. Agri., Agril. Engg., Vet. Sci., 2012, 28 (1): 27-39

IMPROVING WATER USE EFFICIENCY FOR WHEAT PRODUCTION IN PAKISTAN

A. Raza, S. D. Khanzada, S. Ahmad and M. Afzal Nuclear Institute of Agriculture, Tandojam, Sindh, Pakistan

ABSTRACT
Water is becoming a limiting factor for wheat production in Pakistan. With rapid increase in population, competitive demands of water for domestic, industrial and recreational uses reduce its availability to agriculture sector. Production of major crops especially staple food like wheat needs to be increased in the country to fulfill food needs. This seems a challenging task under the existing situation with inefficient irrigation system, saline and polluted groundwater, and high cost of inputs, small land holdings, poor soil health and high yield gaps. Despite huge investments in water management and wheat research, food security is threatened mainly due to less focus on enhancing resource use efficiency, especially water. Ensuring food security requires a multi disciplinary approach with prime focus on improving the water use efficiency. It is suggested that utilizing an integrated approach that involves increase in the efficiency of irrigation system, efficient genotypes and efficient methods of water application at field level to improve the overall water use efficiency. A gradual shift shall be made from traditional irrigation methods to efficient methods of irrigation with the core idea of obtaining more crop yield per unit of water. Sensor and wireless technologies coupled with simulation models offer great prospect. Keywords: Food security, irrigation management, water use efficiency, wheat

INTRODUCTION
Water is becoming a limiting factor for crop production in many parts of the world, especially developing countries like Pakistan. Current population of Pakistan is 180 million and projected to reach 260 millions by 2025 (Kahlown and Majeed, 2001). Agriculture sector relies heavily on rivers originating from India. Water supplies from these rivers are expected to decline in years ahead due to construction of many small and large dams in India (Shakir et al., 2011). Pakistan has world largest gravity driven canal irrigation system but due to inadequate maintenance, its efficiency is on continuous decline (Memon and Thapa, 2011). Groundwater is gradually turning saline along with increase in the depth of water table. High pumping costs of groundwater are a limitation towards its use by many small farmers (Shakir et al., 2011). Impact of forthcoming climatic changes
Corresponding author: amir.boku@gmail.com

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on water resources is erratic and country lacks in infra structure to sustain pressure imposed by droughts and floods. Wheat is the staple food in Pakistan. In 2010, country produced over 23 million tons of wheat to meet its domestic needs (Agricultural Statistics of Pakistan, 2011). By year 2030, county will require over 33 million tons of wheat to meet its domestic requirements (Rajaram et al., 1998). Irrigated areas contribute 95 % towards total national wheat production while rain-fed areas contribute only 5 % (Agricultural Statistics of Pakistan, 2011). Government has assigned high priority to wheat over the last few decades with an intention to achieve self sufficiency in staple food. Tremendous achievements have been made in developing high yielding and disease resistant varieties for different agro ecologies (Farooq and Iqbal, 2000). There exists a big difference between actual (2.5-3 tons ha-1) and potential yield (6-8 tons ha-1) of existing wheat varieties. The yield gap needs to be bridged by proper agronomy and extension services. This seems quite a challenging task especially when soil health is on continuous decline and farmers are not aware of or can not afford modern production technology. Pakistan is under immense pressure to ensure food security because besides wheat, county needs to produce fiber, sugar, oil seeds, and horticultural crops, dairy and meet products to feed its rapidly growing population. Water demands of agricultural crops are on rise over years as is evident from data presented in Table 1. Currently the water supplies are less than the requirement (Shakir et al., 2011). Table 1. Agricultural water demand (MAF). Crops/Year 1990 Wheat 26.27 Rice 18.78 Cotton 13.68 Sugarcane 11.35 Other crops 28.93 Total with losses 70% 168.32 Source: Agricultural Statistics of Pakistan (2001) 2000 28.80 22.24 15.71 13.41 30.59 188.28 2025 56.91 16.68 19.35 13.93 46.74 261.14

Competitive demands of water for other industrial, domestic, recreational and agricultural usages further aggravate the problem of water scarcity. Increase in water demands for domestic use with increase in population is presented in Fig.1. This phenomenon is expected to continue leaving less and less freshwater available for agricultural use; rather it is expected to intensify in less developed, arid region countries that already suffer from water, food, and health problems (Qadir et al., 2003). There are diverse issues that threaten food security in Pakistan but water remains the key issue that need to be addressed. Effect of improved varieties or management practices can not be fully realized in absence of water. Decreased

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availability of water and highly competitive demands of precious natural resource necessitate increasing the efficiency with which water is used in crop production. This article will provide an over view of the real issues related to irrigation water in Pakistan with a brief picture of available water resources. It will view on measures to combat these issues with particular emphasis on increasing the water use efficiency in irrigation sector.
Water demands (MAF) 12 Water demands (MAF) Population (millions) 300 Population (millions)

200

100

0 1990 2000 2025

Figure 1. Water demands for domestic use with increase in population (Source: Kahlown and Majeed, 2001) Water resources of Pakistan There are three main sources of water viz. rainfall, groundwater and surface water. Groundwater contributes about 40 % of total water supplies. There are 0.9 million privately owned tube wells that annually extract 59 billion cubic meters of water from soil. Surface water is the largest source of irrigation water that provides annually about 171 billion cubic meters of water. Country has two big dams namely Tarbella and Mangalla with water storage capacity of 10.38 and 5.90 billion cubic meters of water, respectively. Canal irrigation system has 48 major canals having a total length of 61,000 kilometers. These canals deliver irrigation water to the farmers field through 1,70,000 water courses extending over a length of 1.6 million kilo meters (Hameed, 2007; Kamal, 2008). Average annual rainfall varies from 125 mm in South East to over 750 mm in North West of Pakistan. It contributes 32 billion cubic meters of water (Agricultural Statistics of Pakistan, 2011). Pakistan has experienced one of the worst droughts in its history during 1998-2003 due to extremely low rainfall (Shaheen and Baig, 2011). Rainfalls are erratic and are received in two rainy seasons; about two thirds of annual rains are received during the monsoon

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season (July to mid-September) and the remaining one third in the winter season (January to March). The mean annual rainfall is 778 mm (Ahmad et al., 2011). There exists high variability in rainfall distribution in different locations of the country as is evident from Fig.2 (Agricultural Statistics of Pakistan, 2011).
Lahore 1000 Annual rianfall (mm) 800 600 400 200 0 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 Year Figure 2. Variability in rainfall distribution across the country. 2005-06 2006-07 Hyderabad Peshawar Quetta

Water related issues with particular reference to agriculture Surface water availability Fresh water sources in the country are becoming scarce and degraded while their demands for agriculture, domestic, industrial, environmental and recreational uses are on a continuous rise around the globe. It can have grave consequences towards lowering overall agricultural productivity especially in the developing countries like Pakistan where centuries old traditional flood irrigation system is still prevalent among majority of farmers. Decline in per capita availability of fresh water is a global as well as a regional issue. Over the fifty years period (1950-2000), per capita water availability reduced by 60 % and 77% at global and Pakistan level, respectively (WWAP, 2009). Decline in per capita water availability over time in Pakistan is presented in Fig.3 (Kahlown et al., 2007: Ahmad and Yasin, 2006). There had been variability in the availability of surface water at canal head over the last few years (Shakir et al., 2011) and trend is presented in Fig.4. Water distribution is not compatible with demands rather it is based on available water supplies from rivers. Distribution of water among provinces especially Punjab and Sindh remains a controversial and unresolved issue. Water distribution among farmers within a province is not uniform and according to a specified distribution plan. Farmers at the outlets of canals and major water distribution points usually pump most of the irrigation water without authorization.

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This affects farmers who are located at the tail end of outlet of canals as usually they seldom receive irrigation water. Due to high conveyance losses, surface water available at farm gate is less than that available at canal head as is evident from Fig.4 (Agricultural Statistics of Pakistan, 2011).
Population (millions) 250 Population (millions) 200 150 100 50 0 1951 1961 1971 1981 1991 2000 2010 2020 2025 Year Per capita water availability (m3) 6000 5000 4000 3000 2000 1000 0 Per capita water 3 availability (m )

Figure 3. Decline in per capita water availability with increase in population. Water conveyance losses due to inadequate maintenance of old irrigation system have reached up to 55 % in some parts of country (Shakir and Qureshi, 2007). Budget allocated for operation and maintenance of irrigation system covers only 20-30 % of the required expenses. It further lowers the efficiency of over burdened and in efficient irrigation system. Country has invested US$ 8 billion for the improvement of irrigation sector till 2011 but still this sector remains under developed and inefficient. Mega projects launched for brick lining of water courses have not yielded the anticipated output.
Surface water availability (MAF) At canal head (MAF) 120 90 60 30 0 1992-93 At farm gate (MAF)

1996-97

2000-01

2004-05

2008-09

Figure 4. Surface water availability at canal head and farm gate.

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Groundwater availability Acute water shortage of irrigation water urged the farmers to exploit groundwater reservoirs. Number of tube wells in Pakistan increased from 374099 in 1992-93 to 1070375 in 2009-10 (Agricultural Statistics of Pakistan, 2011). Intensive exploitation of groundwater initially benefited the farmers and helped them to attain higher production with consequences of increase in soil salinity and decrease in the depth of water table. Currently over 16 million hectares of land are affected by varying levels of salinity and waterlogging (Agricultural Statistics of Pakistan, 2011). Groundwater salinity increases from head to tail reaches along all irrigation canals including main, secondary and tertiary canals in Pakistan (Latif and Ahmed, 2008). Water table is decreasing at an average rate of 30-40 cm per year in some parts of country (Shakir et al., 2011). Current status of area under various depths to water table ranges is presented in Fig.5 (Agricultural Statistics of Pakistan, 2011). Cost of pumping groundwater is continuously increasing due to increase in the cost of fuel and electricity. This rise in the pumping cost further hampers the use of proper irrigation to wheat crop. Groundwater quality in more than 52% area of Pakistan varied from 1000 to over 3000 ppm (marginal to hazardous, low quality) up to 38 m depth (Zuberi, 1999).

Figure 5. Cultivated area under various depths to water table ranges. Pollution of irrigation water Pollution of both surface water sources and groundwater reservoirs has risen over the decades due to negligence of government policies and improper monitoring of water resources. Most of the industrial wastes are discharged into the canals that contaminate and pollute surface water. These wastes contain toxic elements that deteriorate water quality and are hazardous for human and animal health. Indiscriminate use of chemical fertilizers especially nitrogenous

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fertilizers are a major contributor towards raising nitrate levels in groundwater reservoirs (Imtiaz et al., 2004). Issues at farm level Farming in Pakistan is done for subsistence as mostly farmers have small land holdings as is evident from Fig. 6 (Agricultural Statistics of Pakistan, 2011). Farmers having small holdings can not afford modern production technology due to financial constraints and lack of technical know how on its use. On the other hand, farmers having large holdings are mostly absentee landlords with little or no interest in agriculture. High cost of inputs and their non-availability at critical stages are other major factors that lower per hectare production.

2% 3% 8%

4%

0.5 ha 0.5-1 ha 1-2 ha 2-3 ha 3-5 ha 5-10 ha 10-20 ha 20-40 ha 40-60 ha > 60 ha

10% 10% 11% 16% 17% 19%

Figure 6. Farm size in Pakistan. Soil husbandry is not properly looked after and use of laser land leveling and organic amendments is not popular farming communities. This leads to uneven distribution of applied water over the soils that are already poor in their water holding capacity due to lower organic matter content (Sarwar et al., 2008). Farmers do not use water conservation techniques and modern methods of irrigation either due to lack of knowledge or due to high cost of modern methods. Strategies to improve water use efficiency Water is a key towards sustainable development. If Pakistan has to ensure food security for its future generations, it has to act wisely and promptly to increase water use efficiency of the system. Strategies shall focus to develop water reservoirs for water storage (Biswas and Tortajada, 2001). Technologies for utilization of saline lands shall be promoted among farming communities by mobilizing extension services. Policy related to distribution of water among provinces shall be revised with consensus. Private sector shall be encouraged to

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promote modern production technology and irrigation methods among farming communities in remote areas of Pakistan. Government has to enhance the budget allocated to agricultural research especially on water resource management and send young scientists for seeking training from developed countries. Besides the above mentioned interventions, major focus shall be on increasing the resource use efficiency whether it is fertilizers or water. Increasing resource efficiency offers great prospect towards increasing per hectare yield of wheat that are already deficient by 3-5 tons ha-1 in Pakistan. Fertilizers are not the theme of this paper, so our analysis will mainly focus on measures that can help to enhance the efficiency of water use. Increase in water use efficiency can be achieved following different approaches viz. breeding, management, policy and it is need of the time for sustainable agriculture (Raza et al., 2011). Improvement in water use efficiency is likely to come by simultaneously improving (i) available water supplies (irrigation system) (ii) varieties (research and development) and (iii) irrigation management. Hsiao et al. (2007) demonstrated that an overall increase in water use efficiency of the system is likely to come through improvement of these three components along the chain. Addressing any of these three components in isolation will not bring a remarkable increase in water use efficiency of the system. Analysis of situation in Pakistan revealed that government had already made huge investments in improvement of irrigation system (US$ 8 billion) and research and development. Regional wheat research stations across the country are actively engaged in evolving new high yielding wheat varieties which cost millions of dollars annually. Improved irrigation management is an area that has been neglected in the past and currently it finds low priority in both research and policy. This sector on irrigation water management at field level needs to be improved with the core idea of obtaining more crop per drop of water in order to increase the overall efficiency of system. This paper will highlight how to increase irrigation water use efficiency at the field level. Management practices to improve water use efficiency Yield and water use efficiency have a direct linear relationship following Viets (1962) definition of water use efficiency. Any management intervention that increases yield is likely to increase water use efficiency (Gregory, 2004; Machado et al., 2008). An understanding regarding mechanism of action of management interventions on the improvement of water use efficiency is critical before deciding on their use. Effect of management interventions on yield and water use efficiency are analyzed in detail by Raza et al. (2011). Improvement in yield and water use efficiency can be attained by laser land leveling, conservation tillage, zero tillage in rice-wheat rotations, use of residues and mulches, timely sowing, seed priming, balanced and timely fertilizer application, use of organic amendments, weed control and better irrigation scheduling, etc. Effect of management interventions on yield and water use

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efficiency is reviewed in detail by Raza et al. (2011). Choice of wheat varieties having higher yield per cubic meter of transpired water is another viable option to enhance water use efficiency. Evapotranspiration of varieties can be calculated using water balance approach following Ehlers and Goss (2003). Water balance approach is not commonly used to select varieties as most of the research institutes do not have water measurement devices to calculate changes in soil water storage over a given season. This is an exciting area of research for agronomists and breeders involved in development of water use efficient wheat varieties. Monitoring changes in soil water storage is also critical to decide on the amount of irrigation water to be applied based on soil water retention characters. This will be discussed in detail in section on irrigation management. Irrigation management Our analysis reveals that management of irrigation water at field level is critical towards bringing an overall improvement in the water use efficiency of system. Managing irrigation water at field level can help to achieve more crops per drop of water and can enhance water use efficiency. Farmers in Pakistan traditionally apply 5-6 flood irrigations to wheat crop. Experience showed that wheat can thrive well even on 3-4 supplemental irrigation applied at critical stages of crop growth (Farooq and Iqbal, 2000). Improvement in irrigation water use efficiency is likely to come by adjusting amount, method and time of application of irrigation. Traditional method of flood irrigation needs to be replaced by modern and efficient sprinklers or center pivot systems. This is an area that needs support from both government and private sector. Farmers shall be provided training as well as financial support on the use of efficient methods of irrigation. Bed planting of wheat in Cotton-Wheat belt is another option to save water and increase water use efficiency (Hobbs et al., 1997). Current practice of flood irrigation is not sustainable as most of the applied irrigation water is lost either by runoff and deep percolation. As we are concerned about declining water supplies in future that threaten sustainable wheat production in the country, we suggest that current practices of flood irrigation shall be reconsidered and replaced by more scientific methods of irrigation application based on crop water requirement, leaching requirement and irrigation scheduling. Amount of irrigation water to be applied shall be decided based on soil water retention features. Soil water retention characters can be measured following Dane and Hopmans (2002) or can be estimated based on a given soil textural class by using pedotransfer functions. This area of research on applied soil physics had been partly neglected in the country. Considerable amounts of water can be saved by applying amount of water that is needed to refill the soil to the saturation. This requires a periodic monitoring of soil water content and irrigation can be applied when soil water content drops below field capacity. Sensor technologies coupled with computer controlled irrigation offer great prospect. Different types of sensors are now available in market. These include Theta probes, Sentek Diviner. A comprehensive review on

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improving irrigation efficiency by use of sensors and wireless technologies is given by Greenwood et al. (2010). Monitoring of soil water content provides basis for irrigation scheduling and scientific irrigation management. Changes in soil water content can be calculated to determine actual evapotranspiration of crop. Differences between actual and potential evapotranspiration of a crop can be used to determine irrigation water requirements. Potential evapotranspiration can be calculated using PenmannMonteith approach using meteorological data (Allen et al., 1998). Actual evapotranspiration (ETa) can be calculated according to water balance approach (Ehlers and Goss, 2003). Improved efficiency can be obtained by reducing drainage, runoff and evaporation losses by using measurement or model assisted irrigation scheduling (Pereira et al., 2002). Data on soil water content at different depths from sensors can be transmitted to a computer using wireless technology. Computer processes the data and commands appropriate amounts of water to the delivery equipment for irrigating the field (Greenwood et al., 2010). Simulation models that can be used for irrigation scheduling include Irrigation Scheduling Model, FAO Aqua Crop, FAO CROPWAT, Climatic Water Balance Model, Scheme irrigation management information system, SWATRE, IRSIS, SWAP, etc. There exist considerable roam for improvement in water use efficiency in Pakistan. It is desired that initiatives shall be taken to promote efficient and scientific irrigation practices as discussed above. Besides focusing on management interventions, government shall allocate more funds for research on resource use efficiency. Man power shall be trained on use of modern methods of irrigation and simulation models. Private sector shall be encouraged to promote and disseminate efficient irrigation technologies in remote areas of country and government shall allocate more funds for improving basic infra structure in distant areas of the country. Education of farmers on the optimum use of water is crucial and can be achieved by strengthening and mobilizing extension services and non-governmental organizations. Construction of small to medium water storage reservoirs shall remain one key priority.

CONCLUSION
We presented a brief picture of the water resources of Pakistan that are on continuous decline and seem insufficient to meet domestic needs. Issues related to water are diversified and need to be addressed aggressively. Our analysis revealed that addressing a core issue of increasing water use efficiency seems more logical and rewarding for sustainable wheat production in the country. We suggest that an integrated approach is required to increase the overall efficiency of the system with particular focus on increasing water use efficiency at field level. Irrigation management shall be made on scientific basis keeping in view soil retention features and soil water content. It shall be applied only when

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needed and in the appropriate amounts so that losses through run off and deep percolation can be avoided. An emphasis shall be put on hidden half of plants (roots) to increase water uptake efficiency as most of the commercial wheat varieties have small root system with low uptake capacity. We shall also re-visit policies, strengthen research on enhancing resource use efficiency and educate proper agronomy to the farmers through mobilizing extension services.

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