Quantitative Assessment of Social and Some Input Variables Relating to Rice Production in Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan

摘要

A survey was conducted from 50 randomly selected rice growers from 25 villages of Dera Ismail Khan, NWFP, Pakistan. The survey report revealed that 96 percent rice growers planted well-adapted high yielding coarse rice variety IR-6. All the farmers followed recommendations regarding land preparation using tractor and tractor-mounted implements. Half of the population used their self-produced seed, which was kept under profaned conditions. Majority of the farmers raised rice nursery during the month of April to mainly escape from the attack of rice stem borer. More than half (56%) used optimal age (30-40-days-old) rice nursery. Almost all the population (96%) used transplanting method but none of them used the line method of transplantation. Although, a big fraction (36%) of the sampled population was illiterate, yet all were applying recommended doses of fertilizers. Similarly, most of the growers (70%) were impelled to apply canal water at 4-8 days interval according to the water schedule given by the Revenue department. Majority of the population reported weeds and pest (stem borer) in rice crop. The per hectare rice yield of the farmers interviewed, although, exceeds the national average rice yield but none of the growers could fully exploit the potential yield of the cultivar. The frequency of the sampled population for getting information from nearby growers was very high mainly due to uncertain and insufficient knowledge provided by the other sources. Fifty-four percent of the farmers needed loan for the purchase of fertilizers, insecticides etc for rice crop and thirty-two percent declared banks as the suitable source of credit. Water shortage, high costs of inputs, non-availability of skilled labour during peak planting season, sub-optimal plant population, weeds and pest infestation, high dependence of knowledge on nearby growers and low price of rice in the local market were the major restrictions in higher yields of rice in Dera Ismail Khan, NWFP, Pakistan.