Enhancing land and water productivity through furrow irrigated raised bed planting - A case study of underutilized lands in Pakistan

In pakistan,there is dire need to enhance productivity by proper use of underutilized lands through improved agricultural practices/irrigation methods. study was conducted in the command area of killianwala distributary to check the impact of raised bed planting for improving productivity potential of underutilized lands. information regarding area under wheat crop and fallow lands in each village was explored using gis. fallow lands in 19,911 ha of culturable command area (cca) were estimated to be 520 ha,while the remaining cultivated lands were also found to be underutilized in terms of low productivity potential. reasons found for the lands underutilization were water shortage,salinity and land preparation requirements,with water shortage as major problem along the whole length of distributary. wheat was planted on raised beds as well as by conventional method at seven sites and average yield increase and water saving of 18% and 49%,respectively,was recorded for wheat under raised bed planting. it was estimated that replacement of conventional sowing method by raised bed planting in the study area can enhance the production of wheat by 10.44 thousand tons,while the achievement of about 50% water saving will also help bringing fallow lands under cultivation,thus giving further boost to production at regional scale. © 2015,university of agriculture. all rights reserved.