Abstract
Pakistan is primarily an agricultural country and its agricultural production depends on adequate availability of irrigation
water supplies. Wheat is an important staple food and its share in value added is 12.5 percent and 2.6 percent in agriculture
and Pakistan’s GDP, respectively. With the increasing food demand and growing population at increasing rate of 2 percent, the agricultural economy of Pakistan is under stress with many problems. Shortage of irrigation water is one of the most
import issue which contributes in low crop productivity. However, bed planting of wheat is one of the modern technique that
saves significant amount of irrigation water and also increases the wheat yield. Therefore, bed planting of wheat was
compared with conventional irrigation method in economic terms. Cross-sectional data was collected from farmers through a
comprehensive questionnaire from the districts Faisalabad and Toba Tek Singh for the cropping season 2013-14. The
information was gathered from 60 farmers who adopted this technology and 60 non-adopters of bed planting. The study also
determined the factors which were considered to be responsible for the adoption of bed planting of wheat. Results revealed
that adopters typically have a more favorable resource base as compared to non-adopters. More access to education and other
indicators increases the chances to adopt new technologies by the farming community. The economic analysis results showed
the total revenue and gross margins from one acre of wheat was significantly high for adopters compared to non-adopts of
bed planting. It was due to more wheat yield (< 185.6 kgs) in case of wheat under bed planting. That earned revenue of Rs. 64,425 compared to Rs. 58,274 for non-adopters. Gross margin for adopters and non-adopters was calculated to be Rs. 38,185 and 29,405, respectively. Similarly, net returns were Rs. 25,178 and Rs. 17,012 for adopter and non-adopters of bed
planting technology, respectively. The BCR were also high in case of bed planting in both districts and found highest BCR
(2.40) in district. Hence effective policy should be made in order to suffice these farming communities for bed planting of
wheat to save large amount of irrigation water.
