Abstract
Pakistan is facing a shortage of water for many years, mainly due to increase in population and mismanagement of available
water resources. There is average annual potential of 23 billion m3
in hill torrent water resources of the country, which has not
yet been utilized to its productive potential. This study compared the irrigation practices, crop yield, water productivity and
benefit cost ratio of spate irrigated crops with other available sources of irrigation in Mithawan hill torrent command area of
Dera Ghazi Khan, Pakistan. The data were collected through field visits/observations, farmers’ interviews, and from the
relevant organizations. CROPWAT model was used to determine crops water requirements for assessment of irrigation
efficiencies while SPSS software was used for descriptive statistics of the study data. The cropping intensities in the study area
during wet and dry years were 90 and 70%, respectively, with an average of 80%. The spate irrigated fields were applied 1.05m
depth of water at once in a season that had an average application efficiency of 28% whereas, the efficiency of canal water and
groundwater applied separately or conjunctively varied from 24 to 86% with an average of 52%. The water productivity of
spate irrigated crops varied from 0.08 to 0.19kg/m3 while canal water and/or groundwater irrigated crops cultivated in the study
area varied from 0.27 to 3.28kg/m3
. Normally, cotton was cultivated with canal water and onion with groundwater that had
water productivity of 0.27 and 3.28kg/m3
, respectively. The benefit cost ratio of spate irrigated crops varied from 1.49 to 2.39,
while for irrigated with canal water and/or groundwater it varied from 1.29 to 1.57. Based on the result of this study, it may be
concluded that the efficient utilization of hill torrents for spate irrigation would improve the copping intensities, crop yield,
water productivity and socioeconomic conditions of the farmers of study area. Also, the efficient utilization of hill torrent water
for spate irrigation would minimize the dependence on canal water and groundwater in the study area.
