Impact of Direct Seeding of Rice on Household Welfare in Pakistan

Impact of Direct Seeding of Rice on Household Welfare in Pakistan Executive Summary The current study was carried out in the rice-wheat area of Pakistani Punjab to access the impact of direct seeding of rice sowing technology on household welfare in Pakistan. The direct seeding of rice (DSR) technology in Pakistan was introduced a couple of years back, with the idea to increase the crop yields and to save the use of inputs like water, fertilizer and labour. For estimating the impact detailed comprehensive survey was carried out in three main rice-wheat districts i.e. Gujranwala, Sheikhpura and Hafizabad. A detailed questionnaire was prepared for carrying out the analysis. The impact of direct rice sowing technology was estimated on rice and wheat crops yield, water, weedicide and labour demand. The empirical analysis indicates that adopters of direct seeding of rice sowing technology are getting higher net returns in the range of 8-9 maunds per acre. The comparative profitability analysis indicates that in case of direct seeding of rice sowing technology the cost of production is high than the conventional transplanting of rice but the net returns are more in case of direct seeding