Browsing by Author "Hussain, Intizar"

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A Framework for Analysing Socioeconomic, Health and Environmental Impacts of Wastewater Use in Agriculture in Developing Countries
(2001) Hussain, Intizar; Raschid-Sally, Liqa; Hanjra, Munir A.; Marikar, Fuard; Van Der Hoek, Wim
"A major drawback of India's agriculture, watershed development and irrigation strategy has been the neglect of relatively wetter catchment areas and the tribal people living therein. Investing in small-scale interventions for improved water control can produce a dramatic impact on the productivity and dependability of tribal livelihood systems."
Irrigation Impacts on Income Inequality and Poverty Eleviation: Policy Issues and Options for Improved Management of Irrigation Systems
(2002) Bhattarai, Madhusudan; Sakthivadivel, R.; Hussain, Intizar
"This study explores the conceptual and policy issues relating to the impact that irrigation has on crop production, farm income, inequities in income distribution and poverty alleviation. It also focuses, specifically, on poverty issues associated with head-tail water distribution inequity in an irrigation system."
Irrigation Management in Pakistan and India:Comparing Notes on Institutions and Policies
(2000) Shah, Tushaar; Hussain, Intizar; ur Rehman, Saeed
"These notes present the impressions gathered by a team of Indian and Pakistani economists on contemporary issues in irrigation management in these two countries. The authors suggest that the two countries can learn important lessons by comparing notes on several issues: [a] what would work best in ensuring equitable access to irrigation—physical rehabilitation being tried out in Pakistan Punjab with the help of the army under the military rule offers interesting possibilities in terms of scale and impact as does the Andhra Pradesh model of irrigation reform, [b] the experience in both countries so far defies the uncritically accepted premise that under farmer-management, irrigation systems will be more equitable, [c] why farmers in Pakistan Punjab have to use 16-20 horsepower (hp) diesel engines to pump groundwater from 25-40 feet while north Indian farmers have been doing the same with 5 hp engines—if it is because of compulsion of habit, appropriate policies can save Pakistan substantial diesel fuel per year, [d] India needs to ask why diesel engines in Lahore cost only 40-50 percent of the retail price they command in Lucknow or Ludhiana—we suggest allowing free imports of Chinese pumps will do away with the need for pump subsidies that keep diesel engines over-priced in India, [e] both Pakistan and India need to pay serious attention to promoting simple pump modifications that can increase fuel efficiency of their pumps by 40-70 percent, [f] India and Pakistan need to compare notes on their rich experience of electricity pricing policies to achieve viability of electricity supply to farmers and to achieve important goals of groundwater management and policy."
Land and Water Productivity of Wheat in the Western Indo-Gangetic Plains of India and Pakistan: A Comparative Analysis
(2003) Hussain, Intizar; Sakthivadivel, R.; Amarasinghe, Upali A.; Mudasser, Muhammad; Molden, David
"The purpose of this study is to analyze variations in wheat yields and to assess the range of factors affecting wheat yields and profitability of wheat production in the selected irrigation systems in India and Pakistan. The study attempts to identify constraints and opportunities for closing the existing yield gaps. It is hypothesized that substantial gains in aggregate yields can be obtained by improved water management practices at the farm and irrigation-system levels."
Productivity and Performance of Irrigated Wheat Farms across Canal Commands in the Lower Indus Basin
(2000) Hussain, Intizar; Marikar, Fuard; Jehangir, Waqar A.
"Despite the widespread adoption of green revolution technology over the last three decades, enormous differences in agricultural productivity exist across farms and regions in Pakistan. Recent farm-level data from Sindh, for example, indicate that irrigated wheat output per hectare varies from 0.5 to 5.4 tons across farms. Improving and sustaining productivity, narrowing the existing productivity gaps, and enhancing resource use efficiencies to meet food requirements of a rapidly growing population is now a central goal of agricultural policy in the country. However, serious concerns over rapid degradation of both land and water resources are emerging. There is growing evidence that land quality is deteriorating with severe problems of water logging and salinity. In addition, irrigation water is becoming increasingly scarce with growing demand and increasing competition across sectors and regions. Poor management of these resources is one of the major contributing factors to this situation. "This study attempts to enhance the understanding of the factors that determine differences in agricultural productivity. The main objective of this report is to evaluate performance of irrigated wheat farms with a view to analyze cross-sectional productivity differences and to determine the productivity potential in Sindh. In contrast to most other similar studies done in Pakistan, the present study focuses on examining the influence of quality of resources and adequacy of irrigation water on farm productivity. "The study is based on cross-sectional data collected from a random sample of 1,220 irrigated wheat farms located in 14 canal commands in the Lower Indus Basin of Sindh Province. The basic approaches used in the study consist of evaluating farm performance using Data Envelopment Analysis (a non-parametric programming method), and quantifying elasticities and marginal productivity of production inputs by estimating aggregate and disaggregated production functions. The combination of these two methods provided insight into the factors that determine the observed farm productivity gaps within and among canal commands in the province. Average farm level performance index was estimated at 74 percent, implying that wheat producers can reduce inputs by 26 percent by adopting the best practices of efficient producers. The results show that the best performing producers in Sindh comprise 20 percent of the total with a performance index estimated at 100 percent. A further 30 percent is operating at a fairly high level of performance with the index ranging from 70 to 90 percent, and the remaining 50 percent is operating at low levels with the performance index ranging from 40 to 69 percent. Shortage of irrigation water in some canal commands and poor land quality in others are two fundamental constraints to productivity increases in the province. Unless these constraints are removed, benefits from other production enhancing programs, including subsidies on inputs (seed, fertilizer, credit, etc.), are likely to be very limited. Marginal productivity of irrigation water is found to vary significantly across canal commands. The analysis suggests that productivity gains in the immediate short run can be achieved by the effective reallocation of water across canal commands. However, sustained productivity increases in the long run would be achieved through effective management of, and additional investments in, both land and water resources."
Wastewater use in Agriculture: Review of Impacts and Methodological Issues in Valuing Impacts
(2002) Hussain, Intizar; Raschid-Sally, Liqa; Hanjra, Munir A.; Marikar, Fuard; Van Der Hoek, Wim
"The objective of this paper is to provide a review of the characteristics of wastewater used for irrigation, and the reasoning behind the international guidelines presently used in regulating wastewater reuse for agriculture.This paper presents various systems of wastewater treatment available and discusses their benefits and shortcomings.Finally, the paper provides the review of environmental valuation techniques for analyzing impacts of wastewater uses in agriculture, and suggest a framework for application of some of these techniques. This framework will be applied to a developing country case study (Faisalabad area in Pakistan), in the ongoing IWMI research program."