Assessment of On-farm Conservation Technology for Improving Water-use and Technical Efficiency in Punjab Agriculture

The paper has determined the impact of laser land levelling, a resource conservation technology, on irrigation water-use efficiency on a sample of 80 farmers in central Punjab for the agricultural year 2011–12. The method used to quantify the water-use efficiency or more specifically excess irrigation water was DEA. The study has indicated that those sample farmers whose fields were levelled with laser leveller were better water managers. The water saving in laser levelled farms was 28 per cent in paddy and 12 per cent in wheat compared to that of non-laser levelled farms. The results have revealed that the reduction in the use of inputs even up to 23 per cent will make the sample farmers attain the optimum scale of efficiency. The paper has suggested that flood irrigation systems are not clearly inefficient and management plays a significant role in the levels of water-use efficiency that can be reached.