Socio Economic Impact of Water Crisis on Agrarian Community in District Faisalabad, Pakistan

Abstract

Agriculture plays a pivotal role in the national economy of Pakistan. 65% of total population of Pakistan is living in
villages and their major source of livelihood depends upon agriculture. Pakistan has the largest world irrigation system its
irrigation strength three times more than that of Russia. But unfortunately, Pakistani farmers are facing serious water shortage
problem in these days. The main objectives of the present study were to explore the effects of scarcity of canal water on the
yield of different type of major crops and assess the affect of ground water on crops and its socio economic implication on the
farmers’ lives. A sample of 160 household farmers was selected through multistage sampling techniques. Specifically through
this study, farmers’ survival due to the shortage of irrigation water highly depends upon tube well water. Due to this phenomenon
not only farmers have to pay lot of money in the form of fuel but also tube well water negatively affects the crops yield. The
researchers also found out the socio economic problems due to the water crises such as irrigation water disputes, less
cultivation, lack of interest of livestock and these notions also badly affect their crops yield as well as their socio economic
condition.