Tropentag, September 16 - 18, 2026, Göttingen "Towards multi-functional agro-ecosystems promoting climate-resilient futures"

Beyond formal interventions: indigenous agricultural practices and water use efficiency (WUE) among smallholders in South Punjab, Pakistan

¹MNS-University of Agriculture, Dept. of Agriculture and Resource Economics, Pakistan
²Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development, Dept. Forest, Wood, Environment, Germany

Abstract

Water scarcity has become a critical constraint for agricultural sustainability in South Punjab, Pakistan where smallholder farmers rely heavily on irrigation for crop production. Formal interventions like government irrigation regulations, extension services, and input subsidies are intended to enhance water management, their effectiveness is frequently constrained at the farm level however this study goes beyond formal interventions. Therefore, by investigating indigenous (non-formal) agricultural strategies that farmers create and implement locally to deal with water constraint, some indigenous practices can reduce water efficiently under changing climatic conditions. These methods include growing traditional cereals, adjusting planting times, and substituting water-intensive crops like rice and sugarcane with Kharif crops like (sesame, guar, and pulses etc.). While these indigenous techniques exist, their scalability and effectiveness remain limited due to weak market linkages and lack of proper institutional support. With an emphasis the role of indigenous knowledge and co-designing solutions with other stakeholders and institutional support (such as other farmers, universities, extension services etc.), the study examines how such practices affect WUE. A structured questionnaire and multistage sampling were used in cross-sectional data of 200 smallholder farmers. The study uses a multinomial logit model to examine the effects of cropping decisions and Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA) to estimate WUE. Variety of indigenous innovation approaches, such as bed-furrow irrigation, residual moisture farming, using drought-tolerant native seeds, and rainfall-adjusted sowing, are compared in terms of water use and productivity.
Results show that crop choice and participation in farmer organisations significantly improve WUE. Groundwater depletion and increased production costs are caused by market-driven growth of water-intensive crops. And water efficiency and resilience may be improved by combining indigenous knowledge with institutional support and stakeholder participation. In order to encourage the scaling of indigenous methods for sustainable agricultural output and better smallholder livelihoods, study suggests encouraging climate-smart, low-water crops, supporting farmer organisations, and coordinating policies.

Keywords: Formal interventions, indigenous innovations, smallholder livelihoods, sustainable agriculture, water scarcity, water use efficiency

Contact Address: Anisa Abdul Rehman, MNS-University of Agriculture, Dept. of Agriculture and Resource Economics, 60600 Multan, Pakistan, e-mail: amjrehman76gmail.com