5. Discussion
From the analysis it seems only three factors, rainfall, soil
conditions, and irrigation, act as a hindrance to sugarcane production
in Sindh (as the p-values are less than 0.05). Thep-values of other factors are greater than 0.05, which means they
are not significant. The t-values of irrigation, rainfall, and
soil condition are higher than 2.04, which are normally used as standard
values. The other values are lower than 2.04, so they were rejected as
null hypothesis. Climate change diseases was found null hypotheses which
shows that in Sindh, farmers use pesticides to deal with crop diseases
occurring due to change in the climate. Such pesticides are sold at
higher prices,but this factor was not rated as significant by all
farmers. In fact, thep-values and t-values show that
irrigation, rainfall, and soil condition are positively related to the
decrease in sugarcane production in Sindhthat’s why other factors are
undiscussed. Other factors cannot be ignored, but this research aims to
investigate the specific issues faced by sugarcane farmers in Sindh.
Thus, only such factors that would helpin facilitating sugarcane farming
in Sindh are considered for discussion. The sugarcane production
situation is unsatisfactory and needs the current government of Pakistan
to take urgent steps, otherwise things will get worse. Regarding
irrigation, water is not adequate for sugarcane production due to poor
infrastructure (such as tube wells) in the chosen areas (Qureshi 2011).
Participants accepted that unavailability of water harms sugarcane
production as the precipitation mechanism is affected. In Sindh, the
rainfall was normalcompared to other regions of Pakistan.However,the
rainfall percentage has decreasedof late which has compelled farmers to
rely oncanal, ground and tube well water. In Sindh, precipitation
accounts only for 20% of the overall sugarcane production requirements.
The condition of the irrigation system is not satisfactory even though
there are several development plans that have already been implemented
(Qureshi 2011).
The current findings could assist public officials in addressing
specific issues instead of covering an extensive list of climate change
factors. Most of the farmers in Sindh use salt-rich water,which is
detrimental to sugarcaneyield, and they use this water from the nearby
drainage systems at least to moisturize the crops. Sindh Irrigation and
Drainage Authority (SIDA) is accused of unfair treatment to the farmers
and,in some areas, irrigation problem is created because the irrigation
department facilitate rich landowners by diverting the water from the
canals (Land Degradation in Sindh, 2002).This allegation seems to be
true to some extent.Farmers mostly pointed out that unavailability of
water damages sugarcane yield to a great extent. Installation of tube
well privately is way too expensive for any farmer.Since the government
of Pakistan also earns through taxes and duties on sugarcane, itbecomes
the responsibility of officials to install tube wells.
Drought was not considered to be a significant factor in this research,
which means that canal water is available to the farmers. However,
farmers still rely on tube wells that are not good for sugarcane yields
due to the salinity and other detrimental properties of the groundwater.
Canal water should be channeled appropriately and as the second
alternative, which in reality is not suitable, is tube well
installation. Most farmers have closed sugarcane production companies
due to lack of water, as rainfall contributeslittle to the agriculture
in Sindh. At present, new reservoirs need to be developed in the
vicinity of areas that contribute to the production of sugarcane and use
technologies that make groundwater suitable for sugarcane because
groundwater is the only option left to the farmers in Sindh after canal
water.Participants said that their sugarcane production has been
severely affected due to less rainfall.
Intense heat is not a substantial factor in this research, but the
increase in temperature means that sugarcanewould require more water as
evaporation increases. Lack of rainfall affects sugarcane yields since
water availability in Sindh is limited. Still, large-scale forestation
can help reduce heatwaves in sugarcane production areas asdeforestation
has affected the pattern of rainfall all over the world and which is one
of the reasons for less and heavy rainfall, sometimes causing floods
(Shakoor et al. 2011). Small-scale deforestation also affects the
climate of specific region in small areas. (Dehlavi et al. 2015).In the
Sindh region, forests must be grown near the sugarcane fields to
maintain the average rainfall precipitation.
The soil condition of sugarcane production in Sindh was also considered
unsatisfactory by the participants. Soil conditions are the primary
factor that farmers consider when choosing the right land for a
sugarcane crop. Salinity undermines the potential of the soil by
depositing salt in the soil, which is reported to have been filed at 120
million tons each year in the soil of which only 20% goes back to the
sea. Salinity is due to groundwater, as most farmers use tube wells as
the main source of water, but the drainage system in rural areas is
aninfluentialfactor for irrigation. Wastewater is absorbed into the
ground from the drainage system and increases the level of underground
water, which results in water logging. (Ur-Rehman et al. 2012).Also
called over-irrigation, the deep water often reaches the surface. The
drainage system needs to be given greater importance in at least those
areas where sugarcane is grown on a large scale. The technical labs in
Sindh, which provide technical assistance in evaluating the soil
condition, do not necessarily help, but rather highlight soil problems.
According to a study, every year 40,000 hectaresof fertile land becomes
saline,of which a majority percentage belongs tothe Sindh region alone.
Roughly 57% of Sindh has beenwaterlogged, which is a direct indication
of the government’s inability of installing adequate and efficient
drainage systems in rural areas. Practices of soil management are vital
for making the soil fertile for sugarcaneproduction, which calls for
serious government efforts to initiate programs to educate the farmers
of Sindh to deal with challenges such as use of fertilizers.