IDENTIFICATION AND PRIORITIZATION OF PROBLEMS FACED BY RICE GROWERS: A CASE STUDY OF TEHSIL DASKA, SIALKOT

Rice is a staple food of half the world’s population, and the majority of which is located in Asia. Rice supplies as much as 80% of the daily caloric intake of the teeming population of Asia, where two-thirds of the world’s impoverished population lives. It is estimated that 2.3 billion farmers and their households depend on rice as their main source of livelihood. Rice is also an important cash crop of Pakistan. It accounts for 5.9% of value added in agriculture and 1.3% in GDP. However, there is a gap of 50.42% between the average and potential yield of rice. Therefore, all possible measures need to be taken to narrow the gap between potential and average yield. In order to fulfill this challenging job, an integrated effort of researchers, extension workers, administrators and planners is needed to address problems faced by rice growers. Thus the purpose of the study was to identify and prioritize problems faced by rice growers in tehsil Daska. Out of 24 rural union councils (UCs) of tehsil Daska, five were selected at random and from each selected UC, two villages were selected randomly. Fifteen rice growers were selected at random from each sample village to make a sample of 150 respondents. Data were collected with help of an interview schedule. The data thus obtained were analyzed with the help of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Illiteracy among farmers and poorly trained extension field staff were rated as the top most problems by the respondents in the acquisition of technical information. Regarding inputs availability, the top most problems identified were high prices of inputs i.e. electricity, diesel and fertilizers. The top most problem faced by rice growers in obtaining agricultural credit was non-cooperation of banks in obtaining a loan. Regarding marketing, monopoly of middlemen and less price of rice in markets were perceived as the top most problems.