IDENTIFY THE CHALLENGES OF RICE PRODUCTION AND COPING STRATEGIES IN NAROWAL

Abstract

Rice is the major source of food. Globally, rice also provides food security and nutrition.  The demand of rice increased day by day because the world population increased rapidly, and the demand of food also increased.  The good production of rice depends on water management, pest control disease, soil fertile and seed. Climate change, water scarcity, fertilizer, labor shortage, market access and famer literacy rate are the common challenges that inter linked and faced everywhere. The aim of this article is to describe the demand for rice socially, culturally and globally.  Water is the most important component for the production of crops. Rice is the second staple food for Pakistan after wheat but in some countries, it is the primary staple food for more than half the world's population, and Asia, South America and Sub-Saharan Africa are the largest consuming regions. Rice exports increased Pakistan agricultural revenue, employment and famers livelihood. This research was conducted in district Narowal, Punjab, Pakistan. The questionnaire method was used for data collection. Field notes and observation checklist were the tools that were used to collect data. The sample size was 40 and probability sampling technique was used. Simple random sampling techniques (SRS) was used. All respondents were farmers. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software was used for analysis of data.  Rice is major source of food for Pakistan and sustainable rice production is important to meet the world's expanding demand for this staple commodity to reducing environmental effect and increase the effective and adorable use of technology.

Key words: Rice Production, climate change, food security, Soil fertility, Water scarcity, export and sustainability.