The Impact of Better Management Practices (BMPs) Among Cotton Farmers in Punjab, Pakistan

Better management practices (BMPs) as a sustainable approach made it attractive for growers to control the provision of pollutants from agricultural activities as well as enhance the financial return. The experiments of cotton production were conducted in four different regions of Punjab in cotton-growing years 2017-2019. The objective of the study was to evaluate the potential impact of BMPs among cotton farmers by rationalizing the use of input resources (viz., seed, fertilizers, pesticides and water). The data were collected from randomly selected adopters of BMPs (n = 400) and non-adopters of BMPs (n = 100) through a well-structured pretested questionnaire using a multistage sampling procedure from four different regions of Punjab province. Descriptive analysis was employing an independent two-sample t-test to evaluate the significant effect of BMPs on the utilization of input resources and profitability of cotton production between adopters and non-adopters of BMPs. The results indicated that adopters of BMPs were efficiently used input resources (at p ≤ 0.001 & p ≤ 0.01) and significantly enhanced the average cotton yield (855.09 kg acre) in Punjab, while non-adopters of BMPs had a significantly high cost of production by 11% (35,655 PKR acre) and output was lower by 15% (751.70 kg acre) under conventional farming for cotton cultivation. The economic analysis revealed that the average gross income gained by adopters of BMPs was significantly high by 11% (72,648 PKR acre at p ≤ 0.001) with the maximum net return of 36% (40,785 PKR acre at p ≤ 0.001) as well as a good B:C (1.28) as compared to non-adopters of BMPs. This study provides useful information about the potential impact of BMPs among cotton farmers even without the extra use of inputs. It is concluded that precision in inputs and management practices with lower input costs can significantly improve cotton productivity leading to uplift the farmers’ profit.


Introduction
In agriculture, environmental sustainability implies good stewardship of the input resources and natural systems (Tittonell, 2014;Sabiha et al., 2016). Achieving economic sustainability in agriculture production remains an overwhelming challenge to researchers, policymakers, development partners, and national governments around the globe (Babu et al., 2020). In the current era, the conventional agriculture system has a major concern associated with the extensive use of external inputs including seeds, land management practices, agrochemicals (fertilizers, pesticides & herbicides) and water, which is negatively influencing farmers' profit and yield (Cristache et al., 2018,). Additionally, conventional agriculture poses adverse side effects on the natural environment by deteriorating water and land resources (Lampridi et al., 2019). Environment sustainability and sustainable agriculture both are hooked into each other so improving the input use efficiency can significantly contribute to maintaining sustainability.
Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) is one of the economically important crops, leading as a natural fiber, and is grown commercially in more than 100 countries (Ullah et al., 2017). Pakistan is the fifth largest producer of this white gold, where cotton cultivation contributes to the total value of agricultural production by 4.5% and share 0.8% in GDP during the production year 2018-2019 (Ministry of Finance, 2019). Therefore, cotton is making significant support to the development of the national and rural economies in terms of promising sources of livelihood. In Pakistan, cotton production is concentrated mainly in two provinces; Punjab is the leading province accounting for 75% followed by Sindh with 25% of the total national cotton production (FAS, 2018). Moreover, cotton is considered one of the most input-intensive crops contributing to the plentiful consumption of resources all around the globe (Imran et al., 2019). Hence, unjudicial and unsystematic use of agrochemicals (especially fertilizers and pesticides) marks cotton as a 'highly polluted crop (Awan et al., 2015). The excessive utilization of input resources (cultural practices, agrochemicals and water) is not only reducing the scarce assets but also contributing to the degradation of the natural environment (Ullah et al., 2016). For sure, the productivity of cotton depends upon the consumption of fertilizers and irrigation that would otherwise cause the reduction of cotton yield (Watto & Mugera, 2015). Though, the requirement of water will remain a major factor in cotton production (growth and yield) that can be increased by providing the desired level of water during cotton cultivation. But the over-irrigation achieved via flood irrigation resulting in saturated soil with a low percolation rate causes deterioration of land and water resources (Zhang et al., 2016). Yet, proper management requires to provide the knowledge among farmers for the sensible use of available water at the required time in the required quantity (Abid et al., 2011). Likewise, as we concerned with soil nutrient management, if a rational amount of inorganic fertilizers is applied as per-requisite, then there has been a significant improvement (about 30-50%) in the yield of different crops in different zones of the country (Sui et al., 2015;Ripoche et al., 2015;Ullah et al., 2017). Moreover, Rehman et al. (2019a) reported that the precision application of fertilizers and efficient irrigation significantly increased cotton yield per acre as compared to the previous years. Besides, cotton is also a vulnerable host to many diseases especially pests (i.e., sucking pests and some bollworms); an enormous amount of pesticides is applied more than the recommended dose to cope with the common cotton pests (Basit, 2018). Previous studies reported that almost 8-10% of pesticide production is used on the cotton crop which ultimately raised the external social costs (Khan & Damalas, 2015a;Hina & Asad, 2019). Instead, these chemical inputs in the conventional cotton farming system create serious non-negotiable threats for the environment in the long run (Dhananjayan & Ravichandran, 2018).
Conventional agriculture for cotton production has relied on the undue use of synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, and water which led to over-exploitation of natural resources in Pakistan (Zulfiqar & Thapa, 2016;Zinyemba et al., 2018). Though cotton cultivation provides a promising source of livelihood to the rural farming community, the traditional cotton farming with the intensive consumption of resources to gain the maximum cotton yield causes the high production costs that put huge economic pressure on the farmer's financial resources Imran et al., 2018). Hence, both agriculture sustainability and farmer's income are challenged by high production costs and environmental vulnerabilities, therefore environmental impacts and economic performances of cotton production are necessary to analyze (Rehman et al., 2019b). Knowing the limitations of the conventional agriculture system, researchers, scientists and policymakers are arguing for the advancement of alternative approaches/practices that can enhance the social, environmental, and financial sustainability of the agriculture production system (Therond et al., 2017;Lencucha et al., 2020;Stringer et al., 2020). Henceforth, there is a dire need for sustainability in cotton production with careful attention to the environment by employing judicious inputs. Better management practices (BMPs) are the chief approach to preserve our scarce resources that not only meet today's farming goals by minimizing the negative impact on the environment but also enhancing crop returns (Hina & Asad, 2019). Some practices are considered as BMPs which include soil management (proper land cultivation practices), nutrient management (rational amount of fertilizers application), pest management (judicial application of pesticides), water management (efficient irrigation) to improve cotton yield sustainably with the least exposure to the environment. The adoption of these BMPs is a viable way to switching from traditional to sustainable farming which synergistically increases the financial requirements and improves yield along with environmental and social concerns (i.e., use of water and pesticide). The implementation of BMPs for sustainable cotton production would lead to several long-term benefits like the sustainability of mankind, conservation of the natural resource and biodiversity followed by a reduction in rural poverty (Ullah et al., 2017).
The present study is aimed at examining the impact of BMPs for resilient and sustainable cotton production at the four different sites viz., Bahawalpur, Multan, Muzaffargarh and Jhang of Punjab province, Pakistan. Our experiment focused on resource use efficiency and economic analysis of cotton production with an alternative agriculture approach (BMPs) that will reduce undue inputs of inorganic agrochemicals and irrigation water, further, that will make sustainability, socially and economically better cotton production than conventional practices. jas.ccsenet. team includes field trainers (FTs) and field facilitators (FFs) who were conducted the training to teach the farmers for the adaptation of the aforesaid BMPs in each of the selected regions.

Data Collection
A multi-stage sampling technique was used to collect data from the adopters of BMPs (better cotton framers) and non-adopters of BMPs (conventional farmers) were randomly selected with simple size as n = 400 and n = 100, respectively from each region of the project area (Bahawalpur, Multan, Muzaffargarh and Jhang) under cotton cultivation. The quantitative data were collected from the cotton farmers of both groups (adopters and non-adopters of BMPs) during three consecutive years of cotton-cropping season 2017-2019 at their farm sites.
The maximum data were collected through a pretested well-developed and comprehensive questionnaire to obtain relevant and appropriate information on cotton cultivation (Naveed & Anwar, 2015). For the current study, the data used for the analysis have comprised the use of input resources viz., cotton cropping area (acres); seed rate (kg); rate of fertilizer (kg); numbers of pesticides used (f); rate of pesticides (kg); and irrigation water (m3) as well as the cost of inputs in rupees (PKR) including labor cost. The output data was included harvested cotton yield (kg) and cost of output in rupees (PKR) in four different cotton-growing regions (Bahawalpur, Multan, Muzaffargarh and Jhang) of Punjab.

Cost of Production
As various inputs (fixed and variable) were involved in cotton production. The on-farm cost of cotton production was estimated for all inputs viz., i) seed procurement (i.e., certified/approved/local variety of seed); ii) land management practices; iii) application of inorganic fertilizers (Urea, CAN, DAP, NP); iv) pesticides (active ingredients against cotton pests) and v) irrigation as well as labor.

Economic Analysis
Economic analysis was estimated to assess the progressive effect of BMPs on cotton production as compared to conventional cotton cultivation in three consecutive years (2017-2019) at four different sites of the Punjab province. The input and output cost was used and net return (profit) was compared between better cotton farmers and conventional farmers to analyze the financial performance of cotton growers. The gross income [GI = Q×P [Q = yield (kg acre -1 ), P = price of yield (PKRs acre -1 )]; total expenses [TE = V × X (PKRs acre-1) [V = input prices, X = input purchase quantity]; net return [NR = GI -TE (PKRs acre -1 )]; input-output ratio (GI/TE) and benefit-cost ratio (B:C = NR/TE) were computed using the mentioned formula (Dagistan et al., 2009;Imran et al., 2018;Imran et al., 2019).

Statistical Analysis
The quantitative data were analyzed via descriptive analysis using Statistical Package of Social Science (SPSS) version 25. The input and output differences in cotton cultivation between both groups of cotton farmers were estimated by an independent two-sample t-test assuming unequal variances for comparing the mean values.

Results and Discussion
Our results revealed that input resources such as crop area, land management practices, seed, fertilizers, pesticides, irrigation and labor power significantly and positively affect the cotton production in three cropping years (2017-2019) at the project sites. Hence, crop productivity depends on the potential use of available resources (aforesaid inputs) with the implementation of better management practices (BMPs) can save the variable cost and have a significant role in cotton production. Likewise, Ahmad et al. (2016) determined that cropped area, land preparation, seed, fertilizer, pesticides, irrigation and labor statistically significant and positively affect cotton production. Similarly, the positive impact of BMPs on crop productivity was reported by (Makarewicz et al., 2009;Awan et al., 2015;Ullah et al., 2017;Schimmelpfennig, 2018;Hina & Asad, 2019).

Cotton Cultivation Area
The average cotton cultivated area owned by adopters of BMPs was about 7.00 acres which were significantly high by 40% (at p ≤ 0.001) as compared to non-adopters of BMPs/conventional farmers (5.00 acres) in cotton cropping years 2017-2019 at four different regions of Punjab ( Figure 2). Besides, data showed that amongst four regions of Punjab, Muzaffargarh showed the maximum average cotton cultivated area in cropping year (2017-2019) by adopters of BMPs (8.72 acres) that was significantly high by > 100% than that of non-adopters of BMPs (4.15 acres). It displayed that cotton growers of Muzaffargarh showed a willingness to adopt BMPs in cotton cultivation. Imran and Ozcatalbas (2017) also reported that in Muzaffargarh, the majority of the cotton farmers were required holistic participatory approaches to improve farmers' understanding of technology, recommended strategies and demand-driven. jas.ccsenet.

Figure practices)
Note. The two-group

Inputs
The efficie ( management practices hence they were adept more numbers of cultural practices (Gomiero et al., 2011;Harkes et al., 2019), such as cultivator (n = 4 times); disc plough (1 time), and rotavator (1-2 time) as well as used drill and dibbling method for seed sowing. Alike adopters of BMPs, they were also practiced ridger (n = 1-2 times) for weeding after sowing.

Fertilizers
Most of the soils in Punjab are nitrogen deficient; hence, there is always a need to improve soil fertility through fertilizers amendment to mitigate nutrients deficiency (Maqsood et al., 2016). Our results showed that adopters of BMPs applied a rational amount of inorganic fertilizers; and an average amount of fertilizers input (urea, CAN, DAP and NP) was significantly reduced by 19% for cotton production (2017-2019) in Punjab. Besides, the maximum reduction in fertilizer consumption was found in Multan (35%) followed by Jhang (22%), where the adopters of BMPs were applied urea, CAN and NP significantly low (at p ≤ 0.001) as compared to non-adopters of BMPs (Table1). Moreover, Bakhsh et al. (2005) reported a positive impact of fertilizers (especially N and P) on the productivity of cotton in Punjab (Sargodha district). Our findings are coherent with the previous studies, as a rational or precise amount of fertilizers are necessarily applying in the soil to gain the maximum cotton production (quality and quantity of yield) (Reetz, 2014;Oseko & Dienya, 2015;Baio et al., 2017;Honfoga, 2018).

Pesticides
The incidence of weeds, pests and disease on a cotton crop is an emerging problem in all cotton growing areas of Pakistan, and the adoption of chemical control methods is becoming prevalent among the cotton growers in Pakistan (Bakhsh et al., 2005). But, adopters of BMPs have significantly reduced the rate of pesticides (kg acre -1 ) and some pesticides used against cotton pests by 23% and 20%, respectively as compared to non-adopters of BMPs. Our results displayed that the maximum consumption (3.15 kg acre -1 ) of pesticides were found in Muzaffargarh by non-adopters of BMPs with an average of eight various pesticides spray, Likewise, a conventional cotton grower in the Jhang region used the maximum number of pesticides spray that was significantly high by 40% as compared to adopters of BMPs (Table 1). Alike, Khan et al. (2010) reported that BMP farmers applied around 72% less synthetic pesticides as compared with non-BMP. Note. The significance values * at p ≤ 0.05; ** at p ≤ 0.01; *** at p ≤ 0.001; ns at a non-significant level for two-groups (adopters of BPMs and non-adopters of BMPs) mean comparison t-test assuming unequal variances. f: frequency; kg: kilogram; m 3 : cubic meter.

Water
Globally, water is a scarce commodity and agricultural production is directly dependent on the availability and effective use of water for crop production (D'Odorico et al., 2020). Moreover, the sensible use of the available water through flood irrigation is a management issue and, therefore, requires motivation among farmers in using water at the required time in the required quantity . Our results revealed that the adopters of BMPs were trained for efficient irrigation, hence input of water resource was significantly reduced by 13%, 22%, 9%, and 10% in Bahawalpur, Multan, Muzaffargarh and Jhang, respectively as compared to non-adopters of BMPs (Table 1). Likewise, the frequency of irrigation was also found to be higher for non-adopters of BMPs compared to adopters of BMPs with similar findings (Khan et al., 2010).

Cotton Yield
Notably, adopters of BMPs produced cumulative average cotton yield despite a relatively low amount of inorganic fertilizers, pesticides and water irrigation that was significantly higher by 15% than that of non-adopters of BMPs in Punjab. The average cotton yield in Punjab was estimated as 855.09 kg acre-1 by   Note. The significance values * at p ≤ 0.05; ** at p ≤ 0.01 *** at p ≤ 0.001; ns at a non-significant level for two-group mean comparison t-test assuming unequal variances.
This study used the average exchange rate for the years 2017, 2018 and 2019 (1 PKR = 0.0095, 0.0081 and 0.0072 USD, respectively) when the study was carried out.
As stated above non-adopters of BMPs were applied more numbers pesticides than adopters of BMPs with the maximum rate, henceforth the cost of pesticides in all four regions was significantly high (at p ≤ 0.001) by 23%. Also, the highest cost of pesticides was estimated as 41% by non-adopters of BMPs as compared to adopters of BMPs in the Jhang region (Table 2D). Likewise, our data showed that adopters of BMPs were paid a significantly less (25%) cost of irrigation as compared to non-adopters of BMPs. Besides, in the Bahawalpur region, non-adopters of BMPs were consumed excessive water for cotton irrigation that was significantly high by 52% in the year 2017 as compared to adopters of BMPs (Table 2A). While, the maximum water consumption for irrigation was noticed in the Multan region by non-adopters of BMPs as 20%, 17% and 38% in three consecutive years (2017-2019) of cotton production as compared to adopters of BMPs (Table 2B). Also, Muzammil et al. (2020) reported that the cost of irrigation is directly depending upon the input use efficiency of irrigation for cotton production. As labor is considered a very important resource in cotton production, the results of input and output analysis showed that the cost of labor was found to be non-significant between adopters and previous studies the benefit-cost ratio was estimated as 1.32, 1.35 and 1.48 for cotton production denoted the profitability of cotton cultivation (Khan et al., 2010;Khan et al., 2011;Ahmad et al., 2016).
It is concluded that management practices for land preparation, selection of appropriate cotton variety, application of the rational amount of fertilizers, judicial use of pesticides, and effective irrigation are the most important factors responsible to maintain sustainability. It has been found that adopters of BMPs improved input (resource use efficiency) and output (productivity and farm income) as compared to non-adopters of BMPs. Hence, cotton production of BMPs adopters is economically and environmentally sustainable than that of non-adopters of BMPs. Overall, the study confirms and quantifies that cotton farmers can efficiently use inputs by adopting BMPs in the cotton-growing areas of Punjab and elsewhere in Pakistan.
The findings suggested that intensive and adequate extension and research services should pursue to create awareness and financial support for the cotton farmers to accelerate the adoption of BMPs in the cotton-growing areas of Punjab. This can enhance resource use efficiency, net farm income, and the livelihood of rural masses.