Strategic Assessment of Evapotranspiration for Wheat Cultivation in Punjab, Pakistan

  • Syed Zaheer Hussain Punjab Information Technology Board, Government of Punjab, Pakistan
  • Maria Zubair Punjab Information Technology Board, Government of Punjab, Pakistan
  • Arsam Ahmad Awan Centre of Excellence in Water Resources Engineering, University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore, Pakistan
Keywords: administrative framework, climate adaptation, Google Earth Engine, irrigation planning, irrigation zoning, Sentinel-2 satellite imageries, wheat production

Abstract

Abstract Views: 0

The nation's main wheat producing area, namely the province of Punjab, is becoming progressively more susceptible to water constraints brought on by climate change, ineffective irrigation techniques, and inadequate management of water for agriculture. The lack of district-level evapotranspiration (ET) surveillance networks, which are necessary for developing an appropriate water policy, exacerbates these difficulties. The absence of geographically and statistically specified ET data for optimal irrigation planning during wheat farming is an important regulatory gap that this investigation covers. For the 2022-2023 season, the study evaluates ET throughout the five major phenological phases of wheat (sowing, tillering, flowering, grain filling, and harvesting), utilizing Sentinel-2 satellite images and Google Earth Engine. A vegetation-index-driven ET computational method is used to produce high-resolution maps and district-level evaluations that represent variations in water demand within and between seasons. The results show notable spatial differences between districts like Faisalabad and Bahawalpur, with ET peaking at the grain filling stage (~4.09mm/day) and falling during sowing (~1.95mm/day). Presenting a data driven framework for proportionate water distribution, regional irrigation zoning laws, and climate-resilient agrarian management, this study offers plenty to the larger legislative conversation. It makes the case that incorporating remote sensing into policies can improve the allocation of resources and productivity, two essential components of sustainable agriculture strategies in the face of increasing environmental stress.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Ahmad, D. I., Mohsin, H. M., Dar, N. A., Malik, M. S., & Hasnain, Z. (2022). Pakistan economic survey 2021-22. Government of Pakistan. https://www.finance.gov.pk/survey_2022.html

Allen, R. G., Pereira, L. S., Raes, D., & Smith, M. (1998). Crop evapotranspiration—Guidelines for computing crop water requirements (FAO Irrigation and Drainage Paper No. 56). Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. https://www.fao.org/4/x0490e/x0490e00.htm

Amjad, R., Arif, G. M., & Mustafa, U. (2008). Does the labor market structure explain differences in poverty in rural Punjab? Lahore Journal of Economics, 13, 139–162.

Elnmer, A., Khadr, M., Kanae, S., & Tawfik, A. (2019). Mapping daily and seasonal evapotranspiration using remote sensing techniques over the Nile Delta. Agricultural Water Management, 213, 682–692. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2018.11.009

Karbasi, M., Jamei, M., Ali, M., Malik, A., & Yaseen, Z. M. (2022). Forecasting weekly reference evapotranspiration using auto encoder decoder Bi-LSTM model hybridized with a Boruta-CatBoost input optimizer. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, 198, Article e107121. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compag.2022.107121

Nagappan, M., Gopalakrishnan, V., & Alagappan, M. (2020). Prediction of reference evapotranspiration for irrigation scheduling using machine learning. Hydrological Sciences Journal, 65(15), 2669–2677. https://doi.org/10.1080/02626667.2020.1830996

Pakistan Institute of Development Economics. (2025). Punjab’s strategy for CPEC for development of agriculture sector – the urban unit. https://pide.org.pk/research/punjabs-strategy-for-cpec-for-development-of-agriculture-sector-the-urban-unit/

Pei, Y., Qiu, H., Zhu, Y., Wang, J., Yang, D., Tang, B., Wang, F., & Cao, M. (2023). Elevation dependence of landslide activity induced by climate change in the eastern Pamirs. Landslides, 20, 1115–1133. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-023-02030-w

Pinckney, T. C. (1989). The demand for public storage of wheat in Pakistan. International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/161001

Ren, S., Guo, B., Wu, X., Zhang, L., Ji, M., & Wang, J. (2021). Winter wheat planted area monitoring and yield modeling using MODIS data in the Huang-Huai-Hai Plain, China. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, 182, Article e106049. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compag.2021.106049

Wu, B., Quan, Q., Yang, S., & Dong, Y. (2023). A social-ecological coupling model for evaluating the human-water relationship in basins within the Budyko framework. Journal of Hydrology, 619, Article e129361. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2023.129361

Xie, X., Huang, L., Marson, S. M., & Wei, G. (2023). Emergency response process for sudden rainstorm and flooding: Scenario deduction and Bayesian network analysis using evidence theory and knowledge meta-theory. Natural Hazards, 117, 3307–3329. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-023-05988-x

Yang, J., Liu, Q., Mei, X., Yan, C., Ju, H., & Xu, J. (2013). Spatiotemporal characteristics of reference evapotranspiration and its sensitivity coefficients to climate factors in Huang-Huai-Hai Plain, China. Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 12(12), 2280–2291. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2095-3119(13)60561-4

Zakir-Hassan, G., Punthakey, J. F., Shabir, G., Yasmeen, F., Sultan, M., Ashraf, H., Sohoo, I., & Majeed, F. (2022). Physicochemical investigation of rainfall for managed aquifer recharge in Punjab (Pakistan). Water, 14, Article e2155. https://doi.org/10.3390/w14142155

Zhao, J., Yang, J., Huang, R., Xie, H., Qin, X., & Hu, Y. (2024). Estimating evapotranspiration and drought dynamics of winter wheat under climate change: A case study in Huang-Huai-Hai region, China. Science of The Total Environment, 949, Article e175114. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.175114

Published
2025-06-30
How to Cite
Hussain, S. Z., Zubair, M., & Awan, A. A. (2025). Strategic Assessment of Evapotranspiration for Wheat Cultivation in Punjab, Pakistan. Journal of Public Policy Practitioners, 4(1), 01-18. Retrieved from https://journals.umt.edu.pk/index.php/jppp/article/view/6684
Section
Articles