PROFITABILITY OF WHEAT CROP CULTIVATION IN SUGAR CROP DOMINATED AREA: ECONOMIC AND CLIMATIC STUDY.

Recently, sugarcane largely introduced in "Dera Ismail Khan" (D.1.Khan) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, Pakistan, especially during the summer season. The current study was conducted at Arid Zone Research Centre (AZRC), Dera Ismail Khan (D.1.Khan) to evaluate cost and benefit, as well as climatic profile suitability for wheat cultivation, during 2014/2015 and 2015/2016 seasons. A sample of 200 respondents from 10 major wheat growing villages of the respective areas of the district was interviewed through pre-tested questionnaire. The study revealed that the cost of wheat production was Rs. 35,680 per acres, whereas output comes 1680 kg per acre (42 mounds) amounting Rs. 63,600 per acres. Farmers' margin also rises by adding the value of family labor and owned land, which is sufficient to sustain a normal family. Moreover, positive influence between return price and output of wheat was concluded from the study, whereas negative effect of cost was also observed. The output elasticity of Land preparation (LP), Seed and Sowing (SS), Farm inputs (Fl), Irrigation (Irr), Pesticides / insecticides (Pest) and Harvester threshing (HT) are 0.124587, 0.31244, 0.5874, 0.55461, 0.08248 and 0.65743, respectively. From climatic point of view, calculated accumulated growing degree days all over the studied seasons at the studied district were about 2663.5 degree days two seasons average. This is sufficient for the used type of wheat at this area to push the different growing stages and present economic crop yield. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]