Traditional irrigation practices, low crop productivity, unlevelled fields, water losses taking place during conveyance and application phases and low irrigation efficiencies are the main problems ofthe common farmers in Pakistan. To overcome these problems, different on farm water management technologies such as precision land levelling (PLL), bed planting, drip irrigation system and watercourse improvement were provided to farmers for water savings and increasing crop yield in the area of rice-wheat zone (Khurrianwala distributary), cotton-wheat zone (Mungi distributary) and mixed cropping zone (Killianwala distributary) during cropping seasons of 2006 to 2015 under JICA funded project of On-farm Research and Development Component in LCCS (East), Rachna Doab, Punjab, Pakistan.

On the average, there was 25% water savings and 15-20% increase in crop yields on 2024 hectares (5000 acre) fields under PLL. Wheat, cotton and rice on PLL fields produced more yields (kg/ha) than those on conventional fields ie (3727 vs 3105),(3371 vs 2856) and (4242 vs 3688), respectively. All fields under PLL were brought under bed planting, which saved 50% water and increased the crop yield by 15-25%. Wheat yields under bed planting (4770.1 kg/ha) was 20% more than that under conventional method of flat sowing (3726.9 kg/ha). Cotton yields was 15% more under bed planting (3778.5 vs 3285.6 kg/ha) than those under conventional fields. The grain yields of rice on beds was significantly higher (5302 vs 4241.8 kg/ha) than that under flat sowing. These results indicate that wheat, cotton and rice sown on beds saved 42.6%, 38.6% and 31.4% of irrigation water, respectively, compared with flat sowing. Drip irrigation system was installed on 4.86 hectares (12 acres) at the above mentioned distributaries. The use of drip irrigation resulted in savings of not only water but also fertilizer and increased the crop yields by 30 to 40%. Three watercourses, one on each site of 1200 m in length, were lined which resulted in improved conveyance efficiency of 15-20%. These results envisage showing potential of on-farm water management technologies for saving water as well as increasing crop yields.