Abstract

Abdul Qader Khan, Muhammad Idrees, Fahad Aldosari ,

The present study is an assessment of main problems faced by farming community in sugarcane production of district Peshawar. The study was based on primary data gathered from randomly selected four villages namely Khazana Bala, Khazana Payan, Nasapa Bala and Nasapa Payan from district Peshawar. The main objective of the study was to highlight the problems of farming community in sugarcane production in the study area. The data was collected through well-structured interview schedule using a sample size of 80 farmers allocating proportionally to the villages. For analysis of data, SPSS software was used. The data shows that majority (51%) respondents were in the age group of 31-45 years. The illiteracy rate among the farmers was high as seventy six percent respondents were un-educated. It is concluded from the study that the main problems faced by the farmers regarding sugarcane production were; lack of irrigation water, non-availability of improved varieties of sugarcane, land preparation, high cost of inputs, diseases and insect pest, weeds and marketing problem. It is recommended that the provincial government should handle the water-management in the study area by allocating more funds for irrigational purposes to address the problems of the farmers. Agricultural inputs should be provided to the farmers on subsidized rates and provision of high yielding varieties of sugarcane at the right time and reasonable price in local markets must also be ensured.