Exploration of Banana Based Cropping System in District Khairpur Sindh Pakistan

The climate and soil of Sindh province are favourable for cultivation of year-round for fruits. Banana is a yearround crop which is valued for energy, vitamin and mineral contents. The present study aimed to determine the socio economic status of banana growers and exploration of Banana based cropping system in district Khairpur Sindh province, by using primary data. The area and production of banana fruit is high as compare to the others provinces. In Sindh province there are three district which are contributing in the banana production likewise; Khaipur, Thatta, and Matiari, while Khairpur share in 25.9 percent area and 28.4 percent production in overall Sindh province. Banana is extremely labour intensive fruit crop by doing so huge employment opportunities to the local peoples can be provided. The banana orchard has the significant place in area allocation by the respondent’s growers as banana orchard contributed 5.4 acres per household which remained 31 percent of the operational area. The Rabi season overall 48 percent operational area remained under wheat. So if we can improve our practices then we can increase the production of banana fruit.

new strain of Panama disease, the fungus that wiped out the Gross Michel variety in the 1950s, has hit the world's biggest export banana, Cavendish. If left unchecked it could wipe out the cultivar due to Cavendish variety also disease free variety, all varieties of banana can be used for the fibre extraction purpose (Mukhopadhay et al., 2008).

Objectives
1. To examine the socio economics characteristics of the farmers 2. To explore the status of cropping pattern in study area 3. To examine the farm characteristics 3. Review of literature Memon, et al., (2016), reported that Agricultural sector of Pakistan is usually divided into four main sub-sectors: crops, livestock and forestry and fisheries, Banana is an important sector of Pakistan. But banana growers are facing problems because majority of growers uneducated they cannot use technology proper and same Banana sector of Pakistan is facing serious problems from production to post harvest management and export marketing.
In view of limited awareness due to uneducated farmers and labour in this sector. Untrained farmers and labour in this sector. Lack of Proper information about pre and post-harvest management. And not available testing laboratories in Sindh, this sector related to middlemen and contractors he also lacks of knowledge, lack of storage facilities infrastructure problems of transports. Mondragon et al., (2015), reported that infertile soil or soil with too little nutrition lowered banana yields since bananas could not get enough nutrition. Seed germination is significantly dependent on specific environmental conditions which affect seedling establishment. Individual growth rates of seedlings are slow and limited when soil nutrients and water are inadequate. Plant growth rates finally depend on the plant's maturity. Sopheap et al., (2012) reported that Yield is very important for farmers since it reflects their incomes. Most farmers needed high yields. They had different strategies to improve yields, such as choosing a good quality banana variety, investing in good quality fertilizers, and adopting good agricultural practices. The main yield constraints were identified as poor soil quality, harvesting at the wrong time, and poor weed management. The highest yield fields did not have these problems because those farmers had good crop management knowledge. Javelosa and Schmitz (2006), reported that, the industry was long characterised by some form of government protection and help, such as particular railway lines facilitating transport built in the 1960s, and restrictive quarantine regulations holding for foreign imports. By the 1990s, a total import ban for all foreign bananas was in effect, with the official rationale being strict quarantine considerations, i.e. that the import of bananas might aggravate the prevalence of banana diseases in Australia. This rationale is subject of a WTO dispute between representatives of the Philippine banana growers on one hand and the Australian government on the other. Bakhtiari et al. (2014), reported that Banana nutrition depends on the plant's growing stages, which require different amounts of fertilizer. The reproductive stage requires more potassium than nitrogen. The appropriate fertilizer rates that give nutrients at different ratios improve yields. Application time is crucial as bananas need different nutrients at different stages. Net corn yields for example, significantly increased when fertilizer rates were increased from 30 to 90 kg/ha, even though corn height and the amount of corn cobs were not significantly different. The application rate of fertilizer had a direct influence on net corn yield.

Methodology
This study was based on Primary data and collected using well-structured questionnaire from district Khairpur Sindh. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected according to exploration of banana based cropping system in district Khairpur Sindh. It was purposely selected and banana fruit are particularly cultivated in district Khairpur. However, the information was collected from the respondent, collect/record pertaining to socioeconomic characteristics, of the banana growers, family income, land ownership pattern etc.

Analysis of data
Data were analysed to achieve the objectives of the study, farmers were divided in two categories Small (up to 12.5) and Large (12.5 above) For this study, tabular analysis was applied to classify data in order to derive meaningful findings by using simple statistical measures like percentage and ratios in SSPS and Excel software.

Area and Production of Pakistan
Banana is an important fruit of Pakistan and mostly grown in Sindh provinces 91.2percent share in area and 82.1percent overall share in production. While in Punjab area was 2.5percent and share of production 5.2percent. in KPK area was 2.5percent and production 9.9percent. whenever area was 2.9percent and 2.8percent share in production. (

Area and production of banana in Sindh (province)
In Sindh province Banana is predominantly grown in Khaipur, Thatta, and Matiari districts the khairpur contribute 25.9percent in area and 28.4percent in production followed by Thatta secure with 17.8percent production and matiari contribute 13.8percent the overall three district 60percent share in Sindh produce.   (SES) is an economic and sociological measure of a person's work experience of an individual's or family's economic and social position in relation to others, based on income, education, and occupation.
The study represents a brief description of the socio-economic characteristics of the selected banana growers. Decision making behaviour of individual is determined to a large extent by his socio-economic characteristics. The socio-economic variables of the banana growers are given below.

Age, Education and Farming Experience
The average age of small farmers was 43.5 years, and year for 39.3 large farmers. There was no significant variation in age small and large farmers in Khairpur district the overall average age of farmers was 41.4 years. Education plays a vital role in attitude formation of mind. The any activity of farming is belonging to education. Unfortunately, the result show that the literacy rate in the study area is very low. Overall average of education 6.5 years. Average farming experience of selected growers was 12.3 years of small farmers and 12.6 years of large farmers. Overall farming experience 12.5 years by the respondent farmers. Regarding the living pattern of the respondent of banana growers in study area majority (80 percent) farmers were living in the joint-family system and 20 percent were living in single-family system. Result revealed that jointfamily system is the dominant in the study area.  Overall mean operational area was 17.3 acres with 5.2 acres for small and 30.2 acres for large farmers respectively. The overall average share-in area was 1.8 acres and the overall average leased-in area was 6.7 acres in the selected study area also explain cultivated and non-cultivated area.   Overall the banana contribution in household income 40percent of the household followed by crops 29percent and livestock 12percent, and non-farm 19percent for small and large respectively. Result of cropping structure revealed that in the rabi season, wheat was the major crop with overall 48 percent operational area. However, 22 percent small and 52 percent large farmer's operational area remained under wheat. The banana orchard has the significant place in the area allocation by the respondent farmers with overall respondent 31 percent of operational holding. Small farmers allocated 53.4percent of operational holding to banana orchard for their livelihood whereas large farmers have 27.1percent banana orchard.

Conclusions
The area and production of banana fruit is high as compare to the others provinces. In Sindh province there are three district which are contributing in the banana production likewise; Khaipur, Thatta, and Matiari, while Khairpur share in 25.9 percent area and 28.4 percent production in overall Sindh province. Banana is extremely labour intensive fruit crop by doing so huge employment opportunities to the local peoples can be provided. The banana orchard has the significant place in area allocation by the respondent's growers as banana orchard contributed 5.4 acres per household which remained 31 percent of the operational area. The Rabi season overall 48 percent operational area remained under wheat. So if we can improve our practices then we can increase the production of banana fruit.