Policies centered to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic have created recessionary economic impacts. Adverse income shocks have caused malnutrition and food insecurity and have increased the need for food assistance. The present study examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on food insecurity and investigates the determinants of food security and coping strategies in the Punjab province of Pakistan. Data were collected through the internet and received responses from 370 respondents. The household food insecurity access scale (HFIAS) model was applied to examine food insecurity, and a logit regression model was used to analyze its determining factors. The results illustrate that food insecurity substantially increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. Households’ demographics and socioeconomic factors have influence on food insecurity. Households with a large family size and people in quarantine found more food insecurity during the COVID-19 pandemic, while financial assistance played a role in a decline in food insecurity. Households handle the negative income shocks by eating less preferred food and getting support from government and charity organizations. It is suggested that stakeholders and responsible institutes provide financial assistance to support low-income families in order to enhance food security. Furthermore, policymakers should strengthen social safety nets and aid programs such as the Ehsas income program in the province of the country.

Pakistan is an agrarian nation that is among the most vulnerable countries to climatic variations. Around 20% of its GDP is produced by agriculture, and livestock-related production contributes more than half of this value. However, few empirical studies have been conducted to determine the vulnerability and knowledge of livestock herders, and particularly the smaller herders. Comprehending individual perceptions of and vulnerabilities to climate change (CC) will enable effective formulation of CC mitigation strategies. This study intended to explore individual perceptions of and vulnerabilities to CC based on a primary dataset of 405 small livestock herders from three agro-ecological zones of Punjab. The results showed that livestock herders’ perceptions about temperature and rainfall variations/patterns coincide with the meteorological information of the study locations. The vulnerability indicators show that Dera Ghazi Khan district is more vulnerable than the other two zones because of high exposure and sensitivity to CC, and lower adaptive capacity. However, all zones experience regular livelihood risks due to livestock diseases and deaths resulting from extreme climatic conditions, lower economic status, and constrained institutional and human resource capabilities, thus leading to increased vulnerability. The results indicate that low-cost local approaches are needed, such as provision of improved veterinary services, increased availability of basic equipment, small-scale infrastructure projects, and reinforcement of informal social safety nets. These measures would support cost-effective and sustainable decisions to enable subsistence livestock herders to adopt climate smart practices.

This study was conducted to examine the effects of agricultural subsidies on the technical efficiency of agricultural production technology and on factor input. It utilized a random frontier production function, instrumental variable method, and threshold regression model. The data used for this analysis consisted of 609 field yield measurements from the National Rapeseed Industry Technology System in 2020. The findings indicate that agricultural subsidies have a substantial impacts and it increases the technical efficiency of production process. Specifically, these subsidies encourage the use of land resources while inhibiting the use of chemical fertilizers. However, this does not have a significant effect on the utilization of labor and capital resources. Furthermore, the impact of agricultural subsidies on production technology efficiency varies depending on the scale of the farming operation. The subsidies significantly enhance the production technology efficiency of farmers with a business scale of less than 0.67 ha, but do not significantly improve the production technology efficiency of farmers with a business scale exceeding 0.67 ha. To optimize the effectiveness of agricultural subsidy policy, three methods and recommendations are proposed: increasing the overall amount of subsidies, expanding and diversifying the types of subsidies, and refining the process of disbursing subsidies.

A range of nutritional needs are met through the use of fortified farm-based foods. Wheat biorfortification with zinc is such an example where biorfortification is carried out for a crucial element like Zinc. Zinc-biofortified wheat (Zn-wheat) has been officially launched in Pakistan since 2016 but its wide-scale dissemination, adoption and consumption have not taken place till to date. On the other hand, essential nutrients deficiencies have wide-ranging implications for public health especially for children and lactating mothers. This study is undertaken to know the reasons for the slow progression of scaling up of biofortified wheat varieties in Pakistan, people’s awareness about biofortified wheat and to recognize the role of information in acceptance and willingness to pay for this wheat. For this purpose, randomly selected 474 households were interviewed from four districts of Punjab province. They were categorized into four groups based on their exposure to information in real and hypothetical cheap talk (game theory context). Study findings reveal that respondents were ready to pay for fortified wheat if they are aware about nutrient aspects and Zn deficiency. Using Discrete Choice Experiment, the preferences for and factors affecting the willingness to pay for fortified wheat are evaluated. Main factors having positive impact include household head’s education and income, having pregnant women and children <5 years age. It was also found that people having valid information about nutrients of a food would be willing to pay more. The study highlights need for policy focus on educating people about nutritional aspects as well as making available biofortified foods to promote healthy living.