| Women play important role in livestock farming in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. A survey was conducted in district Mardan to determine women’s participation in livestock farming and to investigate factors affecting their participation. A multistage sampling method was used to select a sample of 274 livestock farm households from 6 rural Union Councils, and a well-structured questionnaire was used to collect data from female respondents through face to face interviews. A composite index was constructed to measure the extent of women’s participation, and a linear regression model was used to determine factors affecting women’s involvement in livestock farming. Results reveal that women were mostly involved in almost all farming activities. The average composite index value is 4.81 which indicate that women were on average involved for 4.81 hours per day in livestock farming activities. Regression results show that respondent’s age, experience in livestock farming and education, education of the household head, access to credit, livestock income, tenural status and distance to city significantly affect women’s involvement in livestock farming. Based on these findings the study recommends that significance of women participation to livestock sector must be recognized in government planes and policies. The provision of credit and livestock training facilities to rural women could encourage their participation in livestock farming and provides them decision power in livestock management.

| This study looked at profitability of maize crop and estimated growers’ technical efficiency in central Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Stochastic Frontier analyses were conducted over primary data, collected from randomly selected 119 maize growers. Profitability analysis confirmed high net-return for hybrid maize as compared to local maize crop. The estimated Stochastic Frontier Model-1 showed that maize yield is positively affected by hybrid seed cultivation, irrigation, organic and inorganic fertilizers application. The model predicted mean technical efficiency of 85% with a maximum possible of 97%. This indicates that 12 % increase in yield is possible with the existing production technology. Results for the Stochastic Frontier Model-2 identified head’s formal education, farming experience and level of involvement in agriculture and combined family structure as important factors significantly reducing inefficiency in maize production. The study recommends formal education and agricultural training for maize growers, provision of subsidy for hybrid seeds and chemical fertilizers and price support for their produce during harvest season.

Research background Income and prices are important factors that determine and decide households consumption decisions and behavior. Purpose and research methodology This paper aims to examine fruits’ demand elasticities in Pakistan by using the Linear Approximate Almost Ideal Demand System (LA/AIDS). For this purpose, data from the Household Integrated Economic Survey (HIES) 2018–2019 part of Pakistan Living Standard and Measurement is used for the selected fruits. Results Marshallian, Hicksian, and expenditures elasticities were calculated through the estimated parameter from the Linear Approximate Almost Ideal demand system. The results show that all the estimated expenditure elasticities of the selected fruits for Pakistan are positive. The magnitude of expenditure elasticities for bananas, malta, apple, grapes, watermelon, plum, and almonds, is less than unity, and are thus categorized as normal food items. The estimated uncompensated own price demand elasticities for all fruits are less than unity (inelastic) for Pakistan and thus categorized as necessities. Based on the cross-price uncompensated demand elasticities eighteen fruits are reported as gross complements and three fruits are gross substitutes. Most of the fruits are categorized as neutral fruits having no cross-price effect on each other’s demand as their estimated elasticities are closer to zero. Only apples with grapes and almonds are found to