This page has only limited features, please log in for full access.
Using survey information of 150 randomly selected households across 21 villages of the forest-rich district of Swat, Pakistan, this study assessed households’ decision-making behaviors in depending on income from nearby forested land using socio-economic attributes. The evidence from the study may aid in making the existing policies be better targeted toward families that depend on the forest for income. Descriptive statistics and econometric techniques such as logit and tobit were used to analyze the data. Respondent households obtained the highest share of their income from off-farm activities (37%) and least from forest activities (16%). Fuelwood constitutes the biggest share (66%) of forest income, followed by medical plants (20%) and fodder (13%). We found that households with more physical assets, more family members working in off-farm jobs, and households earning more income from off-farm jobs were significantly and negatively associated with households’ decision to depend on forest income and total income obtained. We also found that households with less distance to the market and membership to joint forest management committees (JFMCs) were significantly and negatively associated with households’ total income obtained. However, household size was significantly and positively related to households’ decision of forest dependency. The study recommends the creation of off-farm opportunities and inclusion of local people in the management of forests through establishment of JFMCs, particularly for large and poor families.
Mazhar Biland; Alam Zeb; Ayat Ullah; Harald Kaechele. Why Do Households Depend on the Forest for Income? Analysis of Factors Influencing Households’ Decision-Making Behaviors. Sustainability 2021, 13, 9419 .
AMA StyleMazhar Biland, Alam Zeb, Ayat Ullah, Harald Kaechele. Why Do Households Depend on the Forest for Income? Analysis of Factors Influencing Households’ Decision-Making Behaviors. Sustainability. 2021; 13 (16):9419.
Chicago/Turabian StyleMazhar Biland; Alam Zeb; Ayat Ullah; Harald Kaechele. 2021. "Why Do Households Depend on the Forest for Income? Analysis of Factors Influencing Households’ Decision-Making Behaviors." Sustainability 13, no. 16: 9419.
The Billion Trees Afforestation Project (BTAP) was launched in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province of Pakistan to conserve existing forests and to increase the area under forest cover. It also aimed to restore environmental conditions, promote rural livelihoods and reduce poverty. To improve the effectiveness of afforestation projects, it is essential to know the role of various factors and their impacts on community participation in landscape restoration. However, these factors and their impacts remain unexplored for the BTAP. This study identifies the factors that influenced rural household participation in the BTAP in Pakistan. The data were collected from participants and nonparticipants in the BTAP as well as from various officials. We employed both qualitative and quantitative methods to analyze the data. The results of the focus group discussions and the professional evaluation of the BTAP revealed that participant farmers enjoyed all the benefits of the project at the individual and community levels. However, the project provided only partial benefits to nonparticipant farmers at both levels. The household-level results showed that age, income from forest resources, a friendly relationship with forest department staff, a risk-bearing attitude and membership or involvement in village development committee activities had positive and significant effects on farmer participation, while disputes over land and forest resources, household size and experience with/dependence on livestock farming had negative and significant impacts on farmer participation in the BTAP. Our results suggest that policymakers and project designers should pay more attention to the factors that hindered farmer participation in the BTAP. The participation of landless and disadvantaged groups in the 10-BTAP should be increased to ensure equal and widespread benefits for all users and to ensure a win-win situation of sustainable management of the forest, the environment and livelihood opportunities for all types of forest users.
Ayat Ullah; Anu Susan Sam; Archana Raghavan Sathyan; Nasir Mahmood; Alam Zeb; Harald Kächele. Role of local communities in forest landscape restoration: Key lessons from the Billion Trees Afforestation Project, Pakistan. Science of The Total Environment 2021, 772, 145613 .
AMA StyleAyat Ullah, Anu Susan Sam, Archana Raghavan Sathyan, Nasir Mahmood, Alam Zeb, Harald Kächele. Role of local communities in forest landscape restoration: Key lessons from the Billion Trees Afforestation Project, Pakistan. Science of The Total Environment. 2021; 772 ():145613.
Chicago/Turabian StyleAyat Ullah; Anu Susan Sam; Archana Raghavan Sathyan; Nasir Mahmood; Alam Zeb; Harald Kächele. 2021. "Role of local communities in forest landscape restoration: Key lessons from the Billion Trees Afforestation Project, Pakistan." Science of The Total Environment 772, no. : 145613.
This study investigates the factors that affect farmers’ access to agricultural credit and its role in adopting improved agricultural technologies in the rain-fed zone of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Pakistan. Using logistic models, we assess and compare the relative role of farmers’ socioeconomic attributes in their access to credit and adoption strategies. The results indicate a moderate positive association between farmers’ access to agricultural credit and their adoption of improved agricultural technologies. The binary logit model’s results indicate that farmers with a large-sized farm, high farm income, better access to information, and large physical asset ownership showed a positive influence on credit access. However, farming experience showed a negative effect on farmers’ access to agricultural credit. Regarding farmers’ credit sources, this study found that asset-rich farmers with more farming experience and better access to information relied more on banks than on input providers and informal credit sources. Similarly, older farmers with more education, larger farm sizes and high farm income were more likely to have borrowed from input providers than banks. We conclude that the role of the effective provision of information on credit and agricultural technology is imperative and requires separate policies that are specifically aimed at different groups of farmers with different socioeconomic and farm-related characteristics.
Ayat Ullah; Nasir Mahmood; Alam Zeb; Harald Kächele. Factors Determining Farmers’ Access to and Sources of Credit: Evidence from the Rain-Fed Zone of Pakistan. Agriculture 2020, 10, 586 .
AMA StyleAyat Ullah, Nasir Mahmood, Alam Zeb, Harald Kächele. Factors Determining Farmers’ Access to and Sources of Credit: Evidence from the Rain-Fed Zone of Pakistan. Agriculture. 2020; 10 (12):586.
Chicago/Turabian StyleAyat Ullah; Nasir Mahmood; Alam Zeb; Harald Kächele. 2020. "Factors Determining Farmers’ Access to and Sources of Credit: Evidence from the Rain-Fed Zone of Pakistan." Agriculture 10, no. 12: 586.
Information asymmetry plays an important role in the non-adoption of modern agricultural inputs like improved seeds, pesticides and fertilizers etc. Therefore, this study investigated the role of farmers’ socio-economic attributes and farm level characteristics in avoiding asymmetry of information in agricultural input markets (i.e. exaggerated prices and low quality). The approach captures the farm level heterogeneity and complexity that may help the authorities in strengthening existing market regulations to control price and quality disparities. We analysed 395 randomly selected farm households using multinomial logit model. We found that farmers with large landholding size are less likely to face quality and more likely to face price information asymmetry. Farmers with higher education, more physical assets and better access to other sources of information are less likely to face both quality and price information asymmetry. Borrowers as compared to purchasers are more likely to face information asymmetry on prices of agricultural inputs. Non-adopters of improved agricultural technologies are more suspicious of information asymmetry than adopters. The paper thus provides evidence that the socio-economic dynamics of information asymmetry can have an important influence on wide spread adoption of technology. Paying more attention to farm level heterogeneity and complexity would help to develop general market management plan and improve the adoption of technology by farmers.
Ayat Ullah; Muhammad Arshad; Harald Kächele; Alam Zeb; Nasir Mahmood; Klaus Müller. Socio-economic analysis of farmers facing asymmetric information in inputs markets: evidence from the rainfed zone of Pakistan. Technology in Society 2020, 63, 101405 .
AMA StyleAyat Ullah, Muhammad Arshad, Harald Kächele, Alam Zeb, Nasir Mahmood, Klaus Müller. Socio-economic analysis of farmers facing asymmetric information in inputs markets: evidence from the rainfed zone of Pakistan. Technology in Society. 2020; 63 ():101405.
Chicago/Turabian StyleAyat Ullah; Muhammad Arshad; Harald Kächele; Alam Zeb; Nasir Mahmood; Klaus Müller. 2020. "Socio-economic analysis of farmers facing asymmetric information in inputs markets: evidence from the rainfed zone of Pakistan." Technology in Society 63, no. : 101405.
Climate change is a severe threat to the agricultural sector in general and to rainfed farming in particular. The aim of this study was to investigate the factors that can potentially affect the adaptation process against climate change. This study focused on wheat farmers and farming systems in the rainfed agroecological zone of Pakistan. Farmers’ data related to climate change fatalism, the availability of climate-specific extension services, socioeconomic and institutional variables, and farm characteristics were collected. A logit model to assess farmers’ decisions to adopt an adaptation measure and a multinomial logit model to assess their choice of various adaptation measures were used. The results showed that fatalistic farmers were unlikely to implement climate change adaptation measures. The variables related to the climate-specific extension services, including farmers’ participation in training on climate-resilient crop farming and the availability of mobile communication-based advisory services, had highly significant and positive impacts on farmers’ decisions and their choice of adaptation measures. Input market access and tractor ownership also had positive and significant impacts on farmers’ decisions to adapt and their choice of adaptation measures. This study highlights the need to improve rainfed-wheat farmers’ education levels to change their fatalistic attitudes towards climate change. Furthermore, government action is needed to provide climate-specific extension services to ensure sustainable production levels that will ultimately lead to food and livelihood security under a changing climate.
Nasir Mahmood; Muhammad Arshad; Harald Kaechele; Muhammad Faisal Shahzad; Ayat Ullah; Klaus Mueller. Fatalism, Climate Resiliency Training and Farmers’ Adaptation Responses: Implications for Sustainable Rainfed-Wheat Production in Pakistan. Sustainability 2020, 12, 1650 .
AMA StyleNasir Mahmood, Muhammad Arshad, Harald Kaechele, Muhammad Faisal Shahzad, Ayat Ullah, Klaus Mueller. Fatalism, Climate Resiliency Training and Farmers’ Adaptation Responses: Implications for Sustainable Rainfed-Wheat Production in Pakistan. Sustainability. 2020; 12 (4):1650.
Chicago/Turabian StyleNasir Mahmood; Muhammad Arshad; Harald Kaechele; Muhammad Faisal Shahzad; Ayat Ullah; Klaus Mueller. 2020. "Fatalism, Climate Resiliency Training and Farmers’ Adaptation Responses: Implications for Sustainable Rainfed-Wheat Production in Pakistan." Sustainability 12, no. 4: 1650.
This paper presents empirical evidence on the effects of information asymmetry in input markets on the adoption of innovations and agricultural land use in rainfed districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Farmers’ input market integration may contribute to innovation and adoption among farmers, which may in turn positively influence the sustainable use of agricultural land. To examine this hypothesis, we conducted a study of farmers and input providers to assess the potential constraints on quality inputs, prices, and extension information. We used a multistage random sampling technique to collect data from 395 respondents. We then compared differences among adopters and non-adopters using the Mann-Whitney U test and Mood’s median test. Our results indicate that there is a significant difference between the adopters and non-adopters when considering their perceptions of asymmetric market information. Non-adopters are suspicious of exaggerated prices, the non-availability of price lists, adulteration of agricultural inputs, unbalanced input weight and the supply of low-quality alternate commodities (e.g., fertilizers and pesticides) in place of the recommended commodities in the markets. Our results call for the reformulation and implementation of appropriate policies to ensure transparent and equal information sharing among farmers engaged in input markets and for the provision of timely and quality inputs assured by regulatory checks and price checks. Free availability of information on innovations and appropriate oversight over markets appear not only to motivate farmers to adopt agricultural technologies but also to influence more sustainable land use practices.
Ayat Ullah; Muhammad Arshad; Harald Kächele; Ayesha Khan; Nasir Mahmood; Klaus Müller. Information asymmetry, input markets, adoption of innovations and agricultural land use in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Land Use Policy 2019, 90, 104261 .
AMA StyleAyat Ullah, Muhammad Arshad, Harald Kächele, Ayesha Khan, Nasir Mahmood, Klaus Müller. Information asymmetry, input markets, adoption of innovations and agricultural land use in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Land Use Policy. 2019; 90 ():104261.
Chicago/Turabian StyleAyat Ullah; Muhammad Arshad; Harald Kächele; Ayesha Khan; Nasir Mahmood; Klaus Müller. 2019. "Information asymmetry, input markets, adoption of innovations and agricultural land use in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan." Land Use Policy 90, no. : 104261.
| This study was conducted to examine the effect of extension-farmers contact frequency on farmers’ knowledge of improved ways of chemical, biological and cultural control methods in the rain-fed districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Using multistage random sampling technique data were collected from 395 respondents according to Yamane’s formula. The study uses the Kruskal–Wallis H test for checking differences among farmers knowledge with differences in their contact with extension service providers. The results revealed significant differences in farmers’ knowledge of chemical, biological and cultural control methods of pest with differences in the frequency of extension-farmers’ contacts. With the increase in extension-farmers’ contacts the farmers’ level of knowledge on chemical, biological and cultural control methods of pest increase and vice versa. The study recommends that the rain-fed farmers need reasonable extension services for increasing knowledge on pest management techniques. Therefore, for providing effective services, extension agent may increase their visits to the farming community and may reach maximum farmers and encourage them to visit the extension office for seeking information.
Ayat Ullah; Ayesha Khan. Effect of Extension-Farmers Contact on Farmers’ Knowledge of Different Pest Management Practices in the Rain-Fed Districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Sarhad Journal of Agriculture 2019, 35, 1 .
AMA StyleAyat Ullah, Ayesha Khan. Effect of Extension-Farmers Contact on Farmers’ Knowledge of Different Pest Management Practices in the Rain-Fed Districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Sarhad Journal of Agriculture. 2019; 35 (2):1.
Chicago/Turabian StyleAyat Ullah; Ayesha Khan. 2019. "Effect of Extension-Farmers Contact on Farmers’ Knowledge of Different Pest Management Practices in the Rain-Fed Districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan." Sarhad Journal of Agriculture 35, no. 2: 1.