This page has only limited features, please log in for full access.
The present study was designed to investigate the effects of disease on time spent by family and hired labor on farm activities. The effect of illness on cost incurred on farm activities and revenue earned from agriculture has also been examined in detail. The reason behind choosing malaria is because of its strong association with the quality of surrounding environment especially in the case of farm workers who are compelled to work in the environmental conditions quite suitable for the transmission of malaria. The effects of health shocks due to malaria are segregated according to three stages of production: land preparation, field management, and harvesting stages. Simultaneous equation model was employed using cross-sectional data collected from 252 farm workers through a pre-tested questionnaire. Farmers' living environment was found to be contributing in the spread of disease. Results also show that malaria affects labor time at harvesting stage as it is more labor-intensive stage of production. We find that malaria significantly affects the health of farm workers and their families forcing farm families to substitute family labor with hired labor. Further, the cost incurred on cure of disease significantly adds to the cost on agricultural production. This consequently leads to a substantial reduction in revenue. The effect of the cost incurred on prevention and cure of disease was also found negative on revenue. The study suggests that, in order to make farmers more productive, there should be malaria interventions specifically targeting the health of farmers. It is also suggested that, for successful malaria interventions especially in irrigated areas, the magnitude of the disease on different stages of production should be given due consideration.
Sobia Rose; Muhammad Faisal Ali; Khuda Bakhsh; Muhammad Ashfaq; Sarfraz Hassan. Linking environment, malaria, and agricultural returns: a labor time use analysis at different stages of production using 3SLS. Environmental Science and Pollution Research 2020, 27, 19714 -19723.
AMA StyleSobia Rose, Muhammad Faisal Ali, Khuda Bakhsh, Muhammad Ashfaq, Sarfraz Hassan. Linking environment, malaria, and agricultural returns: a labor time use analysis at different stages of production using 3SLS. Environmental Science and Pollution Research. 2020; 27 (16):19714-19723.
Chicago/Turabian StyleSobia Rose; Muhammad Faisal Ali; Khuda Bakhsh; Muhammad Ashfaq; Sarfraz Hassan. 2020. "Linking environment, malaria, and agricultural returns: a labor time use analysis at different stages of production using 3SLS." Environmental Science and Pollution Research 27, no. 16: 19714-19723.
The basic objective of the irrigation reforms, i.e., participatory irrigation management in Pakistan, was a better economic and financial management of irrigation service delivery, equity in water distribution, and better environmental outcome. The aim of this study was to assess the optimism with the reforms package that has actually delivered expected outcomes. For this purpose, this study used a cross-sectional dataset of 567 farmers in five selected Area Water Boards (AWBs) of Punjab and Sindh provinces of Pakistan. Important institutional features including compliance, adaptiveness, clarity of objectives, good interaction, and appropriate scale, were modeled through structural equation modeling on the overall performance assessment of water use associations from a farmer’s perspective. Results suggested that clear objectives, adaptiveness, scale, and compliance show a strong relationship with an overall assessment of performance. While good interaction has not impacted significantly with an overall performance assessment. The impact of institutional feature on the overall performance assessment depends on the nature of performance considered, e.g., drivers of the economic performance of a farmer organization may not be the same as the drivers of its environmental performance. Besides offering insights on specific drivers that matter for a particular dimension of the institutional performance of farmer organizations, the study suggests that participatory irrigation management institutions are still in infancy even after decades of their introduction, and just creating institutions is neither mandatory nor sufficient. Furthermore, the institutional designs are considered critical for the success of participatory institutions. Therefore, there is a need to consider the conformity of the strategies with the existing norms and compliance to the on-going procedures.
Bashir Ahmad; Hung Duy Pham; Muhammad Ashfaq; Junaid Alam Memon; Rakhshanda Bano; Zakir Hussain Dahri; Rana Naveed Mustafa; Irfan Ahmad Baig; Muhammad Asad Ur Rehman Naseer. Impact of Institutional Features on the Overall Performance Assessment of Participatory Irrigation Management: Farmers’ Response from Pakistan. Water 2020, 12, 497 .
AMA StyleBashir Ahmad, Hung Duy Pham, Muhammad Ashfaq, Junaid Alam Memon, Rakhshanda Bano, Zakir Hussain Dahri, Rana Naveed Mustafa, Irfan Ahmad Baig, Muhammad Asad Ur Rehman Naseer. Impact of Institutional Features on the Overall Performance Assessment of Participatory Irrigation Management: Farmers’ Response from Pakistan. Water. 2020; 12 (2):497.
Chicago/Turabian StyleBashir Ahmad; Hung Duy Pham; Muhammad Ashfaq; Junaid Alam Memon; Rakhshanda Bano; Zakir Hussain Dahri; Rana Naveed Mustafa; Irfan Ahmad Baig; Muhammad Asad Ur Rehman Naseer. 2020. "Impact of Institutional Features on the Overall Performance Assessment of Participatory Irrigation Management: Farmers’ Response from Pakistan." Water 12, no. 2: 497.
Integrating local perceptions and indigenous knowledge along with climate change policies has always been a neglected issue in developing countries. The approaches used are mostly originated from western concepts, developed in totally different socio-economic, cultural and political environments without recognizing local resources, individual opinions and knowledge. The present study tries to fill this gap and emphasizes the realization of the importance of need and transmission of modern scientific knowledge to local communities. So, the broader objective was to examine farmers’ perceptions about climate change and other environmental issues through their indigenous knowledge. For this purpose, data was collected by interviewing 386 farmers from three different agro-ecological zones of Punjab Province, Pakistan. The methods used were problem cataloging index, weighted averages index and constraint index. Results indicated climate change as the biggest environmental problem, whereas scientists and the media were credited as the two most effective and reliable sources for climate information dissemination. In order to handle the issue of climate change, government, local councils and business and industry were assumed to be highly responsible, but farmers did not trust them. Although farmers’ perceive climate change, due to many constraints very few of them were adapting accordingly. The major constraints were lack of money, high cost of farm inputs and lack of knowledge about appropriate adaptations. Findings suggest that inclusion of indigenous people in the decisionmaking process about local and national adaptation initiatives will help policy makers collaborate with local residents more effectively in order to better deal with the crisis of climate change.
Muhammad Faisal Ali; Muhammad Ashfaq; Sarfraz Hassan; Raza Ullah. Assessing Indigenous Knowledge through Farmers’ Perception and Adaptation to Climate Change in Pakistan. Polish Journal of Environmental Studies 2019, 29, 525 -532.
AMA StyleMuhammad Faisal Ali, Muhammad Ashfaq, Sarfraz Hassan, Raza Ullah. Assessing Indigenous Knowledge through Farmers’ Perception and Adaptation to Climate Change in Pakistan. Polish Journal of Environmental Studies. 2019; 29 (1):525-532.
Chicago/Turabian StyleMuhammad Faisal Ali; Muhammad Ashfaq; Sarfraz Hassan; Raza Ullah. 2019. "Assessing Indigenous Knowledge through Farmers’ Perception and Adaptation to Climate Change in Pakistan." Polish Journal of Environmental Studies 29, no. 1: 525-532.
Sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) has recently received increasing attention from researchers and the business community. Due to globalization and changing consumption patterns, agri-food industries have undergone a transformation, and the sustainability of agri-food supply chains has also received greater attention. However, the issues of SSCM at the upstream level of the supply chain in agri-food industries have not been adequately empirically studied. This paper aims to list key issues or constraints in the production and marketing through farmers’ group discussions, supplemented by the literature, and empirically identifies key constraints to SSCM of the citrus industry in Pakistan. The paper used cross-sectional data from 300 farmers involved in the production and marketing of citrus in Punjab, Pakistan. Farmers were asked to answer on a Likert scale data about potential constraints identified from the literature and farmers’ group discussions. Kendell’s coefficient of concordance and the mean ranking technique was used to rank and to identify the critical constraints in the production and marketing of citrus. In addition, factor analysis (principal component analysis) was used for the grouping of these constraints. In production constraints, factors, such as fertilizer, pesticide, and seed quality, climate change, high production cost, and agricultural labor performance, are important. These constraints are aligned with some key marketing factors, such as packaging, grading, and storage facilities. The findings convey messages for policymakers to solve these issues and challenges at the upstream level of the SSCM chain in the citrus and related agri-food industries.
Muhammad Naseer; Muhammad Ashfaq; Sarfraz Hassan; Azhar Abbas; Amar Razzaq; Mubashir Mehdi; Anoma Ariyawardana; Mumtaz Anwar. Critical Issues at the Upstream Level in Sustainable Supply Chain Management of Agri-Food Industries: Evidence from Pakistan’s Citrus Industry. Sustainability 2019, 11, 1326 .
AMA StyleMuhammad Naseer, Muhammad Ashfaq, Sarfraz Hassan, Azhar Abbas, Amar Razzaq, Mubashir Mehdi, Anoma Ariyawardana, Mumtaz Anwar. Critical Issues at the Upstream Level in Sustainable Supply Chain Management of Agri-Food Industries: Evidence from Pakistan’s Citrus Industry. Sustainability. 2019; 11 (5):1326.
Chicago/Turabian StyleMuhammad Naseer; Muhammad Ashfaq; Sarfraz Hassan; Azhar Abbas; Amar Razzaq; Mubashir Mehdi; Anoma Ariyawardana; Mumtaz Anwar. 2019. "Critical Issues at the Upstream Level in Sustainable Supply Chain Management of Agri-Food Industries: Evidence from Pakistan’s Citrus Industry." Sustainability 11, no. 5: 1326.
Cotton is the second largest crop of Pakistan in terms of area after wheat and is being suffered by multiple shocks over the time due to conventional agricultural management practices, climate change, and market failures. Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) was introduced by the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) in 2010, as an innovative cleaner production alternative to conventional farming that aimed at increasing the efficiency of natural resources, resilience, and productivity of agricultural production system, while reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The adverse effects of climate change on cotton production at the farm and regional level can be minimized by using CSA practices and technologies. The present study investigated the financial performance and explored the impact of CSA through sustainable water use management on cotton production in Lower Bari Doab Canal (LBDC) irrigation system of Punjab, Pakistan by using Cobb-Douglas production function. The adopters of CSA in cotton cultivation were identified by conducting six focus group discussions. Data were collected through well-structured questionnaire from 133 adopters of CSA and 65 conventional cotton growers for the cropping season 2016–2017. It was found that water-smart (raising crops on bed, laser land levelling, conjunctive use of water and drainage management), energy-smart (minimum tillage), carbon-smart (less use of chemicals) and knowledge-smart (crop rotation and improved varieties i.e., tolerant to drought, flood and heat/cold stresses) practices and technologies of CSA were adopted by the cotton farmers in the study area. Most of the farmers were of the view that they are adopting CSA practices and technologies due to the limited supply of canal water, climate change, drought-prone, massive groundwater extraction, rapidly declining groundwater table and increasing soil salinity over the time. Results revealed that uniform germination, higher yield and financial returns, the concentration of inputs and increase in resource use efficiency are the main advantages of CSA. The econometric analysis showed that implementation of CSA practices and technologies as judicious use of water and fertilizer, groundwater quality, access to extension services, and appropriate method and time of picking have a significant impact on the gross value of cotton product (GVP). The findings of the study would be helpful for policy makers to formulate policies that can minimize farmer’s financial burden to adopt CSA technologies and implement for scaling out in Punjab and beyond.
Muhammad Ali Imran; Asghar Ali; Muhammad Ashfaq; Sarfraz Hassan; Richard Culas; Chunbo Ma. Impact of Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) Practices on Cotton Production and Livelihood of Farmers in Punjab, Pakistan. Sustainability 2018, 10, 2101 .
AMA StyleMuhammad Ali Imran, Asghar Ali, Muhammad Ashfaq, Sarfraz Hassan, Richard Culas, Chunbo Ma. Impact of Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) Practices on Cotton Production and Livelihood of Farmers in Punjab, Pakistan. Sustainability. 2018; 10 (6):2101.
Chicago/Turabian StyleMuhammad Ali Imran; Asghar Ali; Muhammad Ashfaq; Sarfraz Hassan; Richard Culas; Chunbo Ma. 2018. "Impact of Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) Practices on Cotton Production and Livelihood of Farmers in Punjab, Pakistan." Sustainability 10, no. 6: 2101.