Land Utilization, Development Expenditure, Agricultural Productivity and Economic Growth: Evidence from Pakistan

The main purpose of this study was investigates and explores the association between land utilization, development expenditure, agricultural production and economic growth in Pakistan based on the time series data over the year of 1983 to 2014. Data were analyzed applying the Phillips-Perron (P-P) unit root test, and results were interpreted implying the cointegration test. OLS was adopted to assess the effect of land utilization, development expenditure and agricultural productivity on economic growth of Pakistan. The estimated results of cointegration test show that there presence a long-run association among development expenditure for agricultural sector, land utilization, agricultural productivity and economic growth in Pakistan. The results of OLS regression analysis show that development expenditure and agricultural productivity have a significant impact on economic growth of Pakistan while land utilization (total land used for crops) has a positive relation with economic growth but found statistically insignificant. This study suggested that the government should increase expenditure development for growth and development of agricultural sector that will enhance the economic growth of Pakistan

Raising Maize Productivity through Agricultural Credit A: Case Study of Commercial Banks in Pakistan

Agriculture is an extremely important sector of Pakistan’s economy. This sector contributes more than 20.9 percent to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and provides employment to 43.5 percent of the total labour force of the country. Almost 68 % of the population of Pakistan lives in rural areas and earns its livelihood, directly or indirectly, from agricultural activities such as  crop cultivation, livestock rearing, labour in agriculture, agriculture input supply, transportation of agricultural output to the market etc. Thus, in Pakistan  commercial Banks such as Allied Bank limited (ABL),United Bank limited (UBL),National Bank limited (NBP), Muslim Commercial Bank (MCB) and Habib Bank Limited (HBL) have been playing vital role in the provision of agriculture credit for the last two decades. The government of Pakistan has been extending loan to small farmers for adoption of new farm technology to enhance agricultural productivity. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to investigate the impact of agricultural credit on maize production by using the secondary data for the period of 1991-2014. Cobb- Douglas production function was applied to estimate using OLS method and all the variables transformed to per cultivated hectare. Thus, results indicates that agricultural credit, maize cropped area and agricultural labour force are positively significant related to maize production. Keywords: Institutional credit, Maize production, Time series analysis, Pakista

Economic Analysis of Hybrid Maize Cultivation in Distt; Naushahro Feroze, Sindh, Pakistan

The purpose of this study was to investigate economic analysis of hybrid maize cultivation in distt;Naushro feroze Sindh .This study was based on primary data which was collected from a total of 105 farmersselected by random sampling. Simple descriptive statistical tools like Means, Percentages and Frequencies wereapplied to analyze the data. The results of this study revealed that the total fixed cost was reported as Rs, 18225.0per acre, the variable cost consists on labor, capital, Rs: 31800 respectively. The total cost of production wasestimated as Rs. 50000 per acre. The physical productivity was calculated as 104.5 mnds per acre. Furthermore,the revenue productivity, which is measured as income, received by the farmer in term of money was estimatedas Rs. 118607.5 per acre. The net return as found to be Rs. 68607.5 per acre, the cost of production ratio and costof benefit ratio were calculated as 1:2.37 and 1:1.37 respectively, Therefore our study suggest that Sindh SeedCorporation should produce hybrid varieties of seed in sufficient quantity to meet the increase demand offarmers on regular basis to provide them, Government should develop go-downs for the storage of maize grinsfor long term and institutional Banks should provide loans at low interest rates

Time Series Analysis of the Impact of Rising Prices of Inorganic Fertilizers on Field Crops Production: A Case Study of Pakistan

In this study, we have analyzed the impact of rising prices of inorganic fertilizers on field crops production in Pakistan by using time series 1986 to 2012. Ordinary Least Square method was used to investigate model parameters. The empirical results showed that when price of fertilizer such as Urea, DAP, SSP and SOP increase 1 percent, production of Sugarcane,  Maize and Rice  were decrease at 91.146,1.943 and 4.443 tonnes respectively. The prices of major fertilizer products during the last five years are increasing. Now, as price increasing, the less used of fertilizers. Therefore, the agricultural productivity is low due to low use of inputs. The main increase was in the DAP price due to a high price on the international market. Now prices of major fertilizers, are Urea, 1700 DAP 4000, NP 2600, and SOP 3700, SSP 1200 per 50Kg bag respectively. Therefore, our study suggest that Government of Pakistan should support small farmers through credit schemes on affordable interest rate and subsidize on agricultural inputs such as fertilizers, seeds and pesticide. It will help in raising farm productivity. Keywords: Agriculture, Price of Fertilizers, Crop productio

Investments in environmental preservation: is the government crowding in green enterprises? Evidence from a-listed companies in China

Government investment in environmental protection (Govin) plays a key role in stimulating private green investment (Prinv) to preserve the ecological environment with economic profits. To examine the effect of Govin on Prinv, this study uses data from 2010 to 2020 on green A-listed companies in China and estimates a dynamic panel model by using both the difference generalized method of moments and system generalized method of moments. The results indicate that Govin has a crowding-in effect on Prinv, and this conclusion is confirmed by several robustness tests. Furthermore, we identify revenues as a potential mechanism variable to explain how Govin affects Prinv. In addition, this study finds regional and enterprise ownership differences in the crowding in effect of Chinese Govin. Finally, based on these outcomes, the study suggests that the government should rationally and dynamically adjust the contents of public environmental investment and optimise its structure to effectively promote the development of green, low-carbon, and circular economie

Examining how internet use and non-farm employment affect rural households’ income gap? Evidence from China

The objective of this study is to assess the effect of Internet use on the income disparity between rural households and to determine how Internet usage can be used to reduce this income gap. We use the Recentered Influence Function Regression (RIF) and data from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) conducted by the China Social Science Survey (CSSS) center at Peking University to make the results of regression estimation more reliable. The results reveal that Internet use can make rural households’ income gap shrink considerably, and that the degree of non-farm employment among rural families has a mediating effect between Internet use and the income disparity of farm households. In addition, the Eastern region experiences a stronger mitigating effect from Internet use, whereas ethnic minorities find out no such mitigating effect. This study expands the scope of income disparity theory, provides new ideas for the construction of digital villages, and identifies new empirical evidence and decision-making grounds for improving the livelihoods of rural households and narrowing the income gap between rural households

Modeling the impact of climatic and non-climatic factors on cereal production: evidence from Indian agricultural sector

The underpinned study examines the effects of climatic and non-climatic factors on Indian agriculture, cereal production, and yield using the country-level time series data of 1965–2015. With the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds testing approach, the long-term equilibrium association among the variables has been explored. The results reveal that climatic factors like CO2 emissions and temperature adversely affect agricultural output, while rainfall positively affects it. Likewise, non-climatic factors, including energy used, financial development, and labor force, affect agricultural production positively in the long run. The estimated long-run results further demonstrate that CO2 emissions and rainfall positively affect both cereal production and yield, while temperature adversely affects. The results exhibit that the cereal cropped area, energy used, financial development, and labor force significantly and positively impact the long-run cereal production and yield. Finally, pairwise granger causality test confirmed that both climatic and non-climatic factors are significantly influencing agriculture and cereal production in India. Based on these results, policymakers and governmental institutions should formulate coherent adaptation measures and mitigation policies to tackle the adverse climate change effects on agriculture and its production of cereals

Factors influencing the adoption of improved wheat varieties by rural households in Sindh, Pakistan

This study examines the factors affecting the adoption of high-yield wheat varieties by wheat farmers in Sindh, Pakistan. A cross-sectional data of randomly selected 240 wheat farmers from Shaheed Benazirabad and Naushahro Feroze districts in the middle region of Sindh, Pakistan were collected for this study. We performed the probit model to estimate factors that influence the adoption of improved wheat varieties. The results drawn from the estimations show that the adoption of improved wheat varieties by farmers in the study area was positively and significantly influenced by education, farming experience, landholding size, tube-well ownership, extension contact and access to credit. The study recommends that public and private sectors should encourage access to extension service to improve of dissemination of certified seed of wheat crop among the growers through trainings, workshops and seminars

Determinants of Adoption of Improved Rice Varieties in Northern Sindh, Pakistan

Adoption of certified and improved high-yielding crop varieties is important avenue for increasing agricultural productivity and improving the living standard of the farmers in developing countries. The main objective of the current study was to examine factors affecting adoption of improved rice varieties by smallholder farmers in Northern Sindh, Pakistan. The random sampling technique was used to collect data from 220 smallholder rice farmers through the face to face interview. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and probit regression model. The empirical results showed that year of education (P ≤ 0.093), farming experience (P ≤ 0.043), soil quality (P ≤ 0.077), farm machinery ownership (P ≤ 0.000), access to market information (P ≤ 0.055) and contact with extension agents (P ≤ 0.006) had significantly positive influence on adoption of improved rice variety, while age (P ≤ 0.053) had significantly negative effect

The linkage between fertilizer consumption and rice production: Empirical evidence from Pakistan

Rice is one of the most important staple foods for 70 percent of the population of the world. It is among the main cereal crops grown in different regions of Pakistan as food crop. Pakistan has very much potentials for growing the crop and the potential rice production sown area is estimated to be about 2724 thousand hectares. The purpose of this study is to examine the linkage between fertilizer consumption and rice production in Pakistan from 1984 to 2014. For checking the stationarity of the data, this study incorporated Augmented Dickey Fuller (ADF) and Phillips Perron (PP) unit root tests. Furthermore, the Johenson Co-integration test is used to detect the long-term relationship among the series. Likewise, on the basis of annual time series data the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model is employed to evaluate the impact of fertilizer consumption on the production of rice in Pakistan up to now. The results of ADF and PP unit root tests reveal that fertilizer consumption and water availability are integrated at I(0) whereas area and rice production are integrated at I(1). The empirical findings of Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model indicate that area and fertilizer consumption for rice has a significant effect on the rice production in both short-run and long-run. In contrast, water availability has a significant effect on the rice production in the long-run but it was statistically insignificant in the short-run. The estimated equation remains stable from the period of 1984 to 2014 as showed by stability tests