Agricultural credit constraints and borrowing behavior of farmers in rural Punjab

The government of Pakistan introduced several agricultural credit programmes through institutional sources. The impact of these programmes was less than optimal due to rambling credit policies. The farmers were facing many constraints to avail agricultural credit in a timely fashion. The collateral inter alia was one of the major constraints. The objective of the paper is to identify constraints and suggest remedial measures to make efficient use of agricultural credit schemes. Majority of the farmers revealed that they could not avail credit because of needed collateral. The hard hits were tenants and share croppers who do not own land, and thus were unavailable to avail credit. The high mark up both from formal and informal sources was another constraint. The borrowing behavior of the respondents was estimated through the logit model and identified the determinants of credit constraints. The results showed that the coefficients of transitory income, education level, and predicted interest rate have important bearing on borrowing behavior. The household consumption expenditure was positively and significantly determined by operational holding and value of implementsAgricultural credit, Borrowing Behavior, Interest Rate, Collateral. Introduction

Persistent Food Insecurity from Policy Failures in Pakistan

The observable fact was known to be hunger in the 1980s but now terminology has been shifted to insecurity. Improving the household food security is an issue of supreme importance in millions of people in the world who are suffering from persistent hunger and malnutrition and those who are at risk of doing such in the future. Many developing countries are making efforts to improve this situation but they are facing budgetary and resource constraints. Achieving a sufficient food supply and making it sustainable remains a global challenge. Indus agriculture system in Pakistan has experienced a Green Revolution and is striving for yellow and blue revolutions. However, it could have not done far better due to inconsistent and incompatible agriculture policies. Wheat, rice and maize are the dominant food crops in Pakistan. Several programmes and policies have attempted to increase the productivity of these crops and help consumers against better access to food. Wheat is the staple food for Pakistan and due to its erratic production food security becomes insecure; however, if wheat production is coupled with rice and maize Pakistan is a food secure country. The policy paper has reviewed issues confronting the food security equation of the country. The paper highlights the determinants of the food security and policy issues. The lopsided government food and agriculture policies are the main cause of persistent food insecurity in the country.Food Insecurity, Economics Access, Poverty and Terms of Trade

Study on the Socioeconomic Factors Affecting Adoption of Agricultural Machinery

In the context of south Asia, There is enough support for suitable agricultural machinery for small farmers. These kind of agricultural machineries can improve the return of investment in land and labor, although large capital investments are still required that can impede ownership. The growing demand for machinery has resulted in comparatively more developed rental marketplaces for irrigation, tillage and other post-harvest procedures. Numerous small businesses are therefore accepting access to farm machinery that would otherwise be incredibly expensive to buy through service fee arrangements, although there is still room for expansion. In order to facilitate the advancement and investment of such machinery more effectively, it is necessary to better understand the associated factors with the purchase of agricultural machinery and the provision of services. Firstly, current paper reviews country’s policy structure which enabled the existence of such machinery markets. It then uses stratified random sample of 305 wheat producing households for the survey from six districts, identifying variables associated with the adoption of the most common smallholder agricultural machinery e irrigation pumps, threshers, and power tillers. Results of multinomial probit model show that education of farmer, member of farmer’ organization, livestock ownership, farm size and being part of non-farm work activities all were significantly positive in the adoption of farm machinery. Findings also suggest that institutions and policy making authorities not only need to focus on short projects to encourage adoption of machinery, also there must be a continuous attention to improve physical and civilian infrastructure & services, and ensuring the availability of credit to create an favorable  conditions where agricultural machinery is most likely to be used. Keywords: Agricultural machinery, Investment, Productivity, Efficiency. DOI: 10.7176/JESD/11-3-07 Publication date: February 29th 202

Persistent Food Insecurity from Policy Failures in Pakistan

Food security means, “All the people, all the time, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preference for an active and healthy life” [FAO (1996)]. Three types of food insecurity generally exist in any country, which are: transitory food insecurity that is short time food insecurity occurs due to sporadic crises; chronic food insecurity that arises as a result of long term but not easily changed conditions; cyclic food insecurity that arises due to seasonal fluctuations. If cyclic food insecurity existed in any country for at least six months than it was called as chronic cyclic food insecurity and if it persisted less than six months than called as transitory cyclic food insecurity. Pakistan has made a lot of progress since independence in the field of agriculture in terms of production, yields, and growth in area under cultivation. Indus agriculture has experienced a Green Revolution and is striving for yellow and blue revolutions. However, it could have done far better. Though the overall growth of the Pakistan’s economy has largely been dependent upon the performance of agriculture, over the years, not much investment has been made for the development of this sector. Agriculture performance still depends upon, quite a lot, upon the weather conditions every year. The yields of most of crops are far below the levels achieved at the progressive farms (extension gap). From the Figure 1 it is evident that in the last decade (90s) food availability was increasing and then went down and formed the inverted u-shape. After that again fluctuating means there is no surety about food security. It is also comparable with agriculture growth rate. According to latest statistics in Pakistan as many as 50 million people are engaged in agriculture operations and produce only 25 million tons of food grains. As against this in India, 546 million people are engaged in agricultural operations and produce 176 million tons of food grains, in USA only 6 million people engaged in agriculture, produce 347 million of food grains

Hyperuricemia; A Common Risk Factor Of Hypertension Among Pakistani People

Objective: To determine association of hypertension with high blood level of uric acid among people of Pakistan.Study design & duration: This is a prospective study, started in July 2019 and completed in February 2020 after eight months.Setting: This study was conducted in Medical unit of Bahawal Victoria Hospital Bahawalpur.Patients & Methods:  All those patients with hyperuricemia reporting to study hospital were included in this study. Patients were divided into two groups. Sample size was calculated using WHO calculator. Hypertensive patients were kept in group-A and patients with normal blood pressure were kept in group-B. There were total 300 cases, 150 in each group. According to inclusion criteria fasting blood uric acid level should be increased, blood pressure should be more than normal limit according to age in 3 different days of a week. Al data collected was documented in a predesigned performa. Calculations were done using SPSS software version 24. Results were calculated in the form of percentage for qualitative variables and means, SD were calculated for quantitative variables. P-value less than 0.05 were considered significant. Confidence interval was 95% with 5% margin of error.        Results: There were total 300 cases comprising on 155(51.7%) male and 145(48.3%) female cases. In group-A with hypertension 45(15%) were male and 105(35%) were female cases. While in group-B with normal blood pressure 110(36.7%) were male and 40(13.3%) were female cases. Range of age was 20-80 years with mean age of 46.78±8.52 years. In group A patients with hypertension, 73(24.3%) cases were having hypericemia. In group-B out of 150 cases 5(3.3%) were having hyperuricemia including 4(2.7%) male and one female.     Conclusion: There is strong association between hyperurucemia and hypertension among pakistani population and most commonly found among female patient

Bi-directional Causality Between Remittances and Poverty: An Empirical Evidence From Pakistan.

This study explores the two-way causality between poverty and remittances in Pakistan. The empirical evidence is based upon ARDL double bound approach for the long run relationship between remittances and poverty and VECM was used for direction and magnitude of causation. Furthermore, variance decomposition and Impulse response functions were used to capture the standard deviation shocks. Poverty (head count ratio) and remittances to GDP ratio were used from 1973-2006 for analysis purpose. In the study two equations were used interchangeably as dependent variable. It was found by using the Narayan (2005) test criteria for small sample there is co-integration found between poverty and remittances. The relationship is further supported by long run and short run analysis by ECM. Poverty and remittances are inversely and significantly related in the short run and long run by the estimates of ECM. VECM confirms the results by providing the short run and long run significant estimates. The results are also corroborated with variance decomposition and impulse response function. It could be concluded from the results that remittances are playing a vital role after the foreign direct investment. It is also found that due to altruistic behavior, inflow of remittances is increasing due to the poverty and it provides safety nets to poor and ultimately helping to reduces poverty. Key Words: Remittances, Poverty, ARDL, VECM and co-integration JEL classification: O11,O1

Agricultural credit constraints and borrowing behavior of farmers in rural Punjab

The government of Pakistan introduced several agricultural credit programmes through institutional sources. The impact of these programmes was less than optimal due to rambling credit policies. The farmers were facing many constraints to avail agricultural credit in a timely fashion. The collateral inter alia was one of the major constraints. The objective of the paper is to identify constraints and suggest remedial measures to make efficient use of agricultural credit schemes. Majority of the farmers revealed that they could not avail credit because of needed collateral. The hard hits were tenants and share croppers who do not own land, and thus were unavailable to avail credit. The high mark up both from formal and informal sources was another constraint. The borrowing behavior of the respondents was estimated through the logit model and identified the determinants of credit constraints. The results showed that the coefficients of transitory income, education level, and predicted interest rate have important bearing on borrowing behavior. The household consumption expenditure was positively and significantly determined by operational holding and value of implement

Agricultural credit constraints and borrowing behavior of farmers in rural Punjab

The government of Pakistan introduced several agricultural credit programmes through institutional sources. The impact of these programmes was less than optimal due to rambling credit policies. The farmers were facing many constraints to avail agricultural credit in a timely fashion. The collateral inter alia was one of the major constraints. The objective of the paper is to identify constraints and suggest remedial measures to make efficient use of agricultural credit schemes. Majority of the farmers revealed that they could not avail credit because of needed collateral. The hard hits were tenants and share croppers who do not own land, and thus were unavailable to avail credit. The high mark up both from formal and informal sources was another constraint. The borrowing behavior of the respondents was estimated through the logit model and identified the determinants of credit constraints. The results showed that the coefficients of transitory income, education level, and predicted interest rate have important bearing on borrowing behavior. The household consumption expenditure was positively and significantly determined by operational holding and value of implement

Impact of Microfinance on Poverty Reduction: A Case Study of District Faisalabad

The micro - finance program extends small loans to very poor people for self-employment projects that generate income, allowing them to care for themselves and for their families. Micro-finance enables an entrepreneur to build a business or expand the existing business and create a better change in their lives. The micro-financing institutions (MFIs) provide the opportunity for the people who are living under the poverty lines by investing the affordable funds/capital and somehow by providing their management expertise. This study shows the effect of micro-financing of small business and the implications for poverty reduction. The respondents are the clients of Khushhali Bank Ltd, District Faisalabad. The data were collected with the help of well-designed and structured questionnaire, which will be analyzed by applying FGT techniques. The results showed that the poverty has been reduced by financing the peoples. Keywords:Micro finance, poverty, FG

The psychological impact of coronavirus on university students and its socioeconomic determinants in Malaysia

This article examines the impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) upon university students’ anxiety level and finds the factors associated with the anxiety disorder in Malaysia. We collected data from 958 students from 16 different universities using an originally designed questionnaire. The Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale 7-item (GAD-7) was used to estimate the anxiety. We find that 12.3% students were normal, whereas 30.5% were experiencing mild, 31.1% moderate, and 26.1% severe anxiety. Surprisingly, only 37.2% of students were aware of mental health support which was provided by their universities. Moreover, it was found that gender as male (Odds Ratio (OR= 0.798, 95% Confidence Interval (CI)= 0.61 - 1.04)) and having internet access (OR = 0.44, 95% CI= 0.24 - 0.80) were alleviating factors for the anxiety. Whereas, age above than 20 years (OR= 1.30, 95% CI= 0.96 - 1.75), ethnicity Chinese (OR=1.72, 95% CI= 0.95 - 3.1), any other disease (OR=2.0, 95% CI=1.44 - 2.79), decreased family income (OR=1.71, 95% CI=1.34 - 2.17), more time spent on watching COVID-19 related news (OR=1.52, 95% CI=1.17 -1.97), and infected relative or friends (OR=1.62, 95% CI=1.06 - 2.50) were risk factors for anxiety among students. We suggest that the government of Malaysia should monitor the mental health of the universities’ students more closely and universities should open online mental health support clinics to avoid the adverse impacts of the anxiety disorder