Economic Evaluation of Pesticide Use Externalities in the Cotton Zones of Punjab, Pakistan

The crop protection strategy in Pakistan is almost entirely based on pesticide use whereas development of integrated pest management (IPM) based technologies is in its initial phases of scrutiny as well as implementation. The inefficient use of chemicals has resulted in environmental pollution and sub-optimal returns to the society on the costly investments. This study estimates the social cost of pesticide use and suggests appropriate guidelines for regulating the safe use of pesticides. An overall economic evaluation of the externalities for the current pesticide use levels shows that external costs are quite higher than the currently paid price at the farm gate level. The environmental degradation and public health costs inflicted on the society due to the inefficient chemical use on cotton crop amounts to twelve thousand million rupees. The reduced reliance on crop protection through chemical methods seems inevitable for a sustainable and healthy crop production.economic evaluation; externalities; pesticide use; social cost; crop protection; Punjab; Pakistan

Characterizing Avr genes of Leptosphaeria maculans and resistance responses among Canadian canola cultivars in western Canada

Blackleg of canola, caused by Leptosphaeria maculans (Desmaz.) Ces. & de Not, is a serious concern in western Canada. The disease had been managed successfully since 1990s with use of resistant cultivars and extended crop rotations until recent years when both blackleg incidence and severity increased noticeably. This may be attributed to changes in the pathogen population that erodes the resistance of canola cultivars. The resistance associated with Canadian canola (Brassica napus L.) cultivars (CCCs) in Canada is not clearly understood. The current study was conducted to investigate the race structure of L. maculans in commercial canola fields and determine its role in blackleg incidence and severity. In addition, resistance (R) genes in representative CCCs were characterized to understand their role in blackleg control against the current population of L. maculans. A total of 372 L. maculans isolates collected from 16 canola fields with different levels of blackleg severity in 2012 and 2013 were analysed for the presence or absence of particular avirulence (Avr) alleles by inoculating 12 lines of a host differential set with known R genes. The results indicated that the alleles AvrLm1, AvrLm3, AvrLm9 and AvrLep2 were at very low or undetectable levels in these fields, while AvrLm2, AvrLm4, AvrLm6 and AvrLm7 were generally common. Since only the R genes Rlm1 and Rlm3 are found commonly in CCCs, this result indicates that most of our cultivars are no longer effective against the current pathogen population on the prairies.Variation in Avr gene frequency was observed, depending on the cultivar, field or region studied, but these differences alone appeared insufficient to explain the variability in blackleg severity in these fields, and the erosion of Rlm1 and Rlm3 would unlikely be the primary cause of isolated blackleg outbreaks for most of the fields investigated

PWM Based VSC For Power Quality Assessment of Grid Integrated DFIG-WECS

The socioeconomic indicators are exclusively dependent upon the growth of energy for every country. The rise of population and urbanization on one hand and environmental degradation by fossil fuel sources on the other has realized the world for sustainable sources of energy to meet the energy imbalance. Therefore, high penetration of wind energy is need of the hour to meet the challenge of rising consumption of power. Globally, wind energy trends are witnessing a rapid growth with the passage of time. In this research contribution, the Doubly Fed Induction Generator (DFIG) derived wind power generation has been selected to harness wind energy at variable speed. The uncertain and fluctuating nature of wind flow cause power quality problems. MATLAB simulation model has been designed and response of power quality issues like voltage sag and harmonic distortion is checked both at No load and with load at the point of common coupling (PCC). For smooth integration of wind turbine generator with power grid, pulse width modulated (PWM) voltage source converters (VSC) are used both at the rotor side converter (RSC) and the grid side converter (GSC). Proportional integral (PI) controllers are used along with VSC for high power output

An Analysis of Fertility Change in Pakistan

In most of the developing countries, sustained population growth rates have been a dominant factor in decelerating socio-economic development. The continuing decline in mortality rates has been a major contributor to the acceleration of growth of population in these countries which started in the period following the second World War, and has not abated yet in most of the developing world. There is every likelihood that the population of these developing countries will double in the course of the next generation or so, because of the demographic momentum that is built into their age structure. The rapidly increasing population in low-income countries is not keeping pace with the necessary cultural and technological changes that may help them to raise the standard of living of their masses. Also, high rates of population growth have become a barrier to a successful attainment of the desired socioeconomic development, both quantitative and qualitative