Financial Capacity and Willingness of Farmers to pay for Irrigation Services in the Post-reform Scenario in Pakistan: Two Case Studies

To eliminate the subsidy on the canal irrigation system, the Government of Pakistan has decided to reform the management, intending to make it more efficient, equitable, transparent, and able to take care of the sustainability of the world’s largest contiguous irrigation network. The water users are being entrusted with greater role in the management through the formation of Farmers’ Organisations (FOs) to operate and maintain secondary canals and pay for full cost of water delivery. Ultimate payer will be the farmer. The economic viability of the reforms, therefore, much depends on farmers’ ability and willingness to pay for the cost of irrigation water delivery, which is expected to rise. This paper estimates financial liabilities of the farmers in the post-reform scenario, and assesses their capacity and willingness to pay for liabilities in the provinces of Punjab and Sindh. One distributary in each of the two provinces is studied as the reference distributary, where FOs have already been formed. The cost of desired level of operation and maintenance levels are worked out using secondary data for 1997-98. With these costs, the water users in the Punjab and Sindh provinces need to pay Rs 333 and Rs 373 per ha for their water service, respectively. The estimated O&M costs form about 5.4 and 3 percent of production costs and 3.8 and 3.5 percent of the net income in the Punjab and Sindh provinces respectively. The farmers’ net income from crop enterprise is higher than the cost of water. Thus, an average farmer has the potential to pay for water. Recent experience of Hakra 4-R Distributary FO suggests that the farmers are also willing to pay for water service, if they are organised properly.

Institutional reforms for agricultural water management

Irrigation managementDrainageParticipatory management

Condition-based maintenance of wind turbine blades

The blades of offshore wind farms (OWTs) are susceptible to a wide variety of diverse sources of damage. Internal impacts are caused primarily by structure deterioration, so even though outer consequences are the consequence of harsh marine ecosystems. We examine condition-based maintenance (CBM) for a multiblade OWT system that is exposed to environmental shocks in this work. In recent years, there has been a significant rise in the number of wind turbines operating offshore that make use of CBMs. The gearbox, generator, and drive train all have their own vibration-based monitoring systems, which form most of their foundation. For the blades, drive train, tower, and foundation, a cost analysis of the various widely viable CBM systems as well as their individual prices has been done. The purpose of this article is to investigate the potential benefits that may result from using these supplementary systems in the maintenance strategy. Along with providing a theoretical foundation, this article reviews the previous research that has been conducted on CBM of OWT blades. Utilizing the data collected from condition monitoring, an artificial neural network is employed to provide predictions on the remaining life. For the purpose of assessing and forecasting the cost and efficacy of CBM, a simple tool that is based on artificial neural networks (ANN) has been developed. A CBM technique that is well-established and is based on data from condition monitoring is used to reduce cost of maintenance. This can be accomplished by reducing malfunctions, cutting down on service interruption, and reducing the number of unnecessary maintenance works. In MATLAB, an ANN is used to research both the failure replacement cost and the preventative maintenance cost. In addition to this, a technique for optimization is carried out to gain the optimal threshold values. There is a significant opportunity to save costs by improving how choices are made on maintenance to make the operations more cost-effective. In this research, a technique to optimizing CBM program for elements whose deterioration may be characterized according to the level of damage that it has sustained is presented. The strategy may be used for maintenance that is based on inspections as well as maintenance that is based on online condition monitoring systems

Correlates of Choice of Contraceptive Methods in Pakistan

Since 1965, contraceptive use rate has been slowly increasing in Pakistan. In 1984-85, contraceptive ever use rate was 11.8 percent and current use rate was 9.1 percent [Government of Pakistan (1986)]. These use rates increased to 20.7 percent and 11.8 percent respectively in 1990-91 [National Institute of Population Studies (1992)]. However, use rates did not increase as expected. Pakistan’s Population Welfare Programme adopted many strategies to increase the use rate of contraceptive methods but although knowledge of contraceptive methods increased to 77.9 percent [National Institute of Population Studies (1992)], use rate remained low. One of the major reasons was inadequate coverage of service delivery. Contraceptive method of choice out of the available variety of contraceptive methods ensures continuation of use and reduces the drop-out rate [Jain (1992)]. The needs and values of individuals change over time and any one method cannot be suitable to an individual’s need all the time. So if more than one method is available, and acceptor can switch over to a more suitable method of choice if the first (or previous) method of choice becomes unacceptable. Also the client’s satisfaction with the method of choice is very important. Clients are best satisfied when they get the methods of their choice from a broad variety or ‘mix’ of contraceptive methods offered on a reliable basis.

Study of Pakistan pilot project farmer-leaders to Nepal

Farmer participation / Irrigation management / Farmer managed irrigation systems / Irrigated farming / Sustainable agriculture / Institution building / Pakistan

Social mobilization and institutional development approach and strategy

Institutional development, Water users associations, Training, Capacity building, Water resource management, Irrigated farming, Farm Management, Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession,

Potential for Blue-Gray Water Trade-offs for Irrigation in Small Towns of Pakistan: A Case Study of Farmers' Costs and Benefits in Haroonabad

The growing demand and the competition for fresh water in various sectors suggest that the irrigated agriculture will have to release freshwater for more important and valuable uses. This implies that other options would need to be identified to meet water demands for agriculture. Meeting irrigation requirements through non-conventional water sources is one of the options for agricultural uses. Gray water use for irrigation, a pervasive practice in urban and peri-urban areas of many developing countries, could be one of the solutions. The debate on wastewater irrigation from an environmental point of view is already on, focussing more on human and environmental “safety” aspects. The “value” aspect of the wastewater irrigation remains neglected, however. The irrigation users of untreated wastewater in many parts of the world had already traded off and revealed their preference for gray over blue water decades ago, when the water supply systems in towns and cities were set up. Why they would do it despite the high environmental and health risks associated with its use needs an answer. The paper documents the costs and benefits of wastewater irrigation from users’ point of view, and assesses the potential for real blue water savings in a small town setting in the southern Punjab, Pakistan. The data presented in the paper suggest that wastewater irrigation does lead to blue water savings, and it is profitable for farmers. While its potential is not fully exploited, more focus on appropriate approaches to physical and institutional aspects of wastewater disposal planning and management could make wastewater irrigation more productive, profitable, and safe for individuals as well as for the society as a whole.

Assessing Water Charges under Changing Institutional Irrigation Management in Pakistan: A Methodological Framework

The Government of Pakistan has opted for institutional reforms for canal irrigation system of the country with a view to undertaking efficient operation and maintenance of the system and improving cost recovery. In the new reforms, the Farmers’ Organisations will manage distributaries and minors and pay the cost of upstream water in full. The complex hierarchy of the system poses serious challenges for working out the cost of water delivery for various channels. The paper presents a methodological framework for assessing the recoverable O&M costs from the farmers benefiting from an irrigation network. Hakra 4-R Distributary in the Eastern Sadiqia Canal serves as an illustration. The methodology shows how the beneficiary farmers can share the costs of the system. Simple methods are provided for working out water rates on the basis of volume of water received, commanded area, and duration of the irrigation turn. Out of the three methods, the area-based and time-based water rates have comparative advantage over the volumetric water rates owing to the resource endowments of the farmers.

Isolation, Identification and Bioactivity of Natural Products from Melaleuca Cajuputi (Myrtacea)

In this study the components of aerial and subterranean parts of Melaleuca cajuputi were isolated and identified. Chemical investigation on the leaves resulted in the isolation of two known triterpenoids, betulinic acid and u rsolic acid ester. The oily fractions contained two phenolic components, a naphthalene dione, an anthracene carboxal-dehyde and a phenenthracene analogy. Methanol extracts of the bark, seeds, and flowers allowed for the isolation and identification of betulinic acid, urolic acid and betuline, respectively. Their structures were determined using m odern spectroscopic techniques such as IR, NMR, MS and by comparison with literature.The bioassay was carried out on crude extracts of leaves, roots, seeds, and bark against first in star mosquito larvae (Aedes albopictus) according to the procedure described in the literature. These extracts were found to be acute or relatively toxic to the target organisms. Extract from leaves exhibited the highest toxicity followed by extracts from roots, seeds, and bark respectively