Papers by Umar Ijaz Ahmed
The aim of a farmer is to get profit from their produce and more profitable crop should be grown.... more The aim of a farmer is to get profit from their produce and more profitable crop should be grown. Therefore, this study was planned to investigate the relative profitability of wheat and Brassica crops in district Chakwal. Eight villages were selected for study during Rabi 2013-14. A total of 80wheatcum Brassica growers were interviewed. Costs, gross margins and net returns of wheat and Brassica crops were estimated by using farm budgeting technique. The analysis revealed that the average grain yield was computed to be 31.06 and 11.97 per 40 kg per acre of wheat and Brassica respectively. The average total cost of producing one acre of wheat and Brassica was estimated to be Rs. 31963 and Rs. 26654 respectively. The average gross margins per acre of wheat and Brassica were computed to be Rs. 18221 and Rs. 9391 respectively. The average net returns (profit) per acre of wheat and Brassica were estimated to be Rs. 12772 and Rs. 3941respectively. It is thus concluded that wheat crop is much more profitable as compared to Brassica crop.
The present study was conducted to analyze the technical, allocative and economic efficiency on i... more The present study was conducted to analyze the technical, allocative and economic efficiency on input oriented basis between two groups of rice farmers i.e. with off-farm work and without off-farm work. To compute the efficiencies data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach was applied on the collected data from 400 rice farmers from Punjab province of Pakistan. The results revealed that both groups of the rice farmers are different in all efficiencies with respect to production. The mean technical efficiency score was 0.90 for with off-farm work while 0.82 for the group of without off-farm work. Calculated mean score of allocative efficiency was 0.88 and 0.76 for the groups with and without off-farm work respectively. Further, a group of farmers with off-farm employment had mean score of economic efficiency 0.83 while 0.74 was found for without off-farm work group. On the basis of results, suggestions and policies are presented.
The aim of this study is to observe the impact of public and private agricultural research and de... more The aim of this study is to observe the impact of public and private agricultural research and development (R&D) investment on agricultural productivity and food security. To testify aforementioned goal, we use worldwide data collected from Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), United State Department of Agriculture (USDA), and World Development Indicators (WDI). The study time span is from 1990 to 2014. By using different control variables, we found positive and statistically significant impact of both public and private agricultural R&D investment on agricultural productivity and food security. Furthermore, private sector agricultural R&D investment has higher impact, as compare to public sector agricultural R&D investment. However, both types of agricultural investments encourage total factor productivity. These results are further verified by using different proxies for agricultural productivity and food security. Study implications suggest that, R&D investment in the field of agriculture is very important for long term agricultural productivity and food security.
In most of the developing countries, lack of resources and little market accessibility are among ... more In most of the developing countries, lack of resources and little market accessibility are among the major factors that affect small farming household food security. This study aims to investigate the status of small farming households' food security, and its determinants including the role of market accessibility factors in enhancing food security at household level. In addition, this study also determines the households' perception about different kinds of livelihoods risks. This study is based on a household survey of 576 households conducted through face-to-face interviews using structured interviews in Punjab, Pakistan. Food security status is calculated using dietary intake method. The study findings show that one-fourth of the households are food insecure. The study findings reveal that farm households perceive increase in food prices, crop diseases, lack of irrigation water and increase in health expenses as major livelihood risks. Further, the results of logistic regression show that family size, monthly income, food prices, health expenses and debt are main factors influencing the food security status of rural households. Furthermore, the market accessibility factors (road distance and transportation cost) do significantly affect the small farming household food security. The results suggest that local food security can be enhanced by creating off-farm employment opportunities, improved transportation facilities and road infrastructure.
Agriculture is a very risky business and farmers have to deal with various socioeconomic and envi... more Agriculture is a very risky business and farmers have to deal with various socioeconomic and environmental challenges at farm level. Therefore, farmers have to adopt certain management options to cope with those different kinds of risks. Therefore, using cross-sectional data of 210 farm households collected from three cotton districts, this study aims to investigate the effect of perceived risks in farming on farmers' decision to adopt off-farm diversification income sources. This study uses correlation analysis and probit regression model to explore the study objectives. The findings of the study confirms our hypothesis that perception of different kinds of risk leads farmers to diversify their income sources in order to sustain their livelihood in case of loses from agriculture. In addition to perceived risks, the study also found positive association of education, farming experience, risk averse nature of farm household were the other factors that significantly affect the farmers decision to adopt off-farm diversification income sources.
Inefficient use of fertilizers is not only an environmental hazard but have substantial economic ... more Inefficient use of fertilizers is not only an environmental hazard but have substantial economic loss in term of efficiency of crop and profit of farmers. Keeping in view this issue, this study focused to analyzing the efficiency of balance and imbalance users of fertilizers by utilizing stochastic production frontier primary data is used, collected from district Multan in Cotton-Wheat cropping zone of Punjab province. The results are indicated that average technical efficiency is higher with balance users of fertilizers. It is found that technical efficiency improved by 14 points (p<0.00) from 70 to 84 percent by proper usage of fertilizers in balance ratio (N: P).The best policy option is to determine the proper nutrients requirements of soil by soil or plant analysis and then apply fertilizers in accordance with the requirements of soil and cropto obtain high efficiency of crop and maximizing profit of farmers. There should improvement of ed extension services to better understanding and practices by farmers about balance usage of fertilizers in order to obtain high yield of wheat.
The study was conducted to determine the aspect affecting the farmer in taking part in off-farm a... more The study was conducted to determine the aspect affecting the farmer in taking part in off-farm activities in three cotton growing districts of Punjab province, Pakistan. Since off-farm activities have become an imperative part of income strategies among rural families in developing countries like Pakistan. The data was documented from a total of 180 cotton farmers using multistage cluster sampling technique. A binary logistic model was used to evaluate the determinants motivating the farmers to participate in different off-farm activities. Various socioeconomic factors were found significantly associated with probability of immersion in non-farm activities. The results of the model reveal different factors like total farming area and farmers having access to road were significant for several business activities through odds ratio 1.051 and 0.088 respectively. Though more experienced farmers with odds ratio (1.063) had more likelihood for labour activities. Lastly more educated farmers and large family size have higher probability to go for services type of off-farm activities and their odds ratio estimated is 1.297, 2.069. These findings have essential implications for policy, economic growth and development.
Transport infrastructure in Pakistan is still a problem for rural people to access output markets... more Transport infrastructure in Pakistan is still a problem for rural people to access output markets. This study aims to identify the ways to improve access of small farming households to output markets. To achieve this aim, specific objectives are: to find out the determinants of small farmers' access to output markets; and to assess impact of these factors on farmers' income. For this purpose, primary data from 576 households were collected from twelve districts of the Punjab province. To achieve the first objective, logistic regression was used as the dependent variable is a binary variable. For second objective, the dependent variable was in a continuous variable which guided towards the application of a OLS model. The results of the study revealed that the education, cost of transportation, distance from farm to market and access to market information were the factors which determined the accessibility of farmer to output market. A significant impact of these factors was found on the income of small farmers. The study suggests that the transportation facilities, market infrastructure and flow of market information should be improved.
This study investigates the spatial price transmission among major wheat and rice markets of Paki... more This study investigates the spatial price transmission among major wheat and rice markets of Pakistan using their monthly retail prices. For analysis Vector Error Correction Model and Co-integration approach were employed. Results showed that wheat and rice market prices are integrated. Some markets have positive or negative transmission shocks on each other due to the different geographical locations and transport infrastructure. All the wheat markets are adjusted to price changes in the long run equilibrium except few markets. Unidirectional and bidirectional causality exists between wheat and rice markets. Bad and poor infrastructure is a major impediment to price transmission among the markets. These market imperfections lead to food insecurity in the country. Government should formulate better policies and develop infrastructure towards better and efficient market function. The results of this study will help the policy makers to formulate a better policy to enhance marketing function to overcome food insecurity situation.
The study was conducted to determine the aspect affecting the farmer in taking part in off-farm a... more The study was conducted to determine the aspect affecting the farmer in taking part in off-farm activities in three cotton growing districts of Punjab province, Pakistan. Since off-farm activities have become an imperative part of income strategies among rural families in developing countries like Pakistan. The data was documented from a total of 180 cotton farmers using multistage cluster sampling technique. A binary logistic model was used to evaluate the determinants motivating the farmers to participate in different off-farm activities. Various socio-economic factors were found significantly associated with probability of immersion in non-farm activities. The results of the model reveal different factors like total farming area and farmers having access to road were significant for several business activities through odds ratio 1.051 and 0.088 respectively. Though more experienced farmers with odds ratio (1.063) had more likelihood for labour activities. Lastly more educated farmers and large family size have higher probability to go for services type of off-farm activities and their odds ratio estimated is 1.297, 2.069. These findings have essential implications for policy, economic growth and development.
This study was conducted to quantify the post-harvest losses of Kinnow at various stages of suppl... more This study was conducted to quantify the post-harvest losses of Kinnow at various stages of supply chain viz. farm, wholesale market and retail levels. A pretested questionnaires was used to collect data from 120 respondents selected randomly from district Sargodha, Pakistan. SPSS was used to for the descriptive statistics and multiple regression model analysis for econometric estimation. The findings revealed that estimated post-harvest losses at farm, wholesale market and retail levels were 72%, 25% and 3% of the total post-harvest losses of Kinnow respectively. Overall post-harvest losses were estimated as 45% of the total production in study area. The econometric estimation revealed that experience, picking time and picking method had significant effect on losses at farm level whereas experience, loading method, storage place showed significant effect on losses at wholesale market level and unsold quantity and type of retailers were the significant determinants of losses at retail level. The study suggests adopting a scientific approach to minimize losses. This is the first empirical study for the estimation of major determinants of post-harvest losses at transportation and retail level as well as farm level.
This study investigates the coping strategies adopted by small farming households in Punjab provi... more This study investigates the coping strategies adopted by small farming households in Punjab province of Pakistan and also finds the relationship among coping strategies and socioeconomic factors of households. Primary data was collected from Punjab province and simple descriptive and spearmen’s correlation was used to elaborate the results. The results shows that in the study area, coping strategies like borrowing from friends, stick to simple food, reduce expenditures on health, reduce expenditures on education, adult skips a meal and selling assets are used to overcome the food insecurity situation. The correlation between coping strategies used and socioeconomic factors revealed that age of the household head, household size and earning members in the households decides the adoption of coping strategy to cope with food security. In the end, a better work environment should be provided to enhance household earnings, off farm employment opportunities to cope with food insecurity situation.
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Papers by Umar Ijaz Ahmed