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Owner farmers and tenant farmers have different income generating strategies related to vegetable production. It is important to know the differences between these two group farmers regarding pesticide use practices and awareness, as well as the factors influencing their knowledge of pesticide use practices. This study examined effects of land tenure status on vegetable farmer knowledge of pesticide use practices, health effects, and environmental effect of pesticides. A total of 211 owner and 173 tenant vegetable farmers from 7 districts were selected through a multistage sampling technique in 2019. More owners than tenants disposed of empty pesticide containers properly, but still a large proportion of both groups were using containers to store food. The owners have a higher knowledge of safe pesticide use practices, and greater information on environmental and health effects associated with pesticides in vegetables. It is necessary to put more emphasis on tenant farmers, as well as on the significant variables obtained from the econometric model of this study. The status of the grower has importance when use and disposal of pesticides is a concern with owners, who likely have greater respect for ownership and preservation of the land within the family, are more aware of uses and concerns involved with pesticides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agriculture is one of the high input energy using sectors which ultimately produces the output energy for the survival of human beings. Wheat is an important cereal in the agriculture production system. It is a major food crop and staple food for many countries in the world. Higher population growth has increased demand for wheat, and this demand has been met through the adoption of modern agricultural practices which are heavily dependent on energy. The current study was planned to examine the input energy use efficiency of rainfed wheat growers in Pakistan and Turkey (countries among the top 10 global wheat producers). A total of 119 wheat growers from the rainfed areas of both countries were randomly selected. The data envelopment analysis was executed to estimate the input energy use efficiency score of the growers. The results of the study revealed that almost a similar source of input energy is used in both countries in wheat cultivation. The largest input energy consumption in Turkey was nitrogen fertilizer (10,531.50 MJ ha−1), while in Pakistan was farmyard manure (12,837.32 MJ ha−1). The Turkish growers have higher energy use efficiency 2.42 as compared to Pakistani growers, whose energy use efficiency was 1.09. Results further revealed that there is a substantial potential for energy savings in both countries by optimizing energy use. The study concluded that the exchange of energy-efficient practices between both countries can significantly reduce energy use and improve the yield of wheat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tea farms sustainability assessment was the primary aim of this study. A set of socially, scientifically, and self-validated indicators based on the defined basic factor and established criteria were developed and used to measure the tea farms sustainability. A total of 138 tea growers, selected by stratified sampling technique, were interviewed. Various steps were executed such as application of factor analysis after standardizing the indicators to estimate their weights for aggregation them in order to measure the composite tea farms sustainability index. The results show that average farms sustainability index was 0.39, which was not up to the mark. Although the economic sustainability (0.23) was even lower than the overall sustainability index, social (0.51) and environmental (0.43) sustainability indices were higher. Furthermore, in result of k-mean cluster analysis, farmers were clustered into low (42%) and high (58%) sustainability tea farms. The comparison of these two groups demonstrated that the high-sustainability tea farmers were hiring less labor, and also applying low chemical fertilizers at their tea orchards. Regarding farm management practices, they were also good as compared to low-sustainability tea farmers in the practice of terracing, conducting soil test, and applying fertilizer. Moreover, they were significantly different in environmental sustainability than the other group. It was concluded that the economic sustainability lowers the overall sustainability, and in order to increase tea sustainability in study area the first priority should be given to the implementation of agricultural policies focusing on economic conditions of farmers. Two initial strategies of increasing economic sustainability are controlling the chemical fertilizers and employing family members instead of hiring labor. These need to be followed by other factors that lower economic sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are several issues limiting the expansion of livestock sector of Pakistan, and depriving farmers of their dairy incomes. Livestock diseases is one factor which get scant policy attention. The present paper attempts to investigate important factors which affect the economic losses due to livestock diseases. The study was conducted in five Tehsils of district Faisalabad using primary data collected from 150 livestock farmers. A log-linear regression model was fitted to delineate the factors influencing economic losses due to livestock diseases. The results revealed that number of affected animals at a farm, number of days of illness of an animal, nutrition cost, vaccination cost, and occurrence of Foot and Mouth Disease are important variables which influence the economic losses due to diseases. Number of affected animals, longevity of disease period, and occurrence of FMD in particular increase the economic losses while expenditures on nutrition and vaccination reduce economic losses. Carefully designed policy options which take into account above mentioned variable may improve the performance of livestock sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]