Sustainable Cotton Production through Skill Development among Farmers: Evidence from Khairpur District of Sindh, Pakistan

Khan, M. Azeem and Iqbal, Muhammad (2005): Sustainable Cotton Production through Skill Development among Farmers: Evidence from Khairpur District of Sindh, Pakistan. Published in: The Pakistan Development Review , Vol. 44, No. 4 (2005): pp. 695-716.

Abstract

This study on farmers’ training in environment friendly production practices for cotton crop was conducted in the Khairpur district of Sindh province. Data used in this study comprises baseline and post IPM Farmer Field School (FFS) impact surveys conducted during 2001 and 2003 respectively. The programme impacts were estimated on gross margins and changes in farmers’ attitude towards environment and biodiversity. The effect of training on social recognition of farmers, their experimentations abilities, and decision making skills were also examined. Beside single difference comparisons of change in production practices between trained and non-trained farmers, the difference in difference (DD) method was also used for comparisons among FFS farmers, exposed farmers and un-exposed farmers from control villages. The stochastic production frontier model incorporating inefficiency effects is also estimated to analyze the impact of farmers’ training (through FFS) on productivity and efficiency at cotton farms in the study area. Results show better cotton yield and reduction in cost of pesticides and fertilizer inputs enabled FFS farmers to fetch significantly higher gross margins (US$ 391/ha) than non-FFS (US$ 151/ha) and Control farms (US$ 25/ha). The total application of pesticide chemicals was largely reduced (44%) on FFS farms. The cost of inefficiency at FFS farms was lower (23.71%) as compared to those on non-FFS farms (30.50%) which implies that FFS farmers were able to maintain higher level of technical efficiency. It is concluded that the FFS approach is not only cost efficient but also improves farm level technical efficiency. Information generated through Agro-ecosystem analysis on pest and predator dynamics helps farmers to understand pest-predator interaction to allow nature to work with lesser or most appropriate interventions. A well-planned technical backup support mechanism is recommended to be evolved through integrating research system into farmer-led experimentation. The Programme achievements show that FFS approach in Pakistan has furthered from only crop management to systems management and community development approach and should be supported further to enter into mass scale expansion state.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Institution: Pakistan Institute of Development Economics
• Language: English
• Keywords: Cotton Production; Skill Development; Production Frontier; Efficiency; Pakistan
• Subjects: Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics ; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q1 - Agriculture > Q10 - General; Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics ; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q5 - Environmental Economics > Q50 - General

References

Abbot, J., and I. Guijt (1998) Changing Views on Change: Participatory Approaches to Monitoring the Environment. International Institute for Environment and Development London. (SARL Discussion Paper No. 2.) Ahad, K., Y. Hayat, and I. Ahmad (2001) Capillary Chromatographic Determination of Pesticide Residues in Multan Division. The Nucleus 38:2, 145–149. Ahmad, I., and A. Poswal (2000) Cotton Integrated Pest Management in Pakistan: Current Status. Country Report presented in Cotton IPM Planning and Curriculum Workshop organised by FAO, Bangkok, Thailand. February 28–March 2. Ahmad, Munir, G. Mustafa Chaudhry, and M. Iqbal (2002) Wheat Productivity, Efficiency, and Sustainability: A Stochastic Production Frontier Analysis. The Pakistan Development Review 41:4, 643–663. Azeem, M. K., M. Iqbal, M. H. Soomro, and Iftikhar Ahmad (2003) Economic Evaluation of Pesticide Use Externalities in the Cotton Zone of Punjab, Pakistan. The Pakistan Development Review 41:4, 683–698. Azeem, M. (2000) Economics Evaluation of Pesticide Externalities in Cotton Zones of Punjab Pakistan. Report for the UNDP Study, FAO, Rome, Italy. Battese, G. E., S. J. Malik, and M. A. Gill (1996) An Investigation of Technical Efficiencies of Production of Wheat Farmers in Four Districts of Pakistan. Journal of Agricultural Economics 47, 37–49. Battese, G. E., and T. J. Coelli (1995) A Model for Technical Inefficiency Effects in Stochastic Frontier Function for Panel Data. Empirical Economics 20, 325–332. Berg H.v d., Oooi P. A. C., A. L. Hakim, H. Ariawan, and W. Cahyana (2004) Farmer Field Research: An Analysis of Experices in Indonesia, FAO-EU Programme for Cotton in Asia, Regional Office of Asia and the Pacific Bangkok. Casley, D. J., K. Kumar (1987) Project Monitoring and Evaluation in Agriculture. Baltimore: The John Hopkins University Press, London. Feder, G., R. Murgai, and J. B. Quizon (2003) Sending Farmers Back to School: The Impact of Farmer Field Schools in Indonesia. Review of Agricultural Economics 26:1, 1–18. Feenstra, S., A. Jabbar, R. Masih, and W. A. Jehangir (2000) Health Hazards of Pesticides in Pakistan. Islamabad: IWMI and PARC. Guijt, I. (1998) Participatory Monitoring and Impact Assessment of Sustainable Agriculture Initiatives—An introduction to the Key Elements. International Institute for Environment and Development, London. (SARL Discussion Paper No. 1.) Irshad, M. (2000) Status of Pesticide Resistance in Pakistan. Consultancy Report Submitted to FAO under Project No. PAK/99/002, FAO Pakistan, Islamabad. Orphal, J. (2001) Economics of Pesticide Use in Cotton Production in Pakistan, Diploma Thesis, University of Hannover, Germany. Praneetvatakul, S., and H. Waibel (2001) A Socio-economic Analysis of Farmer’s Drop-out from Training Programmes in Integrated Pest Management. Paper presented at the workshop on “Participatory Technology Development and Local Knowledge for Sustainable Land Use in Southeast Asia”, 6-7 June. Chiang Mai, Thailand. Poswal, M. A., and S. Williamson (1998) Stepping off the Cotton Pesticide Treadmill: Preliminary Findings from a Farmer’s Participatory Cotton IPM Training Project in Pakistan. CABI Bioscience Centre, Rawalpindi. UNDP (2001) Policy and Strategy for the Rational Use of Pesticides in Pakistan, Building Consensus for Action, UNDP/FAO Paper Rome, Italy.