Livelihood Improvement through Agroforestry Compared to Conventional Farming System: Evidence from Northern Irrigated Plain, Pakistan

Shahzad Ahmad, Zhang Caihong and E. M. B. P. Ekanayake
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Shahzad Ahmad: School of Economics and Management, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China
Zhang Caihong: School of Economics and Management, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China
E. M. B. P. Ekanayake: School of Economics and Management, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China

Land, 2021, vol. 10, issue 6, 1-18

Abstract: The concept of sustainable livelihood garnered a prominent status in humanitarian and international development organizations that aim to calculate and build a livelihood for agroforestry farmers. However, it is difficult to measure and analyze as well as visualize the data of livelihood improvement from agroforestry (AF). This paper comparatively assessed 400 smallholder farmers’ livelihood through AF and conventional farming (CF) systems in the Northern Irrigated Plain of Pakistan. The findings showed that AF has a mixed impact on farmers’ livelihood capital, including human, physical, natural, financial and social capital. Specifically, AF significantly improved financial capital in terms of timber, non-timber and fuel wood income. Furthermore, the physical capital (buffalo plough, generators and sprinklers), natural capital (the extent of cultivated land and land ownership; the number of households (HHs) growing vegetables, fruit crops and medicinal crops) and social capital (the number of social groups that HHs involved and number of HHs sharing crop seeds) of AF farmer HHs were significantly improved compared to those of CF farmers. However, the results show that financial capital gain through crop income, HHs owning high-value vehicles (tractors) and farmers trust and collective activities were significantly higher in CF farmers than AF ones. Therefore, to enhance the contribution of AF to rural livelihood, advanced extension services and government involvement on research planning and implementing are needed.

Keywords: agroforestry; conventional farming; livelihood improvement; Northern Irrigated Plain; Pakistan (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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