Agriculture is considered as the main driving force in Pakistan’s economy employing 45% of the country’s labor force and generating 20% of national GDP Agriculture sector of Pakistan is facing numerous challenges including non-adoption of agricultural technology at the farm level, due to farmers’ lack of access to the latest information. In this context, the current study focusses on the use of the mobile phone in accessing agricultural information among the farmers of the of district Muzaffargarh,Punjab, Pakistan. A multistage sampling technique was used to collect data from the two tehsils (cities/sub-districts) of Muzaffargarh formulating a total sample of 180 farmers. SPSS computer-based Software was used for analyzing the data. Results revealed that 91.2% of the farmers indicated mobile phone ownership. It was further reported that 87.20 % of the farmers used private sectors advisory staff to obtain agriculture information. Market information was ranked as the highest accessed information among the rest of farm-related use. Easy access to updated information and connectivity with stakeholders were reported as the highest perceived benefits of mobile phone use (4.63 & 4.72 mean). Findings reported that farmers’ limited aptitude of Mobile phone usage and lack of awareness of information sources as major constraints in farm-related use of the Mobile phone. On the basis of findings, the current study provided recommendations and policy implications for utilizing the true potential of these ICT-enabled solutions in agriculture.

forest communities, forest management, forest policy, sustainable livelihoods,

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The failure of state actors/institutions in the country in delivering agricultural advisory and extension services to the rural community created a space for non-state actors to deliver these services at the door steps of majority of the rural poor people in order to improve their livelihoods. This situation prevails in all the four provinces of the country especially in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where rural poverty is evident. In order to access the impact of agricultural services rendered by different non-state institutions on the livelihoods of rural poor in this region, the current research study was designed. The study was conducted in district Mansehra (one of the most populated district of Hazara division). Both qualitative and quantitative approaches were used for the collection of data from respondents. The data were collected from the rural community of those villages where the selected non-state organizations were involved in a variety of rural development related activities/tasks. The data were collected from 450 respondents randomly selected from 6 villages. The collected data were analyzed by using computer based statistical software -SPSS. From the results it was concluded that majority of the respondents had age between 36-50 years with secondary educational level. The land holding size of the respondents in the research was very small. It was also concluded that a large majority (>80.0%) of respondents said that agricultural services rendered by non-state institutions like extension education, trainings related to crop & livestock management, poultry & forestry services, vaccination for livestock and awareness campaigns regarding latest agricultural technologies improved their overall agricultural productivity as well as livelihoods. It was also concluded that regarding impacts of agricultural services rendered by non-state organizations, a large majority of the respondents (89.6%) said that their agricultural services increased their agricultural productivity. While exploring the reasons due to which agricultural related services of non-state organizations play role in improving livelihoods of rural people, the results of the study indicated that in extension and education services majority (54.6%) of the respondents said that social organizations provided good quality extension and education related services to the rural community. Finally, it was concluded that agricultural services of non-state organizations were very effective and played a significant role in upgrading the livelihoods of rural poor.

This paper attempts to analyse the trust, power relations and emerging conflicts as state and non-state actors try to adjust to their new roles in the perspective of participatory forest management initiatives in Pakistan and Tanzania. Based on historical and empirical context, we argue that the institutional base responsible for enhancing trust between state and local actors is rather weak in both countries. The major obstacles are that the state actors are not willing to fully devolve power; and the responsibility-as delegated by the state-of newly created institutions demands forest protection rather than defining management rights.