Rural Advisory Services to Improve Food Security in District Sargodha, Pakistan

Abstract

T he current pace of global development will not be enough to eliminate hunger by 2050 due to poverty, inequality, unemployment, environmental degradation, and diseases. By 2100, Asia and Africa are expected to have a combined population of 9 billion out of an 11 billion global population (FAO, 2017). Nearly half of the forests that once covered the Earth are now extinct. Groundwater sources are rapidly disappearing. Biodiversity is deeply disturbed. Annual fossil fuel combustion releases billions of tons of greenhouse gases responsible for global warming and climate change. From 1960 to 2015 agricultural production increased three times because of the Green Revolution that enhanced productivity and improved the use of land, water, and other natural resources for agricultural purposes. That period Abstract | Food insecurity is becoming more alarming for Pakistan due to a range of issues including market instability, climate change, natural disasters and natural calamities. Therefore, rural advisory services to improve food security among the farming community are imperative. The present study was designed to explore various rural advisory service mechanisms for improving food security in the Sargodha district. The sample size of the study was 120 farmers. An interview schedule was used as a research instrument for data collection using the face-to-face interview method. Descriptive statistics; mean, frequencies and percentages were applied to draw results and to interpret. The prominent mode of rural advisory services by the public sector was 'training program' whereas for the private sector it was 'advice on phone'. The public and private sectors should consider diversifying their strategies for the provision of rural advisory services that target improvements in farm production and food security.

Response of Bread Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) to Different Tillage Practices and Nitrogen Levels in a Clay Loam Soil

“…The next century will be very different from the previous one, as another 3 billion or so humans join the current population of 6.5 billion, so as in near future it will create food insecurity in those countries where wheat is utilized as staple food (Jury and Vaux, 2007). It becomes imperative to increase the area under wheat crop or enhance wheat yield by management practices (Abbas et al, 2007). Amongst the soil management practices tillage operations and appropriate fertilizer application have played a significant role among the different elements impacting wheat crop productivity.…”