Identifying the determinants of access to agricultural credit in Southern Punjab of Pakistan

Based on the survey data of 250 farmers from the Multan district of Southern region of Punjab, Pakistan this study aims to empirically examine the determinants of access to agricultural credit. This study used the probit model to analyze the data. The results revealed that formal education, farm size, level of farm mechanization, farm revenue and landholding size positively and significantly influenced access to agricultural credit while the age of the farmer’s, distance, and off- farm income negatively and insignificantly influenced farmer’s accessibility to agricultural credit. The findings of the current study offer a policy guideline to streamline national policy on agricultural finance. This study also recommends that ZaraiTaraqiati Bank (ZTBL) and other Commercial Banks should improve their agricultural credit schemes to fulfil the diversified needs of small farm holders.

     

A comparative analysis of pre- and post-industrial spatiotemporal drought trends and patterns of Tibet Plateau using Sen slope estimator and steady-state probabilities of Markov Chain

Natural Hazards - The increase of frequency and severity of extreme weather events due to climate change gives evidence of severe challenges faced by infrastructure systems. Among them, the...     

Geochemistry of Cd in groundwater of Winder,Balochistan and suspected health problems

Sedimentary rocks of Jurassic age (Ferozabad group) and igneous rocks (Bela Ophiolite) of Cretaceous age are widely exposed in the east of Winder Town, Balochistan. Representative 48 water and soil samples were collected and analyzed for Cd and other elements. The present study showed that water samples were contaminated by the Cd ion and most of the samples have higher concentration than prescribed WHO standards (3 μg/l) for drinking purpose. The concentration of Cd ions ranged between 1 and 30 with mean values of 10 μg/l and was found high in the vicinity of outcrops. The alkaline pH (av. 7.42) was mainly responsible for elevated Cd content in the water, having near equal molar proportions of Ca and HCO₃ ions. Computed relative mobility values appeared as 0.23, indicating poor leaching from rocks and metal load in the groundwater is also measured low. The estimated values of mobility reflect fairly high mobility of Cd in the study area, decreases with distance from outcrops. The health hazard indices of drinking water was high (av. 1.33) with respect to safe average daily intake of Cd. The consumption of high Cd-bearing water may induce many disorders in the human health.     

Landslide dam and subsequent dam-break flood estimation using HEC-RAS model in Northern Pakistan

On the morning of January 4, 2010, a massive landslide swept the Attabad and Sarat villages into the Hunza River. The debris from the landslide blocked the low-lying river, creating a barrier lake in the area and poses a major threat to the villages located downstream. The aim of the current study was to evaluate the environmental advantages and disadvantages created by the formation of the artificial lake. For this purpose, Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) data were used to create the contours and triangulated irregular network (TIN) of the region. Data from ??Google Earth?? image on March 19, 2010 were used as the reference and to determine the river bed elevation of the study area. Landsat satellite data of Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) sensor on January 10, March 15, April 24 and May 2, 2010, were used for constructing the Geographic Information System (GIS) layers of the river banks, land use area, overbank flow area and water area estimation. Our results show that the area covered by the water in the lake has increased from 1.28?km² on January 10, 2010 to 6.25?km² on May 2, 2010. The total upstream urban area affected by the river blockage is 13.99?km². We also applied the Hydrologic Engineering Center River Analysis System (HEC-RAS) model to estimate the potential catastrophes due to dam burst for different peak outflow scenarios with conclusions and recommendations.     

Length-weight relationship of eleven species of marine catfishes from the northern Arabian Sea coast of Pakistan

This study records length-weight relationships(LWRs)for eleven commercially important marine catfi sh species of the family Ariidae(sea catfi shes)and Plotosidae(eel catfi shes)from the northern Arabian Sea coast of Pakistan.The specimens were sampled from December 2014 to November 2015,using bottom trawls with various mesh sizes by commercial vessels.The species were Nemapteryx caelatus,Sciades sona,Arius gagora,Batrachocephalus mino,Netuma thalassina,N.bilineata,Osteogeneiosus militaris,Plicofollis dussumieri,P.tenuispinis,Plotosus limbatus,and P.lineatus.Of the eleven species,two species A.gagora and N.bilineata were recorded for the fi rst time and LWRs for four species A.gagora,N.bilineata,S.sona,and B.mino still have no data in the Fish Base database.In addition,new maximum length for each of the three species N.bilineata,O.militaris and B.m ino was also found.     

Kadomtsev–Petviashvili equation for solitary waves in warm dense astrophysical electron-positron-ion plasmas

Theoretical investigation is carried out to understand the dynamics and stability of three dimensional ion solitary waves propagating in dense plasma comprising of ultra-relativistic degenerate electrons and positrons and warm ions. A linear dispersion relation is derived which shows a strong dependence of wave on positron concentration (through the change of density balance) and ion-to-degenerate electron temperature ratio. A nonlinear Kadomtsev-Petviashvili equation is derived by employing the reductive perturbation technique and solved analytically and the conditions for existence of stable solitary waves are found. The analysis reveals that only compressive solitary waves exist in the system. Effects of the change of density balance and Fermi temperature ratios are studied in detail, both analytically and numerically. Furthermore, the conditions for stable solitary waves are discussed by using energy consideration method. The numerical results are also presented by using the parameters consistent with the degenerate and ultrarelativistic astrophysical plasmas.     

Quantifying climate-induced drought risk to livelihood and mitigation actions in Balochistan

Natural Hazards - Climate change-induced disasters show the highest risk for agriculture and livelihoods in rural areas of developing countries. Due to changing rainfall pattern, the arid and...