Worldwide, biogas programs fail to achieve broad acceptability because of failure to account for socio-economic constraints during program design and implementation. This paper attempts to revisit ...the relationship between socio-economic characteristics of rural households and adoption of biogas technology at the household level in Pakistan by using a predicted willingness-to-adopt approach in addition to considering energy-related variables which have been rarely accounted for in previous literature. The study is based on primary data collected from 200 households across eight villages in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Province. A chi-square test of association is applied to determine the relationship between farmers’ socio-economic characteristics and their willingness-to-adopt domestic biogas technology. Results confirm that socio-economic factors such as education, total landholdings, cost of energy consumption, duration of electric shortfalls, occurrence of smoke-related diseases, and possession of livestock had a significant relationship with farmers’ willingness-to-adopt biogas technology. The study concludes that for the successful deployment of biogas technology in rural areas, it is imperative to account for the socio-economic conditions of the population.
This study investigates the impacts of climate change on yield of selected cereal crops (wheat and maize) in the northern climatic region of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province of Pakistan for the ...period 1986–2015. The first-generation unit root tests such as the Levin, Lin, and Chu (LLC), augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF)–Fisher, and the second-generation unit root tests such as cross-sectional augmented Im-Pesaran-Shin (CIPS) and cross-sectional ADF (CADF) are used to check stationarity of the series. The cointegration among the variables is discovered via Pedroni test and Westerlund method. The long- and short-run impacts of climatic variables (average precipitation, maximum temperature, and minimum temperature) on yield of wheat and maize crops are assessed through the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model. The empirical findings reveal that average precipitation has a significantly positive impact on yield of both crops in long- as well as short-run. The results further reveal that the effect of average minimum temperature on both crops is insignificant in long-run. However, the short-run effect of average minimum temperature is significantly positive on yield of maize crop but insignificant on yield of wheat crop. In long-run, an increase in average maximum temperature negatively affects crop yield. In short-run, however, it positively affects the yield of wheat and maize crops. The study recommends that increase in area under cultivation, development of advanced irrigation system, and farmers’ access to metrological information will help in lowering the drastic impacts of climate change on crop productivity.
There is a strong relationship between energy consumption (EC) and economic growth (EG) of a country. However, different sources of energy have different influence on EG of different countries. This ...paper attempts to identify the source of energy that efficiently spurs EG in Pakistan by exploring the short- and long-run relationship between EC and EG during 1972–2015. Breakpoint unit root test was used to investigate the stationarity properties of the variables along with structural break. Autoregressive distributive lag (ARDL) bound testing approach was used to determine the existence of long-run relationship among variables. The results of the ARDL model confirm the presence of cointegration among the variables. The findings confirm that renewable as well as non-renewable EC enhance EG in Pakistan. However, the magnitude of the coefficients and high significance level confirm that renewable energy (RE) spurs EG more efficiently than non-renewable energy. The study concludes that the government needs to increase investment in the development and exploration of RE resources to ensure sustainable EG in Pakistan.
Since energy supports the economic production activities and has been considered the engine of economic growth, it is of central importance to investigate their mutual relationships. We examine the ...causality between primary energy consumption and economic growth in Pakistan for the period of 1972 to 2015. We adopt a multivariate causality framework by adding primary energy consumption to labor and capital as input factors in the production model. The results of the Toda–Yamamoto Granger causality test confirm the existence of bidirectional causality between primary energy consumption and GDP, thereby validating the existence of the feedback hypothesis in Pakistan. The findings of the study call for the government to adopt policies for energy efficiency and expansion rather than energy conservation. Moreover, the renewable energy consumption share should be upscaled in the current energy mix to strengthen the economic activities by keeping the environmental sustainability objective as a top priority of the country.
Nutrient recovery and recycling are of great importance in sustainable development. Blackwater (BW) refers to wastewater from toilets, which contains feces, urine, water, and toilet paper from flush ...toilets. The highly concentrated nutrients of blackwater could be collected through source separation and treated adequately to recover nutrients efficiently and economically. The review intends to give an overview of the characteristics of BW and different techniques to recover nutrients and other valuable products. A number of these technologies are currently under development or being tested at laboratory or pilot scale. The perspective for blackwater nutrient recovery technologies is very positive due to their great potential. For application of source-oriented sanitation infrastructure and systems, there is still a long way to go for development of commercial technologies and valuable products.
Large dependence of the world population on biomass fuels for domestic energy consumption is one of the major anthropogenic causes of deforestation worldwide. The use of biomass in inefficient ways ...in rural areas increases fuelwood demand of a household. Development of the improved biomass stove programs in the 1970s has been one of the efforts to reduce burden on biomass resource base through reliable and efficient methods of energy consumption. However, despite having multiple economic, social, environmental, and health benefits; the improved stove dissemination programs failed to capture worldwide recognition. A wide array of socio-cultural, economic, political, and institutional barriers contributes to the low adoption rate of such programs. Drawing on field work surveys in rural northwest Pakistan, this paper provides empirical evidence of individual, household, and community level variables that play a vital role in the adoption of improved cookstoves. The study is based on primary data collected from 100 randomly selected households in two villages of rural northwest Pakistan. Using regression analysis, the study depicts that education and household income are the most significant factors that determine a household willingness to adopt improved biomass stoves. The study concludes that the rate of adoption could substantially be improved if the government and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) play a greater role in overcoming the social, economic, cultural, political, and institutional barriers to adopting improved cooking technologies.
Biogas is a methane-rich gas that is produced by the anaerobic fermentation of organic material, such as animal dung. Pakistan has the sixth largest livestock-based economy in the world and thus ...demonstrates great potential for biogas production. The government has already started the Biogas Support Program (BSP) in a few selected areas of the country. With that in mind, this study was designed to determine a household's predicted willingness-to-adopt a biogas system in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province. The study is based on primary data collected from four districts: Peshawar, Nowshera, Charsadda, and Mardan. Data was collected from 200 livestock farming households selected through an equal allocation technique. Probit analysis was used to identify those factors influencing the willingness of a household to adopt a biogas system. The results of the probit model reveal that the education level of the respondents, total daily electric shortfall, the effect of electric shortfall on childrens' education and female drudgery, and respondents' awareness regarding the pros and cons of using biogas were statistically significant factors. On the basis of p < 0.001 for the overall regression model, which means that the overall model was highly significant, it is concluded that the socio-economic characteristics of the population are the main factors contributing to the adoption of a biogas system in the area. The study recommends that increased public and private investments should be encouraged and the government's financial policies made in a pro-poor fashion for the large-scale promotion of biogas technology in Pakistan.
This paper investigates the local community support for the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) using the lens of social exchange theory. The study examines the direct effect of social, economic, ...cultural, and environmental factors on the local community support for CPEC projects, and the resultant impacts on the development and sustainability of the rural economy of Pakistan. The study also explores the moderation effect of media influence on shaping positive perceptions of CPEC among the local populace. The local communities at the CPEC route which are affected or can be affected by the project were targeted for data collection using a structured questionnaire. The collected valid data (N = 259) were thoroughly analyzed by obtaining reliability and validity statistics, a correlation matrix, multiple regression, moderation analysis, and hypotheses testing. Our results substantiate that the local community support for the CPEC project is heavily dependent on social, economic, cultural, and environmental factors and that there is a positive influence of media impact as an opinion-maker in the local community regarding the CPEC. The CPEC is expected to develop the rural economy, particularly through improvements in agriculture and allied activities, thereby providing livelihoods and income-generating opportunities to the rural masses. The article is important for regulators, the CPEC authority, government bodies, and the relevant community.
Solar energy is abundantly available in Pakistan and is converted into electrical energy by using solar photovoltaic system. This study identifies the determinants of social acceptability of solar ...photovoltaic (PV) system in northwest Pakistan. The study is based on a survey of 100 randomly selected households from three villages in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. In the study area, 46% of the households used solar PV system. We used binary logistic model to investigate the determinants of social acceptability of solar PV system. The results show that income of the household, household’s monthly cost of energy consumption, education of respondents, information about the availability of solar PV system in the market, and source of awareness about solar PV system are the key determinants of the social acceptability of solar PV system. The overall model was highly significant as shown by p < 0.001. The study concludes that household, community, and market related variables play a key role in the social acceptability of solar PV system. The study recommends that the government should adopt incentive based policies that focus on solar energy promotion in Pakistan.
•Identify the determinants of social acceptability of solar photovoltaic (PV) system.•Find the major determinants of social acceptability of solar PV system.•Conclude that socioeconomic determinants are the main drivers of social acceptability of solar PV system.•Recommend that government should follow successful solar energy policies of other countries.
Participation in farm markets is important for increasing income of farmers in the developing countries. A number of factors account for a household participation in agricultural marketing. This ...study attempts to explore such associated factors which playa significant role in farmers’ participation in farm markets in rural northwest Pakistan. Drawing on empirical data from the field survey; gur, vegetables, and milk were the main products offered for marketing in the area. The degree of specialization of marketrelations was based on the nature of the farm product. In gur markets, the marketing relations were based on personalized terms whereas in vegetable markets, they were exclusively commercialized. The results of the binary logit model show that size of selfcultivatedland and number of livestock, were important determinants of a household participation in agricultural marketing. The study concludes that participation in agricultural markets could be substantially increased through improved infrastructure,commercialized farming systems, and increased number of farm markets so that the dominance of few selected commission agents is minimized.
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