Please wait a minute...
Journal of Integrative Agriculture  2018, Vol. 17 Issue (06): 1454-1462    DOI: 10.1016/S2095-3119(17)61796-9
Agricultural Economics and Management Advanced Online Publication | Current Issue | Archive | Adv Search |
Factors influencing hybrid maize farmers’ risk attitudes and their perceptions in Punjab Province, Pakistan
Shoaib Akhtar1, LI Gu-cheng1, Raza Ullah2, Adnan Nazir1, Muhammad Amjed Iqbal2, Muhammad Haseeb Raza1, Nadeem Iqbal3, Muhammad Faisal
1 College of Economics & Management, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, P.R.China
2 Institute of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Faisalabad 38000, Pakistan
3 The Management School, Lancaster University, LA1 4YX, United Kingdom
Download:  PDF in ScienceDirect  
Export:  BibTeX | EndNote (RIS)      
Abstract  
Hybrid maize farmers have to face diverse kinds of climate, biological, price and financial risks.  Farmers’ risk perceptions and risk attitudes are essential elements influencing farm operations and management decisions.  However, this important issue has been overlooked in the contemporary studies and therefore there is a dearth of literature on this important issue.  The present research is therefore, an attempt to fill this gap.  This study aims to quantify hybrid maize farmers’ perceptions of disastrous risks, their attitudes towards risk and to explore the impacts of various farm and farm household factors on farmers’ risk attitudes and risk perceptions.  The present study is conducted in four hybrid maize growing districts of Punjab Province, Pakistan, using cross-sectional data of 400 hybrid maize farmers.  Risk matrix and equally likely certainty equivalent (ELCE) method are used to rank farmers’ perceptions of four catastrophic risk sources including climate, biological, price and financial risks and to investigate farmers’ risk aversion attitudes, respectively.  Furthermore, probit regression is used to analyze the determinants affecting farmers’ risk attitudes and risk perceptions.  The results of the study showed that majority of farmers are risk averse in nature and perceive price, biological and climate to be potential sources of risks to their farm enterprise.  In addition, analysis divulges that distance from farm to main market, off-farm income, location dummies for Sahiwal and Okara, age, maize farming experience, access to extension agent, significantly (either negatively or positively) influence farmers’ risk attitudes and risk perceptions.  The study delivers valuable insights for farmers, agricultural insurance sector, extension services researchers and agricultural policy makers about the local understanding of risks to hybrid maize crop in developing countries, like Pakistan, and have implications for research on farmers’ adaptation to exposed risks.
 
Keywords:  risk perceptions        risk attitude        hybrid maize        determinants        Punjab        Pakistan  
Received: 17 July 2017   Accepted:
Fund: This research work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC, 71473100; NSFC-CGIAR, 71461010701).
Corresponding Authors:  Correspondence LI Gu-cheng, Mobile: +86-18986231362, E-mail: lgcabc@mail.hzau.edu.cn   

Cite this article: 

Shoaib Akhtar, LI Gu-cheng, Raza Ullah, Adnan Nazir, Muhammad Amjed Iqbal, Muhammad Haseeb Raza, Nadeem Iqbal, Muhammad Faisal. 2018. Factors influencing hybrid maize farmers’ risk attitudes and their perceptions in Punjab Province, Pakistan. Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 17(06): 1454-1462.

Abid M, Scheffran J, Schneider U A, Ashfaq M. 2015. Farmers’ perceptions of and adaptation strategies to climate change and their determinants: The case of Punjab Province, Pakistan. Earth System Dynamics, 6, 225–243.
Abid M, Schilling J, Scheffran J, Zulfiqar F. 2016. Climate change vulnerability, adaptation and risk perceptions at farm level in Punjab, Pakistan. Science of the Total Environment, 547, 447–460.
Akcaoz H, Ozkan B. 2005. Determining risk sources and strategies among farmers of contrasting risk awareness: A case study for Cukurova region of Turkey. Journal of Arid Environments, 62, 661–675.
Alderman H. 2008. Managing Risk to Increase Efficiency and Reduce Poverty. World Bank Report. [2017-05-12]. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/9165
Arce C. 2010. Risk management in the agricultural sector: concepts and tools. In: Strengthening the Caribbean Agri-food Private Sector: Competing in a Globalised World to Foster Rural Development. 18–19 October 2010, Grenada.
Arrow K J. 1964. The role of securities in the optimal allocation of risk-bearing. The Review of Economic Studies, 31, 91–96.
Ashraf M, Routray J K. 2013. Perception and understanding of drought and coping strategies of farming households in north-west Balochistan. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 5, 49–60.
Ayinde O E. 2008. Effect of socio-economic factors on risk behaviour of farming households: An empirical evidence of small-scale crop producers in Kwara State. Nigeria Agricultural Journal, 3, 447–453.
Badar H, Ghafoor A, Adil S A. 2007. Factors affecting agricultural production of Punjab (Pakistan). Pakistan Journal of Agricultural Sciences, 3, 44–49.
Binici T, Koc A R, Zulauf C R, Bayaner A. 2003. Risk attitudes of farmers in terms of risk aversion: A case study of lower seyhan plain farmers in Adana Province, Turkey. Turkey Journal of Agriculture and Forestry, 27, 305–312.
BOS (Bureau of Statistics). 2016. Punjab Development Statistics. Governement of Punjab, Bureau of Statistics, Lahore, Pakistan.
Chaudhary P, Aryal K P. 2009. Global warming in Nepal: Challenges and policy imperatives. Journal of Forest and Livelihood, 8, 5–14.
Cooper D F. 2005. Project Risk Management Guidelines: Managing Risk in Large Projects and Complex Procurements. John Wiley & Sons Ltd., England.
Dadzie S K N, Acquah H D. 2012. Attitudes toward risk and coping responses: The case of food crop farmers at Agona Duakwa in Agona East District of Ghana. International Journal of Agriculture and Forestry, 2, 29–37.
Deng Y, Wang M, Yousefpour R. 2017. How do people’s perceptions and climatic disaster experiences influence their daily behaviors regarding adaptation to climate change? - A case study among young generations. Science of the Total Environment, 581, 840–847.
Drollette S A. 2009. Managing production risk in agriculture. Department of Applied Economics Utah State University, USA. AG/ECON/2009-03RM.
Einav L, Finkelstein A, Cullen M R. 2010. Estimating welfare in insurance markets using variation in prices. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 125, 877–921.
Ellis F. 2000. The determinants of rural livelihood diversification in developing countries. Journal of Agricultural Economics, 51, 289–302.
Flaten O, Lien G, M Koesling M, Valle P S, Ebbesvik M. 2005. Comparing risk perceptions and risk management in organic and conventional dairy farming: Empirical results from Norway. Livestock Production Science, 95, 11–25.
GOP (Government of Pakistan). 2016a. Economic Survey of Pakistan. Islamabad: Economic Advisor’s Wing, Finance Division, Islamabad, Pakistan.
GOP (Government of Punjab). 2016b. Punjab Development Statisitics. Bureau of Statistics, Government of Punjab, Lahore.
Gorst A, Groom B, Dehlavi A. 2015. Crop productivity and adaptation to climate change in Pakistan. Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment Working Paper (189), UK.
Iqbal M A, Ping Q, Abid M, Muhammad Muslim Kazmi S, Rizwan M. 2016. Assessing risk perceptions and attitude among cotton farmers: A case of Punjab Province, Pakistan. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 16, 68–74.
Jain R C A, Parshad M. 2006. Working Group on Risk Management in Agriculture for the 11th Five Year Plan (2007–2012). Government of India Planning Commission, New Delhi.
Just R E, Pope R D. 1979. Production function estimation and related risk considerations. American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 61, 276–284.
Kammar S K, Bhagat R. 2009. Constraints experienced by farmer’s in adopting risk and uncertainty management strategies in rainfed agriculture. Pusa Agricultural Science 32, 70–74.
Kassam A, Hongwen L, Niino Y, Friedrich T, Jin H, Wang X L. 2014. Current status, prospect and policy and institutional support for conservation agriculture in the Asia-Pacific region. International Journal of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, 7, 1–13.
Khan A N, Khan S N, Ali A. 2010. Analysis of damages caused by flood-2010 in district Peshawar. Journal of  Science and Technology University of Peshawar, 36, 11–16.
Kisaka-Lwayo M, Obi A. 2012. Risk perceptions and management strategies by smallholder farmer’s in KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa. International Journal of Agricultural Management, 1, 28–39.
Lamb R L. 2003. Fertilizer use, risk, and off-farm labor markets in the semi-arid tropics of India. American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 85, 359–371.
Leiserowitz A A. 2005. American risk perceptions: Is climate change dangerous? Risk Analysis, 25, 1433–1442.
Lu W, Latif A, Ullah R. 2017. Simultaneous adoption of contract farming and off-farm diversification for managing agricultural risks: the case of flue-cured Virginia tobacco in Pakistan. Natural Hazards, 86, 1347–1361.
Lucas M P, Pabuayon I M. 2011. Risk perceptions, attitudes, and influential factors of rainfed lowland rice farmer’s in Ilocos Norte, Philippines. Asian Journal of Agriculture and Development, 8, 61.
McNeil A J, Frey R, Embrechts P. 2015. Quantitative Risk Management: Concepts, Techniques and Tools. Princeton University Press, UK.
Mohammad S. 2005. Supply response of major crops in different agro-ecological zones in Punjab. Ph D thesis, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad.
Musser W N, Patrick G F. 2002. How much does risk really matter to farmers? In: A Comprehensive Assessment of the Role of Risk in US Agriculture. Springer, USA.
Naqvi S A A, Ashfaq M. 2014. Estimation of technical efficiency and it’s determinants in the hybrid maize production in District Chiniot: A Cobb-Douglas model approach. Pakistan Journal of Agricultural Sciences, 51, 181–188.
Olarinde L O, Manyong V M, Akintola J O. 2007. Attitudes towards risk among maize farmer’s in the dry savanna zone of Nigeria: Some prospective policies for improving food production. African Journal of Agricultural Research, 2, 399–408.
Pratt J W. 1964. Risk aversion in the small and in the large. Econometrica, 32, 122–136.
Raskin R, Cochran M J. 1986. Interpretations and transformations of scale for the Pratt-Arrow absolute risk aversion coefficient: Implications for generalized stochastic dominance. Western Journal of Agricultural Economics, 11, 204–210.
Udmale P, Ichikawa Y, Manandhar S, Ishidaira H, Kiem A S. 2014. Farmer’s perception of drought impacts, local adaptation and administrative mitigation measures in Maharashtra State, India. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 10, 250–269.
Ullah R, Jourdain D, Shivakoti G P, Dhakal S. 2015. Managing catastrophic risks in agriculture: Simultaneous adoption of diversification and precautionary savings. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 12, 268–277.
Ullah R, Shivakoti G P, Ali G. 2015. Factors effecting farmer’s risk attitude and risk perceptions: The case of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 13, 151–157.
World Bank. 2011. Weather index insurance for agriculture: Guidance for development practitioners. Agriculture and Rural Development Discussion Paper 50.
Yamane T. 1967. Problems to Accompany Statistics: An Introduction Analysis. Harper & Row, New York, USA.
[1] Altaf HUSSAIN, WU Tian-tian, FAN Lin-jin, WANG Yu-long, Farooq Khalid MUHAMMAD, JIANG Nan, GAO Li, LI Kai, GAO Yu-long, LIU Chang-jun, CUI Hong-yu, PAN Qing, ZHANG Yan-ping, Asim ASLAM, Khan MUTI-UR-REHMAN, Muhammad Imran ARSHAD, Hafiz Muhammad ABDULLAH, WANG Xiao-mei, QI Xiao-le. The circulation of unique reassortment strains of infectious bursal disease virus in Pakistan[J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2020, 19(7): 1867-1875.
[2] Muhammad Riaz, Jehanzeb Farooq, Saghir Ahmed, Muhammad Amin, Waqas Shafqat Chattha, Maria Ayoub, Riaz Ahmed Kainth. Stability analysis of different cotton genotypes under normal and water-deficit conditions[J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2019, 18(6): 1257-1265.
[3] SONG Chun-xiao, Les Oxley, MA Heng-yun. What determines irrigation efficiency when farmers face extreme weather events? A field survey of the major wheat producing regions in China[J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2018, 17(08): 1888-1899.
No Suggested Reading articles found!