Livelihood assets and livestock income : a case of mixed farming Punjab-Pakistan

Abstract

The study investigates the response pattern of income earned from livestock farming to livelihood assets in Punjab (Pakistan). Primary data was collected from three regions (northern, central, and southern) of Punjab. A multi-stage sampling technique was adopted to gather the information. The information collected from 347 farm households were processed and analyzed (descriptively and inferentially) to generate and interpret the results. On average, a farm household was earning nearly 50% of its total annual income from crops, 23% from livestock and 27% from nonfarm sources. Amongst the four livelihood assets, financial capital could be ranked first in terms of its significant contribution to the annual income earned by a livestock farmer. Own farmland size, qualitative and quantitative attributes of human capital, and status of the physical and financial capital available to the farmer, all translate into the income generated through livestock enterprise. Results of this study indicate that farmer's own land size (LSIZE), farmer level of education (FEDU), and managerial constraints (MGTC) have negatively associated with the income earned from livestock. While farmer's level of participation in livestock rearing activities (FPTPN), herd size (HSIZE), income from crops (ICROP), and nonfarm sources (INONF) have a positive impact on income earned from livestock. A portfolio of the available financial capital may enable a predominantly illiterate and resource-deficient livestock farmer to bear the expenditures made for the overall livestock production activities, which eventually enable him to earn higher income from livestock in a mixed farming system Punjab.