Papers by Ashfaq Ahmad Shah
Nuclear Engineering and Technology, Oct 1, 2022
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Global Journal of Science Frontier Research, Apr 22, 2016
Pakistan’s economy is agrarian in nature and character. Agricultural sector is the main source of... more Pakistan’s economy is agrarian in nature and character. Agricultural sector is the main source of income for majority of population in the country. Subsistence kind of cultivation hardly allows the farmers to use high quality seeds, sufficient amount of fertilizers and other improved farm techniques. Small farmers are generally characterized as having low income, less saving and low capital formation. Apparently, credit seems to be the dire need of these clusters of farming community. This research endeavors to analyze the effect of agricultural credit advance by Zarai Taraqiati Bank Ltd (ZTBL) on crop production in district Peshawar Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province. For this purpose a house hold level survey was conducted and primary data were collected from a sample of 113 randomly selected farmers in a village (Urmar Maina) of District Peshawar. There were 818 (402 male and 416 female) family members in all the house- holds. Farming was the main occupation of all the respondents, 51(45%) had secondary occupation as well. most of the respondents utilized the loan for agriculture activities i.e. Purchase of improved seed, insecticides, fertilizer, machinery, Farm yard manure (FYM).
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Children and Youth Services Review, 2022
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Environmental Science and Pollution Research, Mar 16, 2023
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Sustainability, Nov 21, 2022
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Recycling, Dec 27, 2022
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IGI Global eBooks, 2022
Conferring to the Global Risk Index, Pakistan is ranked as the 7th most susceptible country to th... more Conferring to the Global Risk Index, Pakistan is ranked as the 7th most susceptible country to the inexorable influence of climate change. Before this century ends, the annual mean temperature in Pakistan is expected to rise from 3°C to 5°C for a focal worldwide discharge situation. Usually, annual precipitation is not relied upon to have a critical long haul pattern. Ocean level is relied upon to ascend further by 60 centimeters. All these climatic events are likely to disrupt the economy, lives, and the socio-political aspects of human life. Pakistan has already witnessed massive loss in terms of human, infrastructural, and economic aspects. The chapter is designed to understand both the direct and indirect health risks associated with frequent climatic events like floods, drought, and heat waves in Pakistan. After analyzing the available literature, it was observed that floods and drought have direct and indirect health risks associated with them while in case of heat waves, health risks cannot be established precisely as multiple variables are involved, playing a significant role.
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International journal of disaster risk reduction, Dec 1, 2020
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Sustainability
Saudi Arabia (SA) faces a water shortage, and it further challenges sustainable agriculture, indu... more Saudi Arabia (SA) faces a water shortage, and it further challenges sustainable agriculture, industrial development and the well-being of people. SA uses more than 80% of its water resources for agricultural purposes. Groundwater extractions account for most of this demand, which is not sustainable. Hence, this study aims to analyze water management practices used in SA to propose viable and workable solutions to achieve sustainable management of scarce water resources. This study is based on a critical evaluation of information available on the water sector in SA. About 89% of the water demand in the Kingdom is non-sustainably met through over-pumping from groundwater resources and 9.3% by energy-intensive desalination. SA invested in dams and developed rainwater harvesting to enhance surface water availability and increase the recharge capacity of renewable aquifers. As there is a huge demand–supply gap, water demand management tools are the viable solutions leading to sustainabil...
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Frontiers in Environmental Science
This study applied a nuclear technique in conjunction with a classical monitoring tool to charact... more This study applied a nuclear technique in conjunction with a classical monitoring tool to characterize the origin, fate, and behavior of metal pollutants in groundwater of Islamabad-Rawalpindi Metropolitans, which are also known as the “twin cities.” In total, 122 groundwater samples were collected and analyzed in accordance with standard methods. GIS and multivariate statistical analysis were employed for the groundwater vulnerability assessment and source apportionment. The results of the aesthetic parameters indicated that the majority of groundwater sources were tested and were colorless, odorless and tasteless in the “twin cities.” In addition, the findings of this study indicated that the concentration of pH, phosphates, copper, manganese, and zinc were within the drinking water standards in the “twin cities” as stipulated by the World Health Organization (WHO) and Pakistan Standard and Quality Control Authority (PSQCA) at all sampling points in the study area. The groundwater...
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Energy & Environment, 2019
Climate change caused by global warming, and the growing scarcity of nonrenewable energy sources,... more Climate change caused by global warming, and the growing scarcity of nonrenewable energy sources, have driven Pakistan to shift from a traditional energy consumption pattern to a renewable-energy-use pattern. The per capita energy consumption in rural Pakistan is very low, especially in rural areas heavily relying on traditional energy sources. This paper presents the extent of biogas technology adoption by Pakistani rural households and the factors affecting their decision to adopt the technology in three selected districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The data were collected by interviewing 480 respondents by using a pretested and designed questionnaire. The results show that the household adoption rate of biogas technologies is low. The factors affecting the adoption decision of households included household income, access to credit, cultivated land area, the number of cattle in the household, education, and family size. The study also found fundamental barriers to the househo...
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Frontiers in Environmental Science
The United Nations SDGs Report 2020 revealed that climatic variability victimized masses across t... more The United Nations SDGs Report 2020 revealed that climatic variability victimized masses across the globe in 2018 and the global average temperature would rise to 3.2°C during this century. The GHG emission reduction targets for 2030 were prioritized under the Paris Climate Agreement (PCA) of 2015 to keep the rise in global temperature below 1.5°C. Here, parallel action for climate adaptation is on top of it. However, targets for both adaptation and mitigation are lagging. Climatic variations will continue more likely with similar trends thus influencing the development needs vis-à-vis environmental security and sustainability of resources. It entails climate compatibility, particularly for the water security agenda for SDG-13 and Paris Climate Agreement (PCA), which requires an inclusive governance regime and ownership for national and sub-national scenarios. In this context, this paper aimed to assess existing water sector governance for climate compatible development (CCD) by tak...
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Sustainability, Dec 1, 2022
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International Journal of Environmental Science and Technology, Apr 19, 2022
Pakistan has become a highly vulnerable country with considerable exposure to climate change. Ove... more Pakistan has become a highly vulnerable country with considerable exposure to climate change. Over the past few decades, Pakistan has endured many severe floods, droughts, and storms. However, limited research was conducted into farmers’ perspectives towards climate change vulnerability, risk perceptions, and adaptation measures at the farm level in Pakistan. The current research uses a dataset of 600 farm households collected through a structured questionnaire from four districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. The study identified the farm level climatic risks perceived by the farm households including flood (60%), crop pest (56%), insect attacks (55%), extreme temperatures (54%), human diseases (54%), and livestock diseases (46%). The farm households also reported negative impacts (decrease in crop production, waterlogging, and changes in cropping calendars and positive effects (e.g., better crop production) arising from changing climate and associated threats. Further, this study identified different adaptation strategies adopted at the farm level to mitigate the adverse effects and related risks of rising climatic conditions that include changing crop varieties (37%), planting shade trees (32%), changing planting dates (31%), changing methods of fertilizer usage (26%), changing crop type (14%), soil conservation measures (11%) and crop diversification (9%). The logistic regression analysis revealed that the farm experience, education, land area, ZTBL credit, and climatic information from the relevant government department were important factors that influenced farm household adaptation measures in the study areas. Also, the study found that farm households had faced numerous constraints that could influence adaptation decisions, including financial constraints (28%), lack of knowledge and information (25%), inadequate farm resources (23%) in the study areas. Other restrictions to adaptations included the lack of public or private institutional support (14%), and lack of irrigation water (10%). The present research shows the need to implement policies that tackle adaptation barriers, and ensure that local institutions are available and ready to provide farmers with more up-to-date information and farm advisory to combat climate change and its negative consequences.
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Sustainability, Aug 17, 2022
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Frontiers in Earth Science
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Heliyon
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International Journal of Agricultural Extension
Pakistan is the home to a large number of poor, constituting about one-third of its population. T... more Pakistan is the home to a large number of poor, constituting about one-third of its population. The government of Pakistan launched several poverty reductions and rural development programs to increase the productivity of the rural poor through agricultural growth and other human-resource-related measures. This study has reviewed 14 community development programs by dividing them into five major phases, i.e., Rural Development Programs, Land Reforms, Employment Creation Schemes based on Direct Credit, Human Development Programs, and Poverty Alleviation Programs. The present study has demonstrated that the country, since its inception, been struggling for poverty reduction by introducing multi-dimensional approaches from time to time. Despite numerous efforts, the poverty rate remained at around 30.0% of the population during the last five to six decades. This article overviews the incidence and leading causes of poverty, major poverty reduction, and community-based rural development...
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Journal of Earth System Science
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Papers by Ashfaq Ahmad Shah