Relative Influence of Diversified Factors on the Living Standard of Farmers in Pakistan: A Multivariate Analysis

Abstract

For effective management of agricultural policies, the determination of current status and impact of multiple factors on the livelihood of farmers is very important. In present study, multivariate technique analysis, Detrended Correspondence Analysis (DCA) and Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) were used to visualize the impact and estimate the influence of these factors on the earning of farmers. Therefore, 400 farmers were selected from 20 villages in Sundry district of Punjab Province in Pakistan. The results indicated that four major clusters of villages on the basis of the information collected during the survey. CCA indicates that farmers having middle age with above secondary school education, medium landholding and obtaining information using computer, audio visual aids, wall chalking and television are highly associated with high income of farming communities. Cultivation of major crops encircles wheat, rice, cotton, sugarcane, maize, significantly improving the living standard of the farming community rather than fruits and vegetables. Hence, it is recommended that all stakeholders, electronic media especially agricultural department and television should effectively perform their role with innovative strategies regarding agricultural crops to the educated middle age farmers for sustainable livelihood.