An Evaluation of Historical and Recent Government Programs to Promote Off-Season Vegetable Cultivation in FATA

Vegetables are rich source of vitamins, carbohydrates, and proteins. Increased health awareness, high population growth rates, changing dietary patterns of an increasingly affluent middle class has generated a year-round demand for vegetables in Pakistan in general and in major city centres in particular. Due to the scarcity of off-season vegetables (OSV), they command a high price in the market. In the absence of storage infrastructure and vegetable processing industry in the country, OSV farming is a major opportunity for increasing farm income. However, farmers in the Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA) of Pakistan are still using traditional farming methods and have not benefited from the opportunity to grow offseason vegetables. The PCNA-ISU FATA and Agriculture Extension Department (AED) of the Khyber Agency offered registered and non-registered farmers in FATA the opportunity to receive a free OSV package, including a tunnel, seeds, fertilizer, and training for OSV cultivation. To promote awareness of this program, PCNA-ISU FATA and AED held four one-day sessions on awareness/mobilization of farmers for OSV cultivation. These sessions were held at the University of Peshawar on November 6, November 7, and November 12, and November 13, 2014. The speakers highlighted the importance of OSV and discussed the types of vegetable grown in tunnel farming, e.g., chillies, cucumbers squash, and tomatoes. The speakers highlighted that the climate of FATA is suitable for OSV cultivation and that farmers can fetch high prices from these vegetables. PCNA-ISU FATA and AED targeted two tehsils in particular, namely Jarnrud and Landi Kotal in Khyber Agency. Of the 217 farmers who attended these sessions, 115 were from Jarnrud and 102 were from Landi Kotal. Approximately, 15 percent of the farmers accepted the OSV package. It is noteworthy that there was a windstorm and hailstorm before the harvest of OSV which caused substantial damage to the crop. The purpose of this report is to evaluate the OSV program. The evaluation consists of three surveys: an historical survey of OSV adopters, an environmental study of historical OSV adopters, and a post-harvest survey of the 33 farmers that adopted the OSV package. There are a several interesting findings that come from the analysis of the data from these three surveys. First, the take-up rate by farmers of the OSV program is very low. Second, the rate of return to OSV farming appears to be very high. Third, analysis of the historical data shows that a significant proportion of the sample of farmers in Khyber Agency have not engaged in OSV cultivation for a number of years. Given the high rate of return to OSV cultivation reported by farmers, the low take-up rate and the large fraction that for all practical purposes have stopped OSV cultivation is puzzling and merits further investigation. Finally, as explained in greater detail below, there is some evidence that pesticide use in OSV cultivation is having adverse effects on the taste of water and on livestock. Although the number of farmers reporting such adverse effects from pesticide use are relatively small, the harm from pesticides is so great to both humans and livestock, the Agricultural Extension Office may wish to consider offering training to farmers in the proper use of pesticides. The remainder of this report is organized as follows. We begin by analysing the results of the post-harvest survey. Then, we analyse the survey responses of OSA adopters from a program designed to eradicate poppy cultivation by offering a substitute crop. Finally, we analyse the results of an environmental survey