AVAILABILTY AND ACCESS TO CAPITALS OF RURAL HOUSEHOLD IN NORTHERN PAKISTAN

Household engage in various activities for livelihood by using different capitals. These include natural, physical, social, financial and human capitals. Access to different levels and combination of asset has major influence on choice of livelihood options and wellbeing of household. The aim of the present research was to study the possession and access to livelihood capitals of rural household in Northern Pakistan. For this purpose data were collected from 323 household from one of the districts in Northern Pakistan. Chi-square test was applied to examine the significance of these capitals at 50: 50 percent. The findings of the research show that natural capitals in these areas are; land, livestock, irrigation water, and forests are contributing significantly towards livelihood. Physical capitals i.e. possession of home, access to potable water, electricity and agriculture machinery are important indicators for socio-economic status of a household. Literacy rate was found very high compared to other rural areas of similar characteristics. The contribution of capacity to work, skill possession, and vocational training and extension services having significant contribution to human capital. The decision power at community level, working relation with each others, and farmer organization play significant role in contributing to social capital. Similarly financial capital including saving, remittance, monthly pension, income from livestock and access to agriculture credit is contributing significantly. The study concludes that the natural, physical, human, social and financial capitals play a vital role in the livelihood of the rural household. But access to these capitals is skewed which adversely affected the development of these areas. There is a need to address the issue of skewed access to these assets of all the rural households so that they may be equally benefited from these assets.