DETERMINANTS OF OFF-FARM EMPLOYMENT AMONG SMALL FARM HOLDERS IN RURAL AREAS OF DISTRICT MARDAN

Main objective of the study was to investigate the determinants of the off-farm employment of the small farm of district Mardan. For this purpose data were collected from purposively selected villages in district Mardan, Pakistan 2012.The study showed that 90% of the sampled respondents of the area operating small farms were engaged in off-farm jobs. About 40.96% of sampled respondents in both villages were engaged in daily paid labor, nearly 30.12% of sampled respondents were engaged in part time employment, and 28.91 % were engaged in various businesses, respectively. In both villages, the pattern of off-farm employment was more or less the same. Negative relation was found between farm size and the off-farm employment. The effects of farm underemployment, working age group size (age of the farmer), income from other sources, and education were positive on the off-farm employment. It was also observed that for the sampled respondents operating on the different levels of farm size the magnitude of the off-farm employment was significantly different. It was also noticed that owners were relatively more involved in off-farm jobs, than the tenants and owner-cum-tenants. The study showed that in both villages, there exist a significant difference between off-farm employments. The sampled respondents of the Mado performed more off-farm work than the sampled respondents of the Matha. In Mado village, the farm income was mainly high due to high return of plum orchards, which were grown on large area. On the other hand, in Matha, the sample respondents were growing other cash crops and staple food but return on those crops was relatively low. In Mado, income from off-farm jobs was high than that of sampled respondents of Matha, because of the availability of more off-farm jobs in Mado. In Mado, income from other sources (other than farm) was higher due to the reason that the family members of the farm household were in better jobs in non- agriculture (farm) sectors and contributing more income to their family income. The study recommends therefore getting profitable off-farm employment and better income from that source; there should be better education facilities in the rural areas. To provide training and skills to the rural people in the village, skill enhancement programs should be launched based on agrarian professions similar to bee keeping, handicraft activities and poultry farming.