DOES MICRO HYDROPOWER IMPROVE PRODUCTIVITY OF MAIZE CROP? A CASE OF RURAL KHYBER PAKHTUNKHWA

Abstract

Micro hydropower (MHP) schemes play an important role in socio-economic development of an area.  This study attempts to identify the effects of MHP schemes on productivity of maize crop in three selected tehsils namely Alpuri, Besham and Puran of district Shangla, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. A total of 220 households were randomly selected from the selected tehsils. Primary data were collected through a questionnaire-based survey. Binary logit model was used to find out the effects of MHP scheme on productivity of maize crop in the research area. The results of the estimated model confirm that MHP scheme has a positively significant effect on productivity of maize crop and thereby, income of people in the study area, as shown by the p-value less than 0.05. The overall model was highly significant which confirms that MHP positively affects productivity of maize crop and income of the farmers.  The study concludes that electricity produced from MHP schemes has an important role in socio-economic and sustainable agricultural development in the research area in specific and rural areas in general.