A study was conducted during the year 2000 to investigate flock size and egg production performance of backyard chicken maintained by woman in rural areas of Peshawar, NWFP, Pakistan. One hundred and thirty female farmers were selected at random from 13 randomly selected nearby villages of Peshawar city. Average flock size maintained by a household in rural areas of Peshawar was 26.1±0.69 chicken with a higher number of adult birds (14.5±0.50) than chicks (11.6±0.41).Fewer chickens was found in flocks given no housing facility (24.3±1.02) than those given part time housing facility (29.4±0.85). Higher number of chickens/household was found with flock owners vaccinating their chicken against ND+Fowl-pox than those not vaccinating their chicken against these diseases. On the average 2315±66.2 eggs were obtained by a household. Egg production/bird irrespective of the breed was found to be142±3.17 eggs. Of the total eggs produced, 703±23.8 eggs were consumed by the household on annual basis. More eggs per bird were produced by Rhode Island Red (RIR) than Desi chicken. Flocks given a part time housing facility produced more eggs/bird than those given no housing. Flocks reared in normal human dwellings also produced higher number of eggs per bird than those given no housing. More eggs/bird were obtained from flocks vaccinated against ND+fowl-pox disease than non-vaccinated flocks. RIR produced higher number of eggs/bird under scavenging conditions than desi, Fayumi and White Leghorn chickens. Effective health coverage, housing facilities and rearing of highly productive chicken will improve backyard chicken production in rural areas of Peshawar.

Information from 400 randomly selected female farmers was obtained during the year 1997 to assess the production performance of backyard chicken in Charsadda district, North West Frontier Province (NWFP), Pakistan. Only 16.3% of the farmers were regularly vaccinating their flocks. The majority of the farmers initiated immunization only at the time of disease onset (29.7%) followed by those (28.5%) who did not vaccinate. A high proportion (53.3%) provided no housing, 29.8% provide night shelters and 17% had no housing. Average flock size was 22.0 birds, comprising 8.86 chicks, 2.03 pullets and 11.1 layers. The local Desi chicken dominated the flocks (10.2 birds) followed by Fayumi (6.76), Rhode Island Red (4.20) with White Leghorn least popular (0.83 ). Average mortality in a flock was 23.6%. Mortality was higher in layers (28.1%) than in pullets (18.7%) and chicks (24.2%). Significantly higher losses were found in White Leghorn (35.6%) than in Desi chicken (17.5%). Similarly, higher mortality was found in chicken without housing facilities (26.7%) than in those with access to houses (21.6%). Regular vaccination was associated with higher productivity than vaccination at the onset of disease or no vaccination. Average annual egg production was 76.4 for Desi, 109 for Fayumi, 169 for Rhode Island and 153 for White Leghorn. Mean hatchability was 61.2% with an annual frequency of 4.6 settings and 15.1 eggs set per broody hen. Farmer preference for the "local" Desi chicken reflected their greater capacity to survive and adapt to scavenging management systems. Fayumi and Rhode Island chickens appear to merit further studies as breeds that could improve the productivity of scavenging systems, as they had higher egg production and only slightly higher mortality than Desi chicken.

The article is devoted to the problem of gender inequality on rural areas and argued the necessity of forming gender sensitive rural development policy. Based on existing theories of institutionalism, the authors characterized gender as a social institute, forming the structure of rural society. The importance of gender equality for progressive rural growth of rural areas, effective use of women’s human capital in development of rural communities is underlined. Methodological frameworks of research are formed on the basis of rural development, gender economy and institutional theories. Adopted methodological approach of United Nations Development Program to gender inequality index calculation is used for integrated evaluation the gender inequality in reproductive health, political empowerment, and economic activity on labor market in rural areas. Research results indicate permanent character of the gender inequality problem in rural society and it dependence from situation in rural economy system. Gender asymmetries in economic activity and educational attainment of rural population, it participation in political initiatives and decision-making, demographic processes caused the regional differentiation of gender inequality problem. Indicated gender problems are characterized as the challenges for growth of rural areas and should be taken into account in the process of forming rural development policy, transforming it from gender neutral to gender sensitive. Key points of such a policy are implementation of the gender mainstreaming concept in rural development policy; forming an inclusive model of rural economy development and social cohesion; diversification of rural labor market; stimulating transfer of knowledge and innovation.

The study examined livelihoods and wealth distribution among farm households in western Kenya. Stratified random sampling was used to select 252 households from eight districts. Focus group discussions were used to collect complementary community-level data. Results indicate that average household size was seven persons. The cropping system was over 70% mixed. Agriculture was the main source of livelihoods. Labour was mainly allocated to crop enterprises, with household heads allocating > 50% of their labour to it. Maize (Zea mays) and common beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) were the most important staple/traded food crops. Poultry, followed by cattle dominated livestock enterprises. Few households diversified into small businesses, employment and artisan to enhance livelihoods. Despite this, 5 – 95% of people remained food insecure. Lack of cash and limited land access were the most important factors constraining agricultural development. Although, most households preferred selling produce in markets where prices were better, many not only sold produce but purchased inputs from nearest towns due to high costs of accessing better price markets. Wealth inequality among households was very high, with household wealth Gini-coefficient of 0.52 and per capita wealth Gini-coefficient of 0.55, calling for better interventions targeting to reach most vulnerable/marginal groups and create all-inclusive opportunities.

Recent developments in politics and economy has created additional challenges for medical institutions with lack of medical personnel, transportation from rural areas to medical institutions. Very often, there is a difference between medical services in urban and rural areas. In research is often mentioned that male and female persons have different evaluations on their health situation. The aim of the paper is to prepare research based recommendations for possible steps for public administrators to support availability of medical services in urban and rural areas. Tasks of the current research: analysis of theoretical findings reflected in scientific publications and discussion of research results, analysis of tendencies of self-perceived health status of population in Latvia, analysis on possible differences between gender as in scientific publications is often mentioned that female and male persons have different evaluations, analysis of health self-evaluations between inhabitants in rural and urban territories and possible differences in evaluations for persons with different employment status. Representative data from EUSILC, different statistical analysis methods and statistical indicators are used: indicators of descriptive statistics, crosstabulations, testing of statistical hypotheses with t-test and analysis of variance – ANOVA, chi-square test, as well as correlation analysis. Research results confirm that self-perceived health status in Latvia are higher in rural areas and higher health self-esteem evaluations were made by female persons.

This study explores the impact of climate change, social capital, and gender differences on the resilience of smallholder farmers in South Asia. Analysing data from Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Pakistan from 2000 to 2020, the researchers have found that climate change significantly reduces agricultural productivity, while social capital acts as a crucial support mechanism. The paper summarizes gender-sensitive interventions in the improvement of adaptive ability and equality in the agriculture sector. It describes innovative farm-level practices and policy measures at various levels to strengthen resilience from environmental challenges. This approach gives room for researchers to find how the elements of climate change, put together with social capital and gender disparities, influence agricultural resilience. The present analysis recaps gender-sensitive interferences aimed at improving adaptive ability and equality in the agriculture sector, describing ground-breaking farm-level performs and policy measures to strengthen resilience against environmental tasks. Data shows that the climate change has a negative impact on agricultural output; therefore, any rise in temperature, change of precipitation, and extreme weather events worsen susceptibility. Social capital is also an essential part in resilience, being a source of resources, information, and support networks that can be drawn on. It calls for the interaction with the opposite gender and gender-sensitive interventions that increase adaptive ability and equality between men and women in agriculture. This study reveals that agri-diversification is pivotal for conservation agriculture enhancing climate resilience in South Asia.