Research Methodology

The present study is based upon an empirical survey¹²⁶ conducted in a village located in the district Bhalwal in Pakistan. Some major socio-economic criteria to select the village were as follows:

− irrigated cultivation

− better income level

− heterogeneous education composition

− visible social stratification

− formal saving institutions (bank, saving centers) in close vicinity These criteria were selected for the following reasons:

− irrigated villages usually have a better capacity of absorbing their population into farm practices and, therefore, of retaining rural characteristics, whereas rain-fed areas are comparatively more exposed to non-farm employment and urban way of life;

− the community should have a least potential to keep some (cash or kind) aside;

− a heterogeneous education level and social stratification are beneficial to observe a variety of saving behavior;

− a visible social stratification may indicate varying decision making priorities in different classes or caste groups

− accessible saving institutions fulfill a prerequisite to ascertain whether the community is apt to use these services.

Rapport establishment was not difficult as some of the influential families of the village were already known and explained the reasons of the survey and convinced others before time. The only doubts left were the fear of government authorities being connected with this project, as agricultural taxation was a burning issue at that time. It was repeatedly asked whether the author was connected with government authorities. As the area had been selected as a model village for the Mona Reclamation Project and had therefore been subjected to many research programs, villagers had developed a better tendency to co-operate with researchers.

Participant observation was the very first technique that was applied. Experience has shown that it is a great advantage when residence and food are shared with a native family, it facilitates the process of participant observation. This same strategy was adopted throughout the field work; it gave many new insights into the community’s latent

126 From July 1992 to April 1993.

functions; this would not have been possible otherwise. Participant observation therefore

"helps to observe unexpected things and thus leads to further inquiries and sometimes new concepts" (MANIG/HERBON 1988:34)

The survey was divided into two phases: the basic survey and the special survey. Field work was started with the basic survey, which consisted of a brief questionnaire to collect some basic socio-economic data on every household such as caste group, income sources, number of household members, their occupation, age, sex and education, etc. This method

"offers the opportunity of informally acquiring, through incidental observation of work performance, daily routine or structures of interaction within the village"¹²⁷ ( KORTENBUSCH 1994:21). The survey provided an opportunity to pay introductory visits and become personally familiarized with every household. Besides quantitative data, informal talks gave some general information on the socio-political status of the household which proved to be very fruitful for the selection of the sample afterwards. A maximum of two households could be visited per day due to peak summer time. Since villagers were usually busy in the morning, the only choice left was to visit them shortly before lunch or in the evening. This part of the survey took about two months to be completed.

A sample of sixty households was selected from a total of 150 basic survey households, with the help of a "proportionate stratified sampling" on the basis of caste groups:

representation of a caste group in the sample according to its representation on the total households of the village.

An actual empirical survey started with the help of an already prepared detailed standardized structured questionnaire for quantitative data and an open-ended interview guide for qualitative information. Both questionnaire and interview guide were tested empirically with the "cross test method" and altered accordingly. This was the most rigorous task; in spite of being fully aware of the language and other local conditions, it was very time-consuming for the author to explain to the respondents the reason behind every question. Information reliability was another problem; "many respondents tended either not to mention all income amounts or to exaggerate expenses"¹²⁸ (RÄDER 1992:73).

A regular cross-check¹²⁹ of information was therefore necessary. Since the main theme of the study focuses upon most sensitive aspects like income acquisition and its distribution in a rural household, hesitation in answering and cross-questioning on the part of respondents was no wonder. A few of them plainly refused to be interviewed, as they did not want to publicize their financial affairs. A questionnaire and interview guide could not be completed on the same day; usually, it took two days or more. The total time period utilized in this phase was about four months.

The "special survey" was conducted through the so-called "extended case method" to collect data on monthly income and expenditure in the last twelve months. Twelve case study households were selected from a sample of sixty, three from each caste group and one from each income stratum (upper, middle, lower)¹³⁰ within a caste group. Selected

127 Translated by Mrs M. Decotter, Institute of Rural Development, Georg-August University of Goettingen.

128 Tranlated by Mrs M. Decotter, Institute of Rural Development, Georg-August University of Goettingen.

129 A cross check is made once by asking their total annual income (which was mostly wrong) and then by asking it separately from every monetary and non-monetary source on a monthly, bi-annual and annual basis.

130 The categorization into three groups is based upon the total income of the household and not of landholding. As „it is misleading to consider those having absolutely no land as necessarily the poorest;

many of them do not try to earn from land but have another occupation, and their income is also higher than those day labourers having only a little homestead land“ (MALONEY/AHMED 1988:12).

households were then observed keenly and interviewed with the help of a partly open, partly closed questionnaire. They were asked about their daily or weekly consumption under normal as well as special circumstances¹³¹, since it was impossible to obtain a direct account of their income and consumption expenditure in the last year. The collection of quantitative data created a very serious problem. Villagers are not acquainted with any bookkeeping; they usually rely on their memory which may fade quickly. The only help in recalling the expenditure was a different set of activities in different quarters of the year, depending upon their cropping pattern, and saving techniques were also highly influenced by the availability of income in cash or in kind in different months, rights of passage and other such ceremonies were also organized accordingly, which appeared to be a great help in recalling the activities.

It was felt during this phase that all households could not be contacted and interviewed simultaneously. It seemed to be an annoyance for the households when they were visited once every week or every two weeks. They repeated the last details every time. Carrying out one case study per week proved to be a much better method. The household members were contacted before time and asked when it would be convenient for them. They were, in this way, mentally prepared to co-operate for a week's study. The case study phase took about three months to be completed.

The information obtained was recorded and booked on open work-sheets, separately for male and female interviewees. The method of recording was similar to the ICRISAT's field research¹³². All non-monetary inter as well as intra-household transactions were valued by the actual market price of the goods at the closest market.

As stated, the questions regarding income and saving created some extraordinary hesitations as they touched upon a household’s discrete matter. Moreover, a rural setup hardly allowed an isolated talk. It was very often that household members, relatives, neighbors and other spectators gathered around the interviewee to listen to his household details. Some of the case study interviews were therefore conducted discretely, at the author's place. It proved an extremely difficult problem, however, to get women's opinions only. Women usually do not answer in the presence of men. Men always dominate the discussion even regarding questions directly related to women. Almost all men tried to convince the author that women do not have enough knowledge to answer such difficult questions. The only chance the author could take was to sleep in the women's room and conduct informal talks before going to sleep.

Another problem in this regard was to obtain accurate information. The interviewees were quite used to either maximizing or minimizing their income level. The method therefore had to be altered, and they were asked more precisely about the cost of individual items consumed approximately in a week or a month. Questions as to income were also tackled similarly and total income and consumption were then calculated later.

Apart from false information, finding the right time for an interview was also a major difficulty. It was important not to irritate villagers during their daily activities. Sometimes a

IFPRI Rural Survey of Pakistan, 1986/87-1988/89 (ALDERMAN/GARCIA 1993:34-88) constructs nine different criteria for answering this question. Using income as a criterion, this study shows that households with temporary income shortfalls (due to weather or illness, for example) can be considered poor, even if their expenditures reflect their long-term income expectations.

131 Special cirumstances means months with considerable income fluctuation, like October and January, when income shows a minimum or maximum level respectively.

132See BINSWANGER/ JODHA (1978).

very smoothly running interview had to be postponed because of the sudden arrival of guests. Such incomplete information created problems. Misunderstandings and vague answers cannot be avoided on the part of the respondent, since those may only be detected afterward when checking answers. A revisit in such cases was also difficult to plan, as now the respondent knew how much time is taken up during such talks. The sensitive nature of the study also caused problems in the recording of interviews on audio cassettes.

Villagers either refused or did not give correct answers as soon as they saw the tape recorder. Only a few educated household heads did not see any problem and co-operated fully in this regard.

Besides a structured questionnaire and an unstructured interview guide, some non-systematic observations were also recorded in the form of a daily diary, which consisted of almost all activities of the day, such as people come across, important events narrated, or some other incident which happened on that day. Although all such details had nothing to do directly with the topic of research, still it proved to be very helpful in integrating and explaining many answers of interviewees.

Apart from individual households, the institutional and organizational framework was also investigated to analyze the performance of organizations and associations. Some key persons at decision-making level and executive organs of the regional administration were also interviewed. These included the people holding important positions in ministries, universities and foreign development projects. Secondary data (official reports, regional statistical documents, district gazettes and census surveys, etc.) was also consulted, as far as possible, although it was not an easy task, "since a researcher did not occupy an obvious position in the hierarchy of the relevant organization, from which the question as to the obligation of supplying information and of co-operating results"¹³³ (KORTENBUSCH 1994:22).

The data is processed and evaluated using SPSS-WIN (Statistical Package for Social Sciences). The data is recorded for one agricultural year 1991/92 for a cross-sectional analysis. The conclusions are predominantly valid for the irrigated region of the central Punjab of Pakistan. Electronic data processing and an evaluation task were undertaken under the guideline of "research objectives" developed before starting the field work, "data processing which is not guided by hypothesis may lead into the trap of writing 'search-programs,' and that search may never end" (MANIG/HERBON 1988:54).

133 Tranlated by Mrs. M. Decotter, Institute of Rural Development, Georg-August University of Goettingen.

Diagram 3: Map of Pakistan Showing the Study Area

PUNJAB Sargodh

a

BALUCHISTA N

SIND

NWFP

INDIA AFGHANISTAN

Study Area

ARABIAN SEA

The study area lies 50 km north east of Sargodha District in Tehsil Bhalwal of the Province Punjab in Pakistan. The selected village acted as a model village for the Mona Reclamation Experimental Project (MRE) initiated in 1965.¹³⁴ The village dates from the early 1900's when the lower Jhelum Canal was established. There are a few cultivato rs who lived in the area before the canal was constructed, all the others either migrated from Gujrat District or from other areas to this newly established region after the Indo-Pakistan partition. "With respect to origin, the village is constituted of 8.5% locals, 88.5% settlers and 3%

refugees¹³⁵" (HUSSAIN/ALI/JOHNSON 1976:2ff). In spite of the overwhelming majority of settlers, the village population cannot be considered as a homogeneous group. In fact, the population is further divided into a number of caste groups like Arain, Rajput, Gujar, Gondal, Harral, Janjua, Malik, Raja, and Syed, of which only three are dominant in terms of landholding. 720 acres of the village, which represent almost 80% of the total land,¹³⁶ are owned by only three caste groups: Gujar, Syed and Malik.

The farms are predominantly owner operated. 84% of the total farms are owner operated, 12% tenant operated, 4% are leased out. It is important to mention that a great number of owner- cultivators perform agricultural activities with the help of permanently hired labor.

This labor mostly performs the tasks which require exhaustive muscle exercise or which are socially low ranked. The type of land tenure correlates with the owner’s social status:

the castes possessing a better socio-political status prefer to hire agricultural laborers permanently, which satisfies their sense of authority as well. In the past, the land of only relatively larger farmers was cultivated by tenants or contractors. The trend declined considerably with the partial mechanization in the area. Currently, the tenure pattern of a farm is mainly determined by the labor and management factors. Small landholders are always eager to add in cultivable areas through tenancy or contract basis, but their desire cannot be fulfilled because of a limited offer. As a consequence of a progressive shrinking of landholdings in comparison to expanding needs, the logical tenure pattern that is emerging is self cultivation.

Cropping pattern and intensity underwent a series of changes in the course of time. The cultivation calendar is divided into two major groups: 'Rabi and Kharif'.¹³⁷ The dominant Kharif crops are sugar-cane, citrus and fodder with cotton and rice cultivated to a limited extent, while during Rabi wheat, citrus and fodder are the dominant crops. Citrus is a perennial crop, the same applies to sugar-cane but farmers count it among Kharif crops.

The cropping pattern is mainly determined by the supply of water. Just after the rehabilitation of watercourses when canal and tubewell functioned well, farmers tried to cultivate rice, which they themselves abandoned due to the high unreliability in the operation of tubewells. Similarly, cotton cultivation was replaced by citrus due to its poor yield and depressed the market as a cash crop. These crops, if cultivated, now only serve for the farmer’s domestic consumption. Currently, wheat, citrus and sugar-cane are the major crops in the area. Other studies conducted in the nearby districts also give similar evidence, e.g., BHATTI (1984:92) mentions for Faisalabad District that sugar- cane made

134 The main objective of the MRE was to conduct field level research regarding the problem of irrigated agriculture in SCARP (The Salinity Control and Reclamation Program) areas to rectify waterlogging and salinity, on the one hand, and to improve the water use efficiencies at watercourse level, on the other. The studies conducted there provided the base for the present on-farm water management programmes all over the country.

135 Settlers are the people who have migrated to the area before partition from a district which is now a part of Pakistan. The refugees migrated after the partition from India.

136 Calculated from empirical data.

137 The Kharif crops are cultivated in the summer season, from April to October, winter crops are termed Rabi and are cultivated from November to March.

the largest contribution to the household budget in the sampled households. In his study area, only 50 percent of the farmers sold wheat, as compared to the 96 percent who sold cane as standing crop to the village dealers or to the sugar mill or marketed sugar-cane products.

The area under citrus is increasing more rapidly. After rehabilitation there has been an increase of about 150 acres in the area occupied by citrus orchards.¹³⁸ The selection of citrus as a major crop is determined by many reasons: i) it does not require much labor, and it is easy to market, because it is sold directly to contractors at the flowering or budding stage; ii) the farmer's responsibility after the contract is reduced to irrigation and spraying the orchard, and finally iii) because of its higher value as a cash crop. The area under wheat remained, by and large, constant, due mainly not to its importance as a staple food but because of the social values attached to its cultivation. It is cosidered to be highly disgracious for a farmer to buy wheat for household consumption, although he may earn more by cultivating other cash crops. Such norms directly influence the availability of income along with a household’s saving potential.

Some institutional and organizational problems are also discouraging sugar-cane cultivation. The watercourse is in the mill area of a sugar plant at Bhalwal, and therefore, according to the Federal Sugar Act (1947), the farmers must market at least 80% of their sugar-cane at the mill. This legal privilege is being continuously exploited by the mill authorities since they consider this crop as a reserve to be bought at the end when the supply from all other areas stops. Due to these and other related factors such as transportation to the mill and fulfilling many lengthy bureaucratic procedures, the area under sugar-cane cultivation is decreasing considerably.

Im Dokument Household savings in rural Pakistan (Seite 109-115)