Participatory Based Transactions in Sharī‘ah (Islamic Commercial Law) and Their Role in the Development of Rural Local Agricultural Sector in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Local farming is, indeed, the most important sector of agriculture through which farmers grow food. However, owing to their weak financial conditions, they are not able to get maximum benefits from their labours for most of the times. The case of Pakistani farmers, particularly in rural areas of KP (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), is not different in this connection. They frequently resort to formal and informal sources of financing to accomplish their basic agricultural requirements: both crops and non-crops inclusive. However, all these sources advance financing facility on interest basis. Being typical Muslims, such agricultural credit is, therefore, avoided by these farmers and, as a result, they always endure on their financial grounds. In such situations, some substitute arrangements are recommended to reciprocate with their problems. This alternative is offered by Sharī‘ah through various commercial transactions – among which participatory based transaction i.e. Mushārakah is the most suitable and important one. In the present work, various models are proposed on the basis of such transaction to fulfill various agricultural requirements of farmers, living in rural areas of KP.  In addition, such models are structured in the light of basic theory, available in the classical literature of Islamic law, in order to make them more Sharī‘ah based rather Sharī‘ah compliant. The proposed models are then, at the second stage, tested at ground level to strengthen further their viability for all stake holders. Findings show that all agricultural requirements, particularly heavy machinery and transport, can be realized through such models provided if they are applied in their true spirit. Moreover, content analysis and focused group technique of qualitative research have been used, as a research methodology, for the investigation of the issue in the present work.

Etiology and Management of Sudden Decline Disease of Date Plam Phoenix Dactylifera L in Pakistan

Survey of seventeen date palm orchards of Khairpur, Pakistan was conducted to estimate the incidence of date palm sudden decline disease (SDD). Results revealed that the maximum disease incidence was recorded at the villages of Noor Pur (50.17%) followed by Baberloi (35.58%), Ahmed Pur (32.47%), Kot Mir Mohammad (20.27%), Machyoon (13.51%), Garhi Mori (11.01%) as compared to other orchards and incidence was significantly decreased at Nizamani (0.25%). Six fungi namely, Fusarium solani, Phoma ucladium, Alternaria alternata, Aspergilus niger and Penicillium chrysogenium were isolated from infected roots of date palm. Fusarium solani was isolated predominantly from infected roots followed by Phoma ucladium and Alternaria alternate. This is the first record of Fusarium solani from Pakistan and its association with decline of date palm in Sindh, Pakistan. To confirm the etiology of date palm decline disease the pathogenicity tests on date palm seedlings were carried out on most commercial growing date palm varieties like Aseel, Fasli and Karbalian by three different methods. The inoculations of Fusarium solani alone or with Phoma ucladium or Helminthosporium sativum to confirm the pathogenic nature of Fusarium solani which not only greatly reduced the plant growth but also caused significant plant mortality and disease severity. In order to find out the effective chemical control of date palm sudden decline disease, the efficacy of six different fungicides was tested against Fusarium solani under In vitro and field conditions (in laboratory experiment). The Bavistin D.F showed complete suppression of Fusarium solani followed by Topsin-M, Alliette and Ridomil gold at 150 ppm concentration followed by 100 ppm and 50 ppm. The field experiment was conducted on the basis of the results obtained from in vitro management test of fungicides. The systemic fungicides were used as soil drench and contact fungicides were used as foliar spray for the control of sudden decline disease (SDD) of date palm under field conditions. The disease severity was recorded before the first spray and percent decrease in disease incidence was obtained after the completion of three sprays. The Bavistin D.F proved to be the highly effective fungicide also under field conditions. The maximum percent decreasing disease was recorded at first (45.4), second (72) and third spray (97.1) of Bavistin D.F followed by Topsin-M, Alliette, Ridomil, Mancozeb and Copper oxychloride, in control plants the disease was increased with increase in time. The complete disappearance of typical symptoms of the disease were noted in the trees treated with fungicides and same trees gave fruit in next season.