Pakistan is vulnerable to climate change, and extreme climatic conditions are threatening food security. This study examines the effects of climate change (e.g., maximum temperature, minimum temperature, rainfall, relative humidity, and the sunshine) on the major crops of Pakistan (e.g., wheat, rice, maize, and sugarcane). The methods of feasible generalized least square (FGLS) and heteroscedasticity and autocorrelation (HAC) consistent standard error were employed using time series data for the period 1989 to 2015. The results of the study reveal that maximum temperature adversely affects wheat production, while the effect of minimum temperature is positive and significant for all crops. Rainfall effect towards the yield of a selected crop is negative, except for wheat. To cope with and mitigate the adverse effects of climate change, there is a need for the development of heat- and drought-resistant high-yielding varieties to ensure food security in the country.

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In calcareous soils, wheat productivity is much lower due to improper nutrient management, especially phosphorus (P). Therefore, this study was conducted to manage P availability from various organic (Control, FYM and Sugar cane straw applied at the rate of 10 ton ha−1) and inorganic (Control, 100% rock phosphate (RP), 50% acidulated RP, 100% acidulated RP, single super phosphate (SSP) and diammonium phosphate (DAP)) sources applied at the rate of 90 kg P2O5 ha−1 in calcareous soil while using wheat as test crop. When averaged across the organic sources, SSP performed better in emergence m−2 (126), tillers m−2 (431), spikes m−2 (419), grains spikes−1 (61), plant height (95.1 cm), 1000-GW (40 g), biological yield (11,023 kg ha−1), grain yield (4022 kg ha−1), phosphorus use efficiency (10.5%), phosphorus in leaves at tillering (2.63 mg kg−1) and anthesis stage (2.50 mg kg−1), soil P at heading (1.73 mg kg−1) and post-harvest stage (1.56 mg kg−1) compared to the rest of the mineral sources. Similarly, among the organic sources, FYM performed better than others for all tested traits. Integration of inorganic P sources with organic manures further improved crop performance and post-harvest soil P content. Therefore, using 10 tons FYM ha−1 in integration to SSP or 100% acidulated RP at the rate of 90 kg P2O5 ha−1 is recommended for ensuring optimum wheat productivity under calcareous soils.

Th e main aim of the article is to show the response of the Maximum Residue Limits adopted by importing countries on exports of the selected food commodities from China. Th e study estimates the gravity model using the Ordinary Least Squares, Poisson and the Negative Binomial Regression estimators. According to the results, the Maximum Residue Limits has a trade enhancing eff ect on exports of the selected food commodities from China. Th is trade enhancing impact may be due to the current government policies to put a cut on the food safety issues, to ensure safe food for all and adopting a protectionist policy in terms of the Maximum Residues Limits for the selected commodities.

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