Agricultural Development

Importance

Importance of Agriculture
Agriculture is backbone and the largest sector of Pakistan’s economy, which plays a very important role in its development. It provides food i.e. wheat, rice, pulses, vegetables, fruit and other items for growing population of the country. Nearly 22% of total output (GDP) and 44.8% of total employment is generated in agriculture. It contributes substantially to Pakistan’s exports.Agriculture also contributes to growth as a supplier of raw materials to industry as well as market for industrial products.
Performance of agriculture during the year 2005-06 has been weak because its crops sector particularly major crops could not perform up to the expectations. Growth in the agriculture sector registered a sharp recovery in 2006-07 and grew by 5.0 percent as against the preceding year’s growth of 1.6 percent.
Agriculture employs 30% of work force. Country’s 67% population lives in villages. It contributes about 25% to GDP. It provides raw material such as cotton, sugarcane, tobacco, cottonseed, edible oil seeds, citrus fruits, leather, wool, wood and other items for various industries. Major crops accounting for 35.2% of value added in agriculture, registered a decline of 3% as production of two of the four major crops, namely cotton and sugarcane has been significantly less for a variety of reasons including excessive rains at the time of sowing, high temperature at flowering stage, late harvesting of wheat crop, strong base effect (cotton) and incidence of frost, damaging sugarcane crop in the month of January 2006. Pakistan’s agriculture has been suffering, off and on, from severe shortage of irrigation water in recent years.

Main Features

Main Features of Agriculture
1. Main source of food supply.
2. Provides employment opportunities.
3. Major source of national income.
4. Provides raw material for industries.
5. Good market for agricultural machinery and equipment.
6. Market for fertilizers, pesticides and insecticides.
7. Main sour of foreign exchange earnings.
8. Expands industrial goods market.

Major Agricultural Crops

Major Agricultural Crops
There are two principal crop seasons in Pakistan, namely Kharif, sowing season begins in April-June and harvesting during October-December and Rabi, which begins in October-December and ends in April-May. Rice, sugarcane, cotton, maize, bajra and jowar are Kharif crops, whereas, wheat, gram, tobacco, rapeseed, barley and mustard are Rabi crops. Major crops wheat, rice, cotton and sugarcane account for 90.1 percent of the value added in the major crops.
1. Cotton
Cotton is not only an export-earning crop but also provides raw material to the local textile industries. Pakistan is one of the largest cotton producing and consuming countries in the world. Under the WTO post quota scenario, the country appears to have the potential of becoming a leading force in the worldwide cotton and textile market place. There is also growing realization in the country that future gains in value added from cotton are only possible through qualitative improvement in raw cotton. Cotton accounts for 8.6 percent of the value added in agriculture and about 1.9 percent in GDP.
Factors responsible for the decline in cotton production include:

• Excessive rain at the time of sowing.
• High temperature at flowering stage.
• Late wheat harvesting resulting in decline of area under the crop.
• Pest attack in some cottons growing areas of Punjab and Sindh.

2. Rice
Rice is an important food cash crop. It is also one of the main export items of country. It accounts for 5.7 percent of the total value added in agriculture and 1.2 percent to GDP. Area and production target of rice for the year 2006-07 were set at 2575 thousand hectares, 0.2 percent higher than the target and 4% higher than last year. The size of the crop estimated at 5438 thousand tons, 2.0 percent lower than the last year and 4.5 percent lower than the original target.
3. Sugarcane
Sugarcane crop serves as a major raw material for production of white sugar and gur. Sugarcane crop is highly water-intensive and an important crop. Sugar production in the country mostly depends on this crop, though a small quantity of sugar is also produced from sugar beet. Its share in value added of agriculture and GDP are 3.5 percent and 0.7 percent respectively.
The higher sugarcane production is the result of increase in area, timely rains and judicious application of fertilizer, improvement in cultural practice, better management and attractive prices offered by the millers.
4. Wheat
What is the main staple diet of country’s population and largest grain crop of the country. It contributes 14.4 percent to the value added in agriculture and 3.0 percent to GDP. Area and production target of wheat for the year 2006-07 were set at 8459 thousand hectares and 22.5 million tons respectively. Wheat was cultivated on an area of 8494 thousand hectares, showing 1.0 percent increase over last year and 0.4 percent increase over the target. The size of wheat crop is, however provisionally estimated at 23.52 million tons, highest wheat production in the country’s history, which is 10.5 percent higher that last year and 4.5 percent higher than the target. Higher production is due to following reasons.

• The certified wheat seed availability was 50,000 tons more than last year to 2,17,000 tons.
• The urea fertilizer availability for Rabi crop was 4.714 tons, which was more than the area requirements of 2.9 million tons for Rabi. Moreover subsidy was extended to phosphatic and potassic fertilizers. The price of 50 kg. bag of these fertilizers were reduced by Rs. 250 and further to Rs. 400 per bag to promote balanced use of fertilizers.
• The water availability for Rabi was 31.2 million acre feet. This was an improvement of 3.7 percent over the last year Rabi water use of 30.1 million acre feet.
• Last year the agricultural credit disbursement to farmers was Rs. 130 billion. This year credit availability has been increased to Rs. 160 billion. The banks were also instructed to focus on small and medium scale growers for credit disbursement.

Minor Agricultural Crops

Minor Agricultural Crops
1. Oilseeds
The major oilseed crops include cottonseed, rapeseed/mustard, sunflower and canola etc., the total availability of edible oils in 2005-06 was 2.905 million tons. Local production stood at 0.793 million tons which accounts for 27 percent of total availability while the remaining 73 percent was made available through imports. During 2006-07 local production of edible oil is provisionally estimated at 0.855 million tons. During this period, 2.201 million tons edible oil was imported and 0.349 million tons edible oil was recovered from imported oilseeds. The total availability of edible oil from all sources amounted to 3.405 million tons during 2006-07.
2. Other Minor Crops
The production of two pulses namely mung and masoor were higher by 21.5 percent and 17.9 percent respectively during 2006-07. However production of mash decreased by 3.6 percent. The main reason for decline in production of mash as compared to last year has been the shortfall of area dedicated to the crop, which declined by 4.6 percent. The production of potato was significantly higher by 67.2 percent and stood at 2622.3 thousand tons while it was 1568 thousand tons last year. However the production of onion decreased by 14.3 percent mainly due to 16.5 percent reduction in corp area. The production of chilies is decreased by 49.6 percent as 32.4 percent area of the crop decreased due to excessive rains in Sindh.

Problems

Problems of Agriculture
1. Old Methods of Cultivation
Primitive methods of cultivation i.e., use of wooden Hul, Phaora, Sohaga and Bail (Oxen) cannot increase output. It is therefore the need of the day that our farmers should use tractors, threshers, bulldozers and tube-wells.
2. Shortage of Finance
Our farmer is poor. In order to meet his demand he borrows money from relatives, friends and money lenders at a very high interest rate. Due to shortage of finance he cannot adopt new methods of cultivation.
3. Lack of Irrigation Facilities
Development and progress of agriculture is based on regular supply of sufficient quantity of water. Rains in Pakistan are uncertain and unpredictable, whereas irrigation system is unsatisfactory. Inadequate water supply through irrigation system, i.e., from wells, ponds and canals are causing low agriculture productivity.
4. Under Utilization of Cultivation Land
The total area of Pakistan is 80 million hectares out of which 22 million hectares of land i.e. 25% land is being cultivated. Due to various reasons a greater potion of land is not used for cultivation purpose, that’s why our agriculture output is low. We should bring a greater portion of land under the use of agriculture.
5. Uneconomic Holdings
It means small area of land, which is uneconomical to cultivate. Due to inheritance system, land is divided and subdivided into small pieces, making it uneconomical to cultivate. Small and scattered holdings produce less output.
6. Concentration of Land Ownership
In Paksitan, Jagirdars and Zamindars who one majority of land area live in big cities and do not take much interest in the development of agriculture. They give their lands to landless people for cultivation on the basis of heavy Lugan and Batai (some agreed proportion of output). Since a greater portion of output goes to the zamindars and very less is left to small and poor peasants, they get frustrated and do not take interest to raise productivity.
7. Inadequate Supply of Inputs
Our farmers uses poor quality seeds. Due to lack of finance and ignorance he do not use fertilizers, insecticides, pesticides, improved high yielding seeds and modern machinery, therefore his output keeps on decreasing.
8. Water Logging and Salinity
With the continued use lands have become waterlogged and saline. Excess and salty water is very harmful for production of agricultural goods. This situation is decreasing area of cultivatable land.
9. Soil Erosion
Winds and floods take away fertility of land, causing the land sandy and barren, thus output decreases drastically.
10. Natural Calamities
Heavy rains, floods, droughts, hailstorms and pest attacks are frequent in our agricultural sector causing heavy damages to the standing crops.
11. Insufficient Infrastructure
Stores, power supply and road facilities are very less, which hampers development of agriculture sector. Produce is stored on open places, which is destroyed due to rain, winds and insects.
12. Absence of Regulated Markets
Markets are far away and there is no transport with the farmers. It is very difficult to carry the products to far-flung markets therefore farmers are forced to sell their produce at a low price to the local commission agents.
13. Lack of Education and Training
Our farmer is uneducated and untrained. He does not know the latest multiple cropping, pest, control equipment, the use of technology and other modern farming practices. All this results decrease in output per hectare.
14. Improper Agriculture Research
Research facilities in agricultural sector result in the development of better quality seeds, modern storage facilities, economical use of water, cheap fertilizers, effective low cost insecticides and locally produced cheap machinery. Due to shortage of funds proper research is not being carried out in this field.
15. Lack of Alternative Occupations
In case of failure of crop due to some reason, our farmers become distressed. They live from hand to mouth and their source of income dries down. There is lack of agro-based industries such as dairy, poultry and livestock farms, which may increase income of farmers during off-season.

Measures

Measures for Improving Agricultural Marketing
1. Department of Agricultural Marketing
Government has established Agricultural Marketing Department in order to improve marketing system of agricultural crops. Department surveys the agricultural marketing and prepares its recommendations for provincial departmental. It also develops agricultural cooperative marketing.
2. Construction of Farm to Market Roads
Government is constructing roads and bridges to link farms with markets in order to reduce time and cost of transportation. Quick and easy accessibility of markets will increase income of farmers and their economic position will improve.
3. Price Awareness
Govt. through newspapers, radio and television is providing information to farmers about current prices of different crops, fertilizers, insecticides and other inputs, which are prevailing in different markets and cities. Special programs are being broadcast regularly for awareness about modern techniques of cultivation. Modern methods of cultivation are being taught through TV programs.
4. Big Stores and Cold Storages
Stores and cold storages are being constructed in regulated markets so that the farmers output may not be destroyed. These facilities also help in stabilizing prices of the produce. Tax concessions are given to those who construct stores.
5. Regulated Markets and Uniform Weight Measurements
Regulated markets are being set up and uniform weights and measurement system has been introduced so that the farmers may not be cheated and they may get the proper return of their produce. In regulated markets, Market Committee system has been introduced which controls and solve these problems. Moreover attention is being paid on standards and grade of the produce.
6. Education and Training
Main cause of all evils in agricultural sector is lack of education and training of farmers. Govt. has started providing education/training facilities about modern methods of cultivation and marketing of agricultural output. Staff of regulated markets is being trained in order to manage marketing system in a decent manner.