Business | Opinion
Authorities need to focus on developing agriculture
Pakistan's farmers got the first taste of changing weather conditions this week as temperatures fell in parts of the country, indicating the imminent winter.
- By Farhan Bokhari, Special to Gulf News
- Published: 23:25 September 9, 2008
Pakistan's farmers got the first taste of changing weather conditions this week as temperatures fell in parts of the country, indicating the imminent winter.
For the agricultural community, this marks the first vital step on the road towards a higher yield for the upcoming key crops - namely rice and cotton, as different than expected temperatures often upset the upcoming yields.
But the situation is also a powerful reminder of some of the key gaps in the way agriculture is structured in Pakistan.
There are practically no mechanisms which provide farmers with a reasonably accurate assessment of the future trends, both short and medium term.
This is in addition to the virtual absence of strong institutions to provide support to farmers, notably in areas such as the development and supply of quality seeds. Recently, the shortage of chemical fertilisers has revived worries over the assurance of supplies of key inputs to farmers.
For a long time, Pakistan's farmers have suffered on one count or another as their ability to produce bigger yields has suffered. A new government has come to office this year with promises of reviving agricultural growth and giving it a central place in Pakistan's economy. It is a position which does justice to Pakistan's overall economic profile.
Almost a quarter of Pakistan's overall annual gross domestic product comes from the farm sector while about two-thirds of its population uses agriculture as an indirect or direct source of subsistence.
The phenomenal increase in commodity prices this year has adequately demonstrated that farm incomes are still central to economies as the world's biggest agricultural producers have managed to secure significant increases in their incomes.
For Pakistan, such examples of agriculture-driven high-growth countries can be ones to be emulated in order to turn around the fate of its overall economy. Too often in the past, Pakistan has remained inconsistent towards its farming communities with some governments tilting in their favour while others choosing to ignore them.
The past decade under former president Pervez Musharraf was also an era when entities like the stock market and the financial sector were given preference while farmers were ignored. Consequently, the cause of development suffered while a selected few sector of the economy experienced unprecedented growth.
While the size of Pakistan's overall economy has grown substantially these past few years, this has come about as a result of a flawed economic model where the rich get richer and the poor become poorer.
Benefit
In sharp contrast, a growth in average agricultural yields will benefit the smallest of the poor farmer, who is supported by the government to increase his average output.
The new government has taken an admirable step by speaking out in favour of the farmers. The big gap, however, is to turn these words into sustainable policy in the long run.
Achieving this objective will require credible action on at least two fronts. On the one hand, there is a need to strengthen existing institutions, which deal with farm-related issues and create new institutions to clearly fill all the vital gaps. Such initiatives must be backed with the single purpose of strengthening the government's institutional base to support the agriculture sector.
On the other hand, it is vital for the government to launch a campaign to enlighten the masses on the centrality of agriculture to the country's economy. Such steps may appear to be modest but it is often the first vital step which sets the pace for a long journey ahead.
- The writer is a journalist based in Pakistan.
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