Business | Opinion
Government urgently needs to implement agriculture reforms
Pakistan's rising inflation has been fuelled in good measure by sharply escalating prices of food commodities.
- Special to Gulf News
- Published: 00:17 April 23, 2008
Pakistan's rising inflation has been fuelled in good measure by sharply escalating prices of food commodities. In March alone, prices of food items rose more than 20 per cent over the price increase in March 2007, in a demonstration of the biggest strain upon the country's economy.
For a country in which agriculture is critical to the lives of the bulk of its population, the issue of producing enough commodities to meet the needs of people remains both a challenge and an opportunity.
Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's president now in his ninth year in office, has repeatedly shown his determination to oversee the construction of large dams, which he believes could sharply increase Pakistan's capacity to store water for producing electricity and for irrigation purposes.
Ironically though, Pakistan's ambition to meet both of those important needs - electricity and water - suffered badly during Musharraf's tenure.
The new prime minister Yusuf Raza Gilani has begun his tenure with promises of improving the lives of average farmers by raising the price set by the government for the upcoming wheat crop. Though that increase is far behind the fast rising cost of production, farms have received some relief for the moment.
It is clear that Pakistan's farm incomes as a vital subject for the future of the country cannot be ignored. Just below a quarter of the country's annual gross domestic comes from farm incomes while more than half of its population relies directly or indirectly on agriculture as its main source of subsistence.
Politically too, the significance of agriculture can not be ignored. The proliferation of private TV channels across Pakistan has meant that farmers of today in remote villages are far more aware of circumstances not only surrounding their own countries, but also foreign lands.
Tackling issues such as radically improving the supply of irrigation water to farmers will have to be central to the new government's agenda.
Other reforms
Other important reforms will have to include squarely taking charge of issues that are directly relevant to productivity. Matters such as dealing with long overdue reforms in agricultural research establishments could well set the pace for the future.
Other challenges may well include dealing with the widespread adulteration of pesticides and chemical fertilisers that hold the key to productivity. But above all, turning around the fate of Pakistan's agricultural economy must be about changing the government's mindset.
For too long, farmers and farm incomes have been treated as subjects that are peripheral to Pakistan's mainstream economic interests.
This is largely because past governments have been driven by considerations tied to urban areas. But as recent food shortages have adequately demonstrated, ignoring rural areas is no more a viable option.
The new Pakistani government's decision to recently raise the price of wheat has to be supplemented by not only further increase in the prices of wheat and other important commodities.
Farmers also must be given the kind of support given to them in some of the world's fastest growing farm economies, such as support ranging from scientific advice to subsidies wherever necessary.
If farming areas grow rapidly, so would the ability of farmers to consume more. Any increase in consumer spending would lead to increasing demand for services and industry. There is too much at stake for Pakistan's overall future for the country to keep on ignoring the outlook for its farmlands.
The writer is a journalist based in Pakistan.
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