Declining agriculture sector in Pakistan

Agriculture was once considered as the backbone of the country’s economy but the successive governments have turned their backbone (back) on this sector. Agriculture sector once provided employment to almost 70 percent of the country’s population but now, according to official statistics, this figure has been reduced to 44 percent. Its contribution to GDP has also been dropped from 27 to 21 per cent.

Its contribution of raw material to textile and other related industry is also on the decline. The average annual growth of agriculture sector dropped from 5.4 per cent during 1980-90 to 2.2 per cent during 2011-16. Lack of modernization has resulted in decline of average growth in yields for wheat and cotton from 2.06 and 9 per cent respectively between 1980-90 to 1.4 and -2.2 per cent respectively from 2011-16.

Natural disasters, floods, and droughts have compounded the problem for Pakistan. Severe flooding in September 2014 destroyed around 1 million acres of standing crops; the flooding also caused the destruction of irrigation canals and land erosion. In August 2010 floods triggered by heavy monsoon rains destroyed about 1 million hectares of crops in Punjab province.

Pakistan’s principal food crops, such as wheat, sugarcane, and rice, haven’t been able to overcome the impacts of these floods: exports of rice and wheat have dropped significantly due to low production rates. To feed its own textile sector, Pakistan had to import cotton from its neighboring countries.

The rapid erosion of the vital agriculture sector is directly reflected in the country’s economic growth. Agriculture adds almost 22 percent to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP); the crops mentioned above account for more than 5 percent of Pakistan’s GDP. Although Pakistan’s economy during the most recent fiscal year achieved the highest growth rate since 2008-09, it could not attain its overall set growth target of 5.7 percent, largely due to a major decline in the agriculture sector. A Pakistani think tank, Social Policy and Development Centre (SPDC), has even refuted the government’s claim of achieving 4.7 percent GDP growth for the outgoing year: “GDP growth rate is 3.1 percent, not 4.7 percent in fiscal year 2015-16,” said the institute.

For years we have been forced to accept lower quality farming tools — tractors, ploughs, thrashers and other necessary equipment. The farming community has rightful complaints about the substandard materials now being used to manufacture the tools of their trade.

Pesticides, fertilisers and other chemical essentials of farming are now at a price level far out of reach of our many farmers. The lack of usage of these essentials hampers agricultural growth. Affected farmers have decried the higher prices as well as the commercial Tube-well tariff.