 |
| Farmers working at fields |
The three major sectors related to the economic development of a country include Agriculture, Industry, and business. Pakistan is an agricultural country which makes Agriculture the most important component for its economic prosperity. Over the years Pakistan has covered many miles towards Agriculture self-reliance but still, we are lagging far behind. Agriculture contributes 24 percent to our GDP and almost 50 percent of our foreign exports. Nearly 50 percent of the workforce in Pakistan is employed in Agriculture sector whereas almost 70% of our population is directly or indirectly connected to agriculture for daily earning.
Major challenges to our Agriculture sector
Pakistan has been blessed with enormous opportunities through its water and land to act as an agriculture basket for the world but we haven’t so far taken full advantage due to the following reasons.
1. Lack of Technology use
Technology is one of the needs of modern times in every field and same goes for agriculture. In developed countries, the per acre yield is many times high than what we get in Pakistan. The main factor is their use of modern techniques for sowing and harvesting.
2. Lack of training
Manpower in our agriculture is the least educated and the least trained. Many farmers are not aware of the use of modern technology even in this day and age. They use old technique instead of tractors, thrashers, and hybrid seeds etc.
3. Waterlogging and salinity
This is another huge problem for our agriculture sector. This not only reduces the current agriculture production but cause havoc for future needs as well. The government has taken several steps to reclaim the land under the ‘SCARP’ project but more genuine efforts are needed to increase our yield.
4. Lack of water supply
The scarcity of water is another major hurdle in our path to progress in this sector. The scarcity of water in many areas has proved to be disastrous for our agriculture sector.
5. Lack of soft-loans and grants
The government of Pakistan has established ZTBL bank to provide soft loans to the farmers and has achieved some success but most of the farmers try to avoid taking loans from banks because of their strict terms and conditions.
6. Exploitation of poor farmers
Most of the lands are being owned by a chunk of landlords who exploit poor tenets for their interests. Tenets don’t get their rightful share for their efforts and hard work, which disappoints them and they never work with that esteem of which one can expect.
7. Inheritance of lands
According to Islamic Sharia, the land is inherited by heirs according to a proportion but this is a drawback if not tackled with sincerity. This method reduces the amount of land available to the coming generations and major strips along the land significantly reduce the production capacity.
8. Delay in justice
Most of the farmers involve themselves in petitions and cross-petitions on the basis of land or get involved on purpose to divert their attention from crops. The government needs to dispose speedy justice to the farmers at their doorsteps in order to provide them time to focus on their farming.
Steps needed to solve these problems
1. The government should provide tractors, thrashers, pesticides and hybrid seeds at the low cost to increase per acre yield. The seeds should be tested on our own soil instead of parachuting from abroad.
2. The government should start projects in the rural areas to educate farmers regarding modern techniques of farming. Media can also play a major role in this campaign.
3. ‘SCARP’ has played a vital role in the past in the reclamation of land and the current government should focus on it again to reclaim precious land from waterlogging and salinity.
4. New dams should be built in order to deal with water scarcity in the country. The Indus river system is of particular importance in this regard.
5. Good should provide soft loans and grants to the poor farmers in order to provide them the facilities to further increase their production capacities.
6. Landlords should not be allowed to exploit poor tenets. An initiative in this regard is incumbent upon the government to protect the rights of poor farmers.
7. Justice at the doorstep of farmers is of utmost importance. Only then they will be able to focus completely on their efforts to increase production.
8. Drip irrigation is another important method to save water and improve proper water supply to plants.
The agrarian situations relating to Pakistan dealt above generally holds good for future planning. The country has countess, small and marginal farmers, in whose farm, the productivity is very low.
ReplyDeleteHello Friends Join My Group for Pakistan Agriculture Discussion to solve major problems.