Agriculture
Abstract
Most of the population of Pakistan is living in ruler areas and they mainly depend on agriculture about 63.09% are living in rulers areas from which 63.09 total 47% of people are associated with agriculture.
They contribute to increasing the resources Pakistan by exporting the wheat rice fruits vegetable cotton and also many different other products But out of this the people which are related to agriculture are facing different problems in concern of water which are the main issue of Pakistan and machinery which are used for agriculture are too old and time-consuming and the other main issue which the farmer are facing the quality and resistance of Seed which they used are not much better as compared to other developed countries.
One of the major issues is the most of the farmer are not educated and they used the old method of agriculture which are time-consuming and also not give much yield.
About 40% of crops are destroyed by locusts.
This article is related to the problems which are facing by the formers and agrarian.
Agriculture issues in Pakistan
There are some of the major issues related to agriculture and bring a negative impact on the economy of some of the issues are described below.
Water deficiency
Water plays an important role in the growth and ripening of crops once Pakistan has a large quantity of water but with the time the level of water is dropping and with due to dropping level of Pakistan some of the areas are facing the problems of drought condition and due to drought condition the area which is cultivated is not able to produce any kind of crops and land has become barren.
The canal system of Pakistan is not much advanced and a lot of water is wasted.
A lot of water flows to the shore due to lack of sanitation and it does reach the area where the crops are grown and as a result, the water deficiency of water occurs.
Indus river flows from china India and Pakistan and it is considered as the backbone for agriculture because it provides 90% of water to agriculture.
But due to lack of dams, there are no other resources to store water which is the main reason for the water deficiency of Pakistan.
Load shedding
Pakistan is facing electricity shortfall from a long time and impacts negative effect on the agriculture as there are more than 1075073 ( government of Pakistan 2011) tube wells in Pakistan which irrigate the land but due to long term load shedding they are not able to produce the desired capacity of water and as a result, the former are using the alternative source which is diesel which is quite expensive and most of the former cant afford this and as a result, the deficiency of water occurs.
Quality of Seeds
Poor seed quality is one of the major factors which affect the crops and also the productivity of crops per unit area decreases.
There is a limited number of certified seeds are available and these seeds are not available in most of the areas and local distributors produce the low quality of seed and as a result, they did not grow well and insect and pest attack on them and whole crops are destroyed.
High price fertilizer
The high price of fertilizer due to increasing the rate of natural gas and also the high general sales tax are the reason to increase the price per bag of urea especially urea and as a result, the former is not be able to give their best due to high prices of urea.
Old farming practices
As the world is moving toward the modern technology and former other countries adopt the new technology for agriculture which are less time consume and give better yield but former in Pakistan are using the old traditional method for agriculture which are not as much effective and also time-consuming and most of the former in Pakistan are poor so they cant be able to get new machinery.
As most of the former have not many areas for cultivation so they use the old method for growing crops and as a result lesser yield.
The government should make such policies that give land to little formers and also give machinery on easy installment so they play their role in the economy of Pakistan.
Indirect access to market
Indirect access to the market is one of the major factors as the little former cant direct access to the market they sell their crops to the little traders and they did not pay the money according to their hard work.
The government makes such a policy which gives direct access to the little former to the international market.
Conclusion
Pakistan is an agro-based country and problems which are faced by this sector are alarming toward the economy.
The practical suggestion will increase the GDP of Pakistan.
References
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214317316301123#:~:text=Pakistan%20has%20a%20total%20population,over%20this%20period%20%5B3%5D.
- https://www.newfoodmagazine.com/news/99196/locusts-destroy-40-percent-crops-in-pakistan/#:~:text=Locusts%20destroy%20’up%20to%2040%20percent%20of%20crops’%20in%20Pakistan.
Written by
Zeshan Zafar
University of central Punjab