INTRODUTION

Pakistan has agriculture based economy. This sector accounts for about 25% of the GDP and employs 50% of the total labor force. It contributes 80% to foreign exchange earnings and provides raw material for major industries.( Pakistan economy survey ,1998-1999). The population of Pakistan has reached the figure of 135 million. The urban/rural population breakup reveals that share of rural population has declined from 71.7% in 1981 to 32.5% in 1998(agriculture statistics of Pakistan, 1998-1999) majority of population residing in rural areas is directly or indirectly dependent on agriculture. . the sector is playing and will continue to play a pivotal role in the overall development of economy in terms of poverty alleviation, improving income distribution and generation employment opportunities.

Pakistan is bestowed with best land and water resources. The land bade is stretched over79.61 million hectors traversed by the Indus river with an annual flow of 142 m. a. f . Agriculture is practiced on 20.34 million hectares while another 10.91 million hectares are considered cultivable waste. The river water is tamed into canal network which command about 14.79 million hectares with farm gate delivery of 65 m. a. f .Nearly one fourth of cropped area id dependent on rainfall. By the end of 20th century, Pakistan with 0.675 of the world’s land will have to accommodate 4% of the world’s population which is still increasing at a rate of 2.3 per annum. This scaring fact warrants for much more careful thinking and planning in formulation in agricultural policies to meet future food and fiber requirement; (AARI,1994).

The present production of various crops is very low as compared to other countries. Pakistan is well behind Egypt, chine and India in per hectare rice and sugarcane production; while Egypt , turkey and china also excel in cotton production.

The Food and Agricultural Organization (1993) reported that the very low yield for most crops reflects inadequate access of farmers to better farming technologies, meaning that agricultural extension services are of poor

quality. Availability of improved technology and its effective dissemination are two key prerequisites for productivity. It is obvious inspite of having fertile alluvial soils, longest perennial canal irrigation system of the world , favorable weather conditions, and industrious farming community. Pakistan is lagging behind in agricultural production when compared to other Asian countries. There may be many reasons for the low agricultural productivity in Pakistan but social factors are also as important as others.

The results obtained at research stations and experience depicted by the progressive farmers show that the available agricultural technology has a potential to increase the current productivity manifold. In other words big gap exists between the potential and actual yields being obtained by our farmers. There is a need to engulf this gape between potential and actual yield in order to meet food and other related requirements of our masses. This situation necessitates adoption of recommended agricultural technology by the farming community. The adoption of recommended practices involves the total personality of a farmer who makes decisions on the consideration of socio-economic factor in pigging on his total living. Such is always a joint decision where a member of his family, friends and many others contribute. Therefore, the extension worker has to appeal to a number of social attributes, customs , values, norms and traditions. Many innovations otherwise exceedingly attractive and economically viable, have failed because thay could not meet even the less significant social requirements. Adoption of innovations is a consequence of such steps like awareness, interest evaluation, and trial. Providing the agricultural information is the only first step in creating awareness. Applying it to the attitudes and persuading farmers to adopt innovations, is an educational process in the true sense. The time demands the drastic changes in the system and there is also a need that tomorrow’s agriculture must be sustainable. LITERATURE REVIEW:

A vast literature is available about the agreements by Pakistan in crop sector. In most of the fields negotiation are taking place. Different authors wrote their views about these negotiations. Some authors are of the view that Pakistan can get substantial benefits after the implementation of these agreements. But on the other hand some authors are of the view that Pakistan will be unable to compete in international markets.

S.Q Abid2 expressed his views in the article. According to the author, totalcropped area in Pakistan (total area cultivated plus area sown more than once) declined _____________________________________________________________________________ 2:Suleri A. Q (2002): The Agreement on Agriculture (AoA): Pakistan Experience. Internet, Google search. www.google.com/WTO and crops/SDPI research and news bulletin Jan-Feb 2002slightly over last decade. These trends show that there is need to increase investment in agricultural sector. To do this we need to adopt pro-poor and pro-farmer agricultural policies.

It is to be taken care of that the trade liberalization regime is largely effecting national policy and the process of making policies.According to the author, Pakistan being a developing country enjoys certain flexibilities. The Agreement on Agriculture is of particular importance to Pakistan in terms of economic and food security. The Agreement on Agriculture speaks of increasing trade in agricultural products through progressive liberalization. The agreement says that the members must fulfill specific binding and reduction commitments in the areas of market access. It means to increase market access through the reduction of import duties and tariff. Pakistan is unable to give support or subsidies to its farmers due to lack of resources.

The research paper shows that Agreement on Agriculture is creating inequalities between countries. It means that inequalities between two group of countries. First group is of those countries that can give substantial support and protection to that agricultural sector. Other group is of those countries, which could not provide such protection to their agricultural sector (underdeveloped countries). The main example of these issues is given as that developed countries spent US $360 billion on agriculture in 1999 (abut seven times more than what they had given to the poor countries in international development assistant).

In the area of market access, Pakistan offered “ceiling binding “on agricultural imports during Uraguay Round (UR). So Pakistan was not required to reduce its tariffs during the Uraguay Round implementation period (till 2005). A number of items on the negative and restricted list have fallen due to liberalization in agricultural trade. As Pakistan imposed low tariffs on imports so there was inflow of subsidized foodstuff in Pakistan.

It is also explained in the paper that being a developing country, Pakistan was allowed to give special and differential treatment subsidies on fertilizer and tube well electricity. Price to the establishment of WTO, Pakistan occasionally provided direct export subsidies.

Over decades, the IMF/World Bank loan conditions have forced developing countries to lower their trade barriers, cut subsidies for their domestic food producers and eliminate government policies to improve rural agriculture. In these situations, Pakistan needs to remain over cautions. Although our negotiation in WTO Geneva has done a wonderful job but there is need for further improvements. The author suggested form a WTO cadre in our civil service structure so that the civil servant may concentrate on WTO issues. There is also a need to involve academic institutes and private sector in WTO capacity building efforts. It is also required to give subsidies to reduce the cost of marketing exports and transport.

Yasmeen. B and Jehan. Z 3 have shown in their paper that unrestricted trade regime stimulate the economic regime and brings the socio-economic gap among countries. Unrestricted trade helps developed countries very much. But under developed countries cannot get as much benefits as they expect. The study analyzes empirically the effect of trade liberalization on four measures of economic development, namely per capita GDP, income inequality, poverty and employment. The authors applied estimating techniques of 2SLS with the help of simultaneous equations. Overall finding reveal that, over the trade liberalization has contributed positively in employment generation, negatively in GDP per capita and distributions of income. There is no effect observed on poverty in Pakistan. It is shown that trade liberalization has not fulfilled all the conditions in which development takes place in an economy. It is necessary to continuously moving towards liberalization with improving the performance of its mediating factors. It is necessary to adopt the approach that is productivity oriented and development centered. Government should take initiative to produce labor-intensive products. Government should try to obtain self-sufficiency and good quality measures in its concerning products.M. Khalid4 has shown in his research that Sanitary and Phytosanitor (SPS) agreement can impede trade in agricultural and food products. Sanitary and Phytosanitor (SPS) agreement recognizes that the government has the right to take Sanitary and Phytosanitor measures but that they should be applied only to the extent necessary to protect human, animals or plant life.In order to harmonize Sanitary and Phytosanitor on as wide basis as possible,

_______________________________________________________________________3: Trade Liberalization and Economic Development by Bushra Yasmeen and Zainab Jehan, presented in 7th Sustainable Development Conference. Google Search 4: M. Khalid (2004): Barriers against Agricultural Exports from Pakistan: The role of WTO Sanitary and Phytosanitary Agreement. Pak Journal of Agricultural Economicsmembers are encouraged to fulfill international standards. A broader indication of the impact of Sanitary and Phytosanitor (SPS) requirements on developing countries export of agricultural and food products are provided by data on rejections following border inspection in developed countries.

It is clear that Pakistan is constrained in its ability to export agricultural and food products to developed countries under Sanitary and Phytosanitor (SPS) requirements. To provide one window for standardization and quality control, government of Pakistan established Pakistan Standard and Quality Control Authority. But Pakistan has not actively participated in the Sanitary and Phytosanitor (SPS) agreement. Key problems in this regard are: insufficient ability to participate effectively in dispute settlement procedures. Pakistan also could not prove that domestic Sanitary and Phytosanitor (SPS) measures are equivalent to developed country requirements.

The author showed qualitative analysis about Pakistan’s difficulties in the concerning matter. Pakistan may face difficulties in meeting costs involved in exporting agricultural products under the Sanitary and Phytosanitor (SPS) agreements. The author also gave suggestions to improve the position of Pakistan in the concerning affairs. Firms in Pakistan will have to implement specific system or sign up to some quality assurance schemes. These arrangements may be attractive in the short run.

The issue of product quality in the domestic market has an important bearing on its exports to developed country markets. There are several examples of products that do not meet the required Sanitary and Phytosanitor (SPS) standards for exports, being sold in local market. Given the circumstances of rejection of product from the export trade, this might threaten the welfare of local consumers. There are high complaints on many products of Pakistan not only by international buyers but also from local buyers. The export business may even detract products from the local market. Local consumer welfare in the country may be compromised by either the non-availability of the product or its limited availability at high price.

Once exporters from Pakistan have met Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) standards as applied by other countries, it may be possible for them to widen their export base and supply to a range to different markets. As number of developed countries has high Sanitary and Phytosanitor (SPS) rate so they have great number of exports. The exporters of Pakistan can also adopt their techniques and measures. Extensive production methods can also to an increasingly environmentally aware world markets. There is need to improve access to scientific and technical expertise and the development of domestic Sanitary and Phytosanitor (SPS) control system that are effective and appropriate in the local circumstances. Amongst South Asia countries, Pakistan has very narrow base of agricultural exports. Pakistan can overcome its difficulties and can become champion of crop exports in Asia.

Research conducted by WTO department5 in ministry of agriculture has shown a comprehensive background of exports of Pakistan in crop sector. The agricultural trade policy environment is becoming increasingly complex. The research explains that the Agreement on Agriculture contained an article requiring members of the World Trade Organization to continue the reform process for agricultural trade. In addition to this commitment to continue the reform process of agriculture, a number of other WTO agreements are included. The main focus on negotiation is about tariff quota administration, tariffs, and state-trading enterprises, export restrictions, food security, food safety and rural development. About the agricultural sector of Pakistan the research says that crop production is heavily dependant on irrigation. More than 90% of the area sown to the basic food crop, wheat is irrigated. Despite having 13% of the world irrigated agricultural area water is still one of major or more serious constraint on the farmers of Pakistan.

On the other side Agreement on Agriculture required countries to classify their domestic agricultural policy measures according to one of four categories. First of all is Aggregate Measure of Support (AMS). It is an instrument through which government gives exemption to farmers from tax or debt repayment obligation. It is also explained in the agreement that governmental measures of assistant to encourage agricultural or rural development are integral parts of development programs of developing countries. Agricultural input subsidies will be available to those farmers who have very low income or those who have very few resources. But data is showing something different about the end-results of this support or in other words subsidy. On the basis of Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)

producer subsidy estimates (PSE) calculations, support rose from US$246 billion in 1986-88 to US$283 billion in 1999. It is clear that implementation of the agreement on ______________________________________________________________________________________5: Pakistan and the Article 20 Negotiations on Future Reform on Agriculture trade research done by Ministry of Commerce, WTO Wing

Agriculture has had no impact in terms of the overall level of support provided to low-income countries.Although this support remained constant in the period of 1986-88 to 1999 but only support is not sufficient. One should see that whether policy implementation is correct or not. The role of agricultural institutions is also very important because there are some countries that got very good result by giving small amount of support or subsidy. The main thing was their efficient way of policy implementation also the nature of working of their agriculture institutions.

On the other hand countries that could not get good or well expected results. These countries were least developed or developing countries. Main problem was in the implementation of policies. We can see the numerical differences also. New Zealand Australia, and Hungry had percentage of twenty or below but they got good results. So the research shows that Pakistan should increase its domestic support. But only this will not be sufficient.

Another important issue is of market access. The value of world trade in agri-food products increased by approximately 51% over the period 1986-1998. The largest increases took place in 1994 and 1995. That was a year prior to the start of the Agreement on Agriculture and the first year of the implementation of the Agreement on Agriculture. From a high point in 1996, global agri-food trade is diverging day by day. Pakistan’s shares in global trade are very negligible because share of Pakistan in global exports is falling. Some of Pakistan main competitors significantly improved their export performance in the first three years of the Agreement on Agriculture. For example India increased its export by 133% by value, Indonesia by 76%, Thailand by 53% and Malaysia by 79% etc. the research explains comprehensively the reason of the falling in Agri-food exports of Pakistan. The first and most important reason is structural problem within the domestic agri-food economy. Second reason is the barriers encountered in accessing exports market. The third reason is very tough competition with other countries. The first competitor in this sense is India for Pakistan.

Although the cost of cultivation and other agricultural techniques are almost same in both countries yet India is performing well in international market as compare to Pakistan. The reason for this is that Pakistan has lack of power in negotiation according to its circumstances. Therefore Pakistan face barriers in accessing world markets. The goodwill of Indian agri-food products is increasing due to their effective advertising facility. Even in those fields in which India was behind from Pakistan, now India is competing well in those products. Pakistan has also problem of quality that is Sanitary and Phytosanitor (SPS) measures are not as good as the standards of Agreement on Agriculture. This has also negative impact on Pakistan’s export of agri-food products. So if Pakistan wants to improve its trade of agri-food products before the complete implementation of Agreement on Agriculture, it must have to overcome its deficiencies in all above-mentioned fields.A. Wakar and S. Muhammad6 have presented an analysis of rice and wheat production of Pakistan under the Agreement on Agriculture. The authors say that according to agreement, the member countries are bound to adopt a market oriented agricultural trade system through market access. The member countries are also bound to reduce the domestic support and export subsidies. The authors say that Agreement on Agriculture will have an important effect on the agriculture sector of Pakistan not only in the field of output but also on employment. As the issue of domestic support is concerned, Pakistan is already not providing very negligible amount. The main focus of the research is on wheat and rice. These are the major food crops for almost 150 million people in Pakistan. The rice-wheat production system of Pakistan is one of the most dominating cropping systems covering an area of 2.1 million hectares. Pakistan imports wheat while it produces rice in surplus. Wheat contributes 13.8% to value added to agriculture and 3.2% to GDP. Pakistan made a record in 2000 in harvesting wheat crop of about 21 million tones, which exceeded domestic demand so was available for export. Now the requirement is to sustain this position. For this government policies should focus on measures to minimize the cost of production.

Rice is an important and high value crop for Pakistan. But it was observed that produces of wheat and Basmati rice were not protected. It means that the producers were taxed so had to face depressed prices instead of their respective international prices. The rate of dis-protection during 1990-91 to 1999-2000 was 40% for Basmati and 27% for wheat.

But for proper and sustainable growth of agricultural sector, it is necessary that farmers should receive price inline with international prices for their commodities. ________________________________________________________________________ 6: A.Waqar and S Muhammad. WTO Agreement on Agriculture Impact on Rice Wheat production system. Google.com/crops and WTO, pages from PakistanIRRI rice was introduced in the regime of General Ayub Khan. But result of economic incentives shows those procedures of IRRI rice received dis-protection for some year. But later it was protected only in Punjab. The average rate of dis-protection was 7% in Punjab and 18% in Sindh. Results also show that cost of domestic resources to produce this rice was 1.46 dollar to earn 1 dollar. So it was costly therefore Punjab had to face cooperative disadvantage in producing this rice.

The author is of the view that to attain crop competitiveness in the international market, there is an urgent need to improve economic efficiency in the use of domestic resources. This can be done through increasing crop productivity and minimizing cost production, decreasing incidental and processing cost incurred from farms to the place of export. The author is of the view that producers of wheat and Basmati rice can gain efficiency by increasing production. So by increasing production of wheat and Basmati rice, Pakistan can get high foreign reserves. The Agreement on Agriculture demands to cut or reduce the domestic support or subsidy from crops. As Pakistan has never given high support or subsidy to its crops so under the Agreement on Agriculture, Pakistan can remove or reduce at artificial high production of wheat and rice. Because when country gives support to its crop production, it creates artificial high trends of output in all those crops. This type of growth in output gives very negative long-term impact on the concerning sectors. Because cost per dollar increases and some time country has to face comparative disadvantage. So in this situation, production gives loss instead of profits. It is theoretically explained in the article that are decline in the supply of agricultural goods form developed countries and improve market access for developing countries will very likely cause the production of these commodities in Pakistan to become profitable. As it is condition to reduce the support or subsidy from domestic products, so it will rise. So in this way Pakistan can get high benefit by exports of rice. This will also increase the share of Pakistan in world market. And it will also strengthen the structure of rice production system. So all these indicators show the ability of Pakistan to get market access. In the procedure farmers should give the

opportunity to behave according to world market indications on signals. This will help the farmers of developing countries to export their cheaper products in the world market. But it is necessary for the farmers to fulfill the necessary and sufficient conditions of the Agreement on Agriculture. Farmers will have to control the cost to ask very reasonable prices. The farmers should take into account all the challenges of globalization in their production tasks. So Pakistan should adopt those policies, which give as large incentives to farmers to reach world markets. Increasing productivity and profitability are main goals for the policy makers.

GENERAL REVIEW OF CROP SECTOR OF PAKISTAN TILL 2000:

The agricultural sector in Pakistan is composed of five sub-sectors. In these five sub-sectors major are crops, livestock, fisheries and forestry. The major crops make the largest contribution to the GDP from the agriculture sector. Their contribution is falling in last twenty years. In early years agriculture was the largest sector and contributing more than 53% to GDP. But in 2002-03, their share was down to only 23.6%. In 1949-50, the labor force in agriculture was 65% to 70%. But now it is 45% to 48% almost. But agriculture is still the largest sector in terms of employment. In 1947, total cultivated area in Pakistan was 36.3 million acres. Now it is 54.10 million acres. Table gives the basic data about the utilization of land in Pakistan.

Table: 1Land Utilization, 1947-2003 (Million Hectares)Year Reported area Not available for cultivation Total area cultivated Area sown more than once Total cropped area1947-48 46.70 20.82 14.69 0.95 11.631960-65 50.52 18.94 17.78 1.68 15.081965-70 52.98 19.08 19.19 1.99 16.281970-75 53.53 20.50 19.21 2.54 17.041975-80 54.27 20.62 19.84 3.30 18.441980-85 53.29 21.29 20.32 4.09 19.681985-90 57.87 23.97 20.78 4.79 20.491990-95 58.04 24.49 21.17 4.70 21.861995-00 59.12 24.51 21.90 6.37 22.83

Source: Issues In Pakistan Economy by S. Akbar Zaidi

In the table, reported area means that amount of total geographical area for which official record exists. In Pakistan, over time agricultural products have increased. This all was happened due to increase in demand locally and internationally.

Table: 2Index of Agricultural Production, 1959-2000 (Base year 1959)Year All crops Food crops Fiber crops Other crops1960/1 100 98 103 1031965/6 127 107 142 1811970/1 174 164 188 1951971/2 183 170 245 1691972/3 188 181 243 1631973/4 196 190 228 1881974/5 187 183 220 1711975/6 199 207 176 1931976/7 203 212 149 2241977/8 209 208 197 2231978/9 219 238 162 2121979/10 239 245 250 2101980/1 249 254 245 2361981/2 258 257 247 2611982/3 270 277 283 2351983/4 237 253 170 2481984/5 275 265 346 2391985/6 298 290 418 2121986/7 124 115 185 921987/8 127 109 206 1001988/9 134 118 200 1121989/10 134 119 204 1081990/1 142 122 230 1101991/2 161 126 306 1201992/3 141 124 216 1181993/4 142 127 192 1341994/5 152 138 208 1401995/6 167 147 253 1401996/7 158 145 224 1301997/8 170 157 219 160

1998/9 171 159 210 1661999/00 191 180 268 143Source: Issues in Pakistan Economy by S. Akbar Zaidi

As the total area under food crops is concerned, it has increased by more than 50% since 1959/60. Wheat is the largest sown crop and constitutes 66% of the total area of food grains. For the four major crops of Pakistan, the area under wheat in this period is up 67%, rice constitutes 75%, cotton can constitute 93% and for sugar cane it is 125%. In 1960-65 periods, the four major crops covered about 53% of total cropped area. In 1995/96 the total cropped area has increased substantially to 64%. The comprehensive data is given in table.

Table: 3Area under Major Crops 1950-2000 (000 Hectares)Year WheatRice Sugar cane Cotton %Age of total cropped area1950-55 4154.0 947.0 245.6 1275.8 -----1955-60 4736.6 1078.8 365.4 1393.2 -----1960-65 4896.2 1214.2 447.6 1375.4 52.591965-70 5591.8 1426.6 559.6 1635.6 56.581970-75 6017.4 1514.6 597.6 1860.2 58.621975-80 6272.0 1797.6 747.0 1916.4 58.201980-85 7174.4 1984.2 859.8 2177.7 61.961985-90 7418.2 1986.6 833.0 2459.6 62.261990-95 8058.6 2099.0 927.4 2758.0 63.321995-00 8306.6 2333.8 1029.8 3002.4 66.21 Source: Issues in Pakistan Economy by S. Akbar Zaidi

As total production is concerned, it has substantially increased for all major as well as minor crops. But average annual growth rate for major crops have been falling since 1980. In the decade 1980-90, the average annual growth of major crops was 3.34%. And this average annual growth rate of major crops fell to 2.4% in 1990s. Both total production of wheat and rice fell sharply. These lower rates of increases in out put are very disturbing. All the annual growth rates are shown in table 4.

Table: 4Production of Major Crops 1995-2000 (000 Tones)Year WheatRice Sugar cane Cotton1950-55 3235.8 837.2 7192.6 -----1955-60 3677.6 909.6 10318.6 -----1960-65 4016.4 1107.8 14247.8 1995.81965-70 5175.6 1512.6 20718.0 2625.01970-75 7145.6 1929.6 17402.8 3705.01975-80 8765.0 2778.2 26743.0 3094.01980-85 11330. 3292.8 32651.6 4926.61985-90 12947.2 3232.2 31973.4 7632.61990-95 15724.0 3412.0 40901.6 9648.41995-00 18238.0 4487.0 48371.0 9837.0Source: Source: Issues in Pakistan Economy by S. Akbar Zaidi

Agriculture was a dominated sector not only in the field of employment but also for the share in GDP. But gradually agriculture output decreased year by year. Food has to be import and dependence on foreign aid increased. There was need to improve agriculture sector and to lessen the dependency on foreign aid. Then steps to land reforms were taken in 1959 but that was failure in terms of land distribution. The period of green revolution came in Ayub Khan Regime. That was a so-called Green revolution because technological improvements were discriminated regionally. Only very few areas of Pakistan got advantage of all the technological progress of green revolution that was the huge distortion for the ignored areas of Pakistan.The second land reform took place in 1970. Those were stricter as compare to previous one. But those were also not influential and beneficial for the progress of agricultural sector. The growth rate of agricultural sector was only 2.3% in between 1972 – 1977.Pricing policy of government can play an important role in determining that what to produce and what not. The pricing policy can determine the direction of agricultural inputs and outputs. Agricultural pricing can also effect income distribution not only for big farmers but also for small farmers. In Pakistan, in the beginning the main concern of government was to keep the prices of agriculture products low to provide cheaper food and raw material to urban industrial workers. This caused depressed prices for the producers of agriculture products. Government imposed heavy export duties on Cotton due to which domestic prices of cotton reduced. Wheat and rice prices were fixed also; process of vegetable ghee was controlled at an artificially low level, which resulted in depressed prices. For nearly a

decade after independence no systematic attempt was made for the development of agriculture sector. The first agriculture development program in country was launched in 1955. Barter trade was a common feature of international Trade so agriculture products were exported to import industrial products or inputs. This was also a disadvantage for agriculture producers. All these steps shown that agricultural sector was adversely affected for the promotion of Industrial Sector suffered a lot. As the matter of agricultural sector is concern, a 1985 survey shows that 68% of the credit to agriculture is provided by non-institutional sources. We can say it through informal sources. Almost 30 % of loan provided through institutional sources were not reliable or proxy loans because it is very difficult for small farmers to get loan from institutional sources. There are many reasons for this. First of all small farmers are not aware of complexities of institutional sources secondly they don’t have any source to approach them. Large farmers or landlords are very influential that they don’t even give back loans. So they get benefit only through non-institutional loans. But for most of time such non-institutional don’t fulfill all the needs for farmers because amount of non-institutional loans are often not big enough to cover expenditures of cultivation. The largest source to provide institutional loan is ZTBL. ZTBL provided almost 64% loan in 1995 – 2000. Now ZTBL is also providing long-term loan. Commercial bankers also provided 20 % loan in period of 1995 – 2000.In mechanization of agricultural sector we consider the innovation of new technology in agriculture. The technological progress in agricultural sector of Pakistan was mainly composed of bringing tractors and tube wells. Mechanization in agriculture sector started very late because policy makers were of the view that this will create unemployment in rural sector also international organizations and World Bank restrict to give new technology to farmers. First time new tractors were introduced in 1960s but the experience showed that fear of providing tractors was baseless. Introduction of tractors and tube wells boosted up agriculture sector in concerning areas. But the problem was that mechanization of agriculture was restricted to few areas Punjab and Sindh. This discriminatory policy of government made very much harm to the farmers of the ignored areas. There is no question that technology in agriculture is very helpful for advancement of this sector not only incase of increased output for domestic needs but also to export to world markets. This will make high earnings through technology introduced in sixties but pace of increasing technology didn’t remain the same. This made suffering of money crops

Agriculture tax is very controversial issue some favor agriculture tax but others are against it both group of people provide justifications and reasoning for this. The problem of imposing income tax on agriculture sector was existence of two clauses on one hand there is majority of people who are living below subsistence level. These people are small farmers. They hardly fulfill their basic needs with the help of their earnings through cultivation. On the other hand there are people who have very big or huge earnings. These are big landlords. Most of the landlords are living in urban sector they are making big profits through real estate investments that is why many people were against it that government didn’t not impose income tax. The other reason against agriculture tax was that agriculture sector is facing heavy burdens of indirect taxes. Those who were protesting to implement agricultural tax, they were saying that it is a big source to make fraud. Many industrialists bought big lands in agricultural areas they got rid of income tax by showing the land of agricultural sector. They also said that income tax would be on personal incomes not on the whole agricultural sector so progressive income tax will give high earnings to overcome budget deficit and also to increase development of agricultural sector.

MAIN PROBLEMS IN PAKISTAN CROP SECTOR:

The environmental situation is very poor and alarming in Pakistan. Therefore world bank said in a report to have effective land reforms in a way that help in sustainable exploitation of natural resources including land and water in this way Re-distribution of land to small farmers will help in improving the environmental conditions. Also effective land reforms will reduce the power of big landlords. Many poor farmers with low subsistence level are unable to take risk in their cultivation methodology. They also face the poor irrigation system. To have a tube well for their land is just like a dream for them. Because electricity charges of tube wells are very high as compared to canal water. Water logging is also a very big problem for small farmers. The main cause for this problem is big landlords. Another problem is structure of water pricing. The structure of water pricing provides no incentive for using canal water efficiently. It also discourages investment in water conservation. Landlords are so much influential that they easily have reached to the subsidy of government to provide gypsum. The government under took a program to popularize gypsum in order to eliminate salinity. This salinity is caused by low-level tube wells water. As influential landlords were main beneficiaries so they got the gypsum. Another problem was of introducing chemical in

agriculture. They were mainly composed of fertilizers and pesticides the main problem was of discrimination in providing chemicals to farmers. Those were of so highly priced that a vast majority could not afford it. The small farmers had 41% of cultivated area in Pakistan. So due to lack of chemical provision a large cultivated area suffered. Big landlords or middle class farmers used these pesticides in great quantity to enhance their agricultural output. This use of pesticides in high amount caused several health diseases, especially for those workers who apply it on crops. Now before going in to the detail of the analysis of our concerning problem it is better to explain the main competitors of Pakistan in major crops. This will help in making better analysis of problem under the agreement on agriculture.

MAIN COMPETITORS OF PAKISTAN IN KEY CROPS:

COTTON:Pakistan is ranked number 4 in the world in terms of global production of raw cotton. If Pakistan’s competitors, two countries have yet to join the WTO. These two countries are China and Uzbekistan. The other competitors in the field of cotton production are India, Turkey and Brazil. All these countries have status of developing within the WTO. Pakistan accounts for 8.7% of global cotton production the main regional competition in cotton production comes from China, India and Uzbekistan. Pakistan’s yield rates are twice those of India. This suggests a comparative advantage over its neighbor. It is useful to look at domestic support, export promotion and market access policies in competitor’s countries.

RICE:Pakistan is a relatively minor country in terms of its overall rice production. It accounts for only 1.2% of Global production. Pakistan’s two neighbors, China and India, dominate global production of rice. These two countries accounts for 54% of global rice production. This enormous size of both the Indian and Chinese markets means that although they are huge producer of rice, but they are not the most important countries in terms of export of this commodity. Thailand is the main exporter of Rice production. It exports 25% of its domestic production. World rice trade is dominated by a group of countries that produces primarily for export. Pakistan is one of these countries. The main competition in the region comes from four countries. These are Vietnam, Thailand, China and India. As the only producer of

Basmati Rice India and Pakistan have a common interest in growing the share of this rice in world trade and in particular in exports to high value markets. Market differentiation by rice variety would seem to be growing as the popularity of certain variety of rice grows. It would seem that Pakistan has been able to gain market’s share in certain market by competing other suppliers.

SUGAR:In production terms Brazil and India dominates. Pakistan is also a major player in global sugar production. The ranking of Pakistan in terms of global sugarcane production is 5th. It accounts for almost 3.8% of global production. The share of Pakistan in global sugar production is higher at 5.1%. In production terms India may be second largest producer of sugar in the world. It accounts for approx 25% world production. But in terms of trade India accounts for less then 1% of global trade. The important regional competitors for Pakistan are Thailand, China, Indonesia, Malaysia and Philippine.

FRUIT:The two most important fruit crops in Pakistan are oranges and mango. This analysis of competitors concentrates on these two products. European Union, South Africa and US are the main players. In addition, other Mediterranean countries such as morocco Israel and turkey are also important suppliers. In terms of regional competition for Pakistan, it is strongest from India, china and Singapore. Pakistan is marginal player in the world orange market despite reducing around two million tons of oranges annually. It accounts for less then 1% in global trade. This figure would seem to indicate domestic problems with varieties, post harvest storages and processing. There are also difficulties in meeting the Sanitary and Phytosanitary standards of importing countries. In the area of mango production India and China are dominating. Together these two regional competitors accounts for 8.65% of global mango production. As with rice neither India nor China plays an important role in world trade in mangoes. Here Mexico is the dominant player. Pakistan produces only 3.2% of the global mango crop, but it accounts for 6.6% of global exports. Here in the field of mango the problem in exporting are same as those of oranges. In terms of competitors in mango export India, Brazil Philippine, Thailand and China are competitors in regional markets as in developed country markets.

VEGETABLES:Onions and potatoes are the main vegetables grown in the annual total of harvest of approximately 4.3 million tones. In the list of global production of fresh vegetables, China and India dominates global production. In terms of other regional vegetables, producers, Vietnam, Philippines, Myanmar, Bangladesh and Thailand are the largest. Pakistan is not the major player in the world of onion trade. Exports accounts for just 1.8% of global trade. Trade in onion is dominated by European Union. In terms of regional competitors in onion export, the main threat for Pakistan comes from India, China, Egypt, Turkey, Iran, Kazakhstan and UAE. As the trade in onion, countries of the European Union and to a lesser extent, the United States, dominate trade in potatoes. Important regional competitors include India and Indonesia. Pakistan accounts for 1.5% of the global trade in potatoes. OTHER FOOD STAPLE:Agri-good products in the other food staples, the category are those such as which are essential to food security and edible oil, which are constitute one of the important item for Pakistan. Therefore these agri-food products play a major role in the balance of payments. Looking first at wheat, production is dominated by the European Union, China, India and the US. The huge size of both the Indian and Chinese market means that neither is a large player on the world export markets. The other regional competitors in the production of wheat are Kazakhstan, Turkey and Russia. The main exporters of wheat are United State, European Union, Australia, Argentina and Canada.

NEGOTIATION ON AGREEMENT ON AGRICULTURE BETWEEN WTO AND GOVERNMENT OF PAKISTANThe phase of negotiation on agreement on agriculture has completed. Pakistan is an energetic participant of the agreement on agriculture. Among that agreement, two are very important for agricultural sector of Pakistan. First and the most important agreement is about reduction in domestic support, and special and differential treatment for developing countries. Being a developing country Pakistan is also included in this category of special and differential treatment. The second agreement is about Sanitary and Phytosanitary measures or standards for trade. The text of the article about reduction in domestic support and continuation of the reform process is given in the box below.

Source: Pakistan and the Article 20 Negotiations on Future Reform on Agriculture trade research done by Ministry of Commerce, WTO Wing

There were some countries that were not favoring some parts of agreements. Especially most of the developing countries were against the reduction of domestic support or subsidy. Because their agricultural sector was major depend on domestic support programs. So there was probability of great depression, in their agricultural sector, due to sudden decrease in domestic support or subsidies. There was danger of rise in prices and also danger fall in the total agricultural output. This creates problems for exports. So developing countries were asking for a longer period time to reduce domestic support systematically.Special and differential treatment was given to developing countries to overcome their deficiencies in key agricultural products within a giving period of time. In this way developing countries had opportunity to build their trading system in some key crops. This was not in the favor of those developing countries that were trying to have market access for some crops. So they were giving agreements fir equal treatments to all the members’ countries. The second agreement was about Sanitary and Phytosanitary measures. The key point to Sanitary and Phytosanitary agreement is that it tries to ensure that countries apply measures to protect human, animal and plants health. The sanitary measures are about the health of human beings and animals. Phytosanitary measures are about the health of plants. This agreement was very problematic for developing countries. Developing countries were also negotiation to lesser the strict rules. But develop countries were in favor of Sanitary and Phytosanitary measures. The sole benefit of this agreement was to develop the countries because they have very strict checking standards to reject the products, especially agricultural project from

developing countries and almost all the developing countries are not too much good about these standards.

Need of the study

It is an established fact that agricultural extension is the most important instrument of agriculture development. It acts as a dovetail phenomenon between the technology generation system (Research) and the production system (Farmers); and has no other assignment except farmers welfare. It renders direct contact with the farmer community at large . it is in principle , a flexible instrument adoptable in different conditions and can be oriented to the specific needs of the people as an educational instrument. There is a considerable dissatisfaction with performance of extension services among farming community and other relevant people. Major issues/weaknesses identified in present agricultural extension system in Pakistan ( Malik and Prawl , 1993) are listed here under:

Lack of adequate training during the probation period of the officers. Mobility factors inhibits the performance of the field staff. Weak linkage between extension and research Low salaries a source of discontent and low morale. Opportunities for promotion are almost lacking. Extension became less service oriented and more education oriented. Agriculture in formation units require training for efficient execution

of their responsibilities. Private sectors and non-governmental groups are better equipped for

extension jobs. Agriculture extension has much weaker voice than the research

institutions or universities. Extensions` interventions with gender approach is negligible. Extension has insufficient operating funds for teaching and

demonstration and dissemination of information.

Keeping in view the above weaknesses , drastic changes are needed in the system , so that tomorrow’s agriculture is modern and sustainable. One of the main constrains is that the front line extension workers are not able to make maximum use of their energies. Therefore, there exists the need to determine the factors affecting the working efficiency of agriculture field staff. The present study is planned therefore, to identify the factors affecting the working efficiency of extension staff, since their working efficiency has

direct bearing on the efficiency and the quality of agriculture extension services in Punjab province. The findings of this study are expected to assist the policy makers , extension specialists and other social scientists in the formulation of a appropriate strategies for making our extension services much more effective and for promoting agricultural and rural development in Pakistan. The problem seems to be multifunctional and the players with problems are at all levels. The ethics that one sees in the human systems is abysmal and there has been no one in Pakistan with the abilities of an Ambedkar or any social lifters as are available in India, to worry about what is happening in the various social classes. The democratic process as well as the tyrannical process of governance brings their own kinds of serious issues. A brain that is in turmoil can hardly be in a position to take far reaching decisions. The personality of the population is one aspect but the critical effort seems to be of those on whom the tax payers have spent a considerable amount of financial resources and they have not done well by the education that was imparted to them. When one considers that the expenditure was upwards of 3 million rupees for each PhD who studied in the USA one would expect then to do well by the education that was imparted.

That the education was of doubtful quality cannot be ascertained at this time. I had the opportunity of visiting these students in 34 universities of the United States. I found them woefully lacking the kind of spark that is difficult to state but easy to recognize. The students were lackluster and did not seem to have any passion for their work. Only one student was found of any quality and he was in Agricultural engineering and he never returned to his mother country. He stayed on in the USA and that was the other dilemma of criminal breach of trust and in that the universities of the USA played a big part in encouraging the better ones to stay on in the USA. Thirty-four of the PhD students went missing. All of them were sent on the basis of connectivity. Most of them were not even remotely connected with agriculture.

That most of them at that time came from University of Agriculture. Faisalabad [UAF] and were boys from in and around that town made life all the more difficult to deal with them later. Fixed attitudes pertaining to the 14th century were visible. Caste system was rife and the connectivity of many kinds that were in place led to many complaints by the public and all those who knew that attitudes and values had to belong to the modern world and yet here they were defying the very essence of life. The issues over time

have become more complex. To the baradari system has been added the various ‘isms’ of Islam so that it is almost impossible to base decisions on reason. In a society that is increasingly prejudiced reason almost always is defunct. With the political system coming in after 11 years the hunger for power was even more acute. This hunger for power was not balanced by responsibility and this desire to amass power through a process that perverts all concepts of decency and fair play.

In the decision making process the major role is that of the tyrannical powers that have ruled this country for the better part of this nations life. The Research organizations were almost all of them organized under Ayub or under Zia. This meant that the human resources that were built at that time included all the persons who were personally known to the organization chief. That called for a special kind of loyalty. The kind that is usually required of the canine species. Any one not adhering to these traits was usually ostracized. That also meant that all the valid and good reasons for setting up the organization was ab initio still born. Pakistan’s agrarian system was also different in as much as the Armed forces were usually recruited from the rain fed hilly areas [except for the Gurkhas who were again recruited from hilly areas of Nepal. The idea being that there were certain castes and certain areas that were martial that could be recruited specifically for the armed forces. Agriculture castes were not considered by the colonialists as fit for anything but the functions that were supposed to be theirs.

The attitudes and value systems of these specifically recruited personal remained in the 14th century despite further education at the universities in the developed countries. Most of them were sent to the USA and instead of using the tax payers help to the benefit of society they went the opposite direction and the PhD came to be a symbol and a cosmetic attached to the name. It boosted the ego but did precious little for the farming community or the economy of the country. Simply stated the human resources so developed were woefully lacking in taking the country out of any kind of stagnation.

Research came to be a dogma behind which researchers could hide. The easier route out was that extension was not the requirement of research and the provinces were to do the needful for the farmers. That there was not very much to offer to the farmers was forgotten. The development of research and the transformation of that research in to applicable actions are too different courses and much more difficult to follow. The confusion in the system

reigned supreme when the differentiation between conceptualization and implementation was not developed. Pakistan’s Agriculture Research Council [PARC] was the conceptualizing body and that meant that the seniors here were to be people of a special category and the ones that were to make sure that the future was considered. These peoples were not supposed to be developers but thinkers. That calls for special skills that are embodied in the mind and not in the development mode. The conceptualization was to be taken to developers through the National Agricultural research Centers [NARC], the idea being to supplement the provincial research especially in the marginal and peripheral areas. That turned out to be a complete farce. Instead these outstations became employment areas where the whims of the ministers as to employment were satisfied. The issue then was whether these connected people would work and if they did not what would become of the research organization [s]. It happened in the Cotton research institute at Multan where the work ethics was completely destroyed. It happened in the recruitment of research personal at Karachi where what little was done was completely eradicated. In fact the very genesis of the institution at Karachi can be questioned because they could not have any research in the largest urban center. Te people so recruited belonged to a particular section of society. This kind of action does not help research at all. It leads to all kinds of complications and the gathering of dead wood.

Instead of being at the top of their research these organizations are now no longer viable entities. So what should be done? How to rejuvenate these institutions and make them viable? The problem is that most of the PhD’s of the 80’s are now in the fifties and in the andropause phase where they bicker over little things. The PhD has become a symbol and the realization that the learned individual has to be on top of his subject is simply forgotten.

How will research mesh in to extension and how will agriculture education mesh in to research will be the subject of future discourse? The one common aspect in all this is how to resolve obsolete factors [Humans-knowledge-thinking-wisdom] and above all how to flog a lame horse to run. Try a three legged race? The sad aspect has been the defunct nature of the possessed knowledge. Such is life. Servility does go a long way? More will follow on the intangibles and how these stand perverted

THE ROLE OF WOMEN IN FARMING

Women play a key role in the rural economy in Pakistan, and their agricultural labour leads to direct exposure to pesticides. As in many societies, there is a gender bias not only among policy makers, but also in society, which reinforces the problems facing rural women. Nasira Habib has interviewed women and conducted in-depth surveys in seven villages near Liaqatpur, in the Sindh, since 1993.

Women face social and economic discrimination which is further compounded by new hazards in rural areas as pesticide use increases. About 25% of farms now use pesticides in the country, and while women bear a major responsibility for farm work and using pesticides, their contribution to the agricultural economy is not recognised. Any short stay in a rural area is sufficient to observe women active in many jobs in the fields. At a meeting of 20 women in Liaqatpur, they listed at least 25 agriculture-related activities in which they are actively involved with their men. One woman said, "I get up early in the morning and run either to the fields or to the animal shed. Who has the time to wash one's face? We do not even have the time to say our prayers, the workload is so much."     The National Agriculture Policy makes no mention of women in the statement of its objectives, and only four minor references to women in the overall document. It provides no clear policy for the development of rural women, who form the backbone of the rural economy. This discrimination is reflected in the official documents and reports and as a consequence encourage officials to overlook and marginalise women's work.     The Census of Agriculture does acknowledge the work of women in agriculture, but indicated a drop in their contribution from 42.6% of all family workers in agricultural households in 1980 to 36.2% in 1990. In 1980, women constituted about 25% of all full time and 75% of part time workers. In 1990, the Census registered 25.87% and 61.25% respectively. However these figures do not correspond to the reality because the smaller the size of the landholding, the more intense, active and efficient the role of the women becomes. It is not cost effective for smallholders to hire paid labour.     The decade from 1980 to 1990 has seen a further fragmentation of land-holdings. Fragmentation means that women's work has to be even more intensive in order to make agriculture economically affordable. Women have to work more, longer and harder. They are economically active and substantially contribute to many activities, including:

crop farming and livestock keeping

post harvest activities

household management

off-farm and non-farm economic activities

bearing and rearing children and looking after the sick

While some of these activities are recognised as important, the visibility of women is selective and their invisibility is rooted both in economic and social factors. Rural women of Pakistan are economically active but are also economically dependent. Women have neither ownership nor control over resources and they are expected to surrender their rights in favour of brothers or husbands.     Women work and produce on land they do not own. With the introduction of market economics the situation of has further deteriorated. The harvest is sold by and through men, and men control income. Land is owned by men and the fruits of the land are enjoyed by men. Thus men automatically become visible and women become invisible. Who actually worked in what way to produce the crops is not taken into account.     Other factors like lack of access to credit facilities, gender bias in transfer of new technologies and required training, education and extension further compound the matter and force women to remain behind the scenes.     The pervasive patriarchal ideology reinforces the economic subordination further. Gender discrimination starts from the early days of a female child. She is taught not to value herself when it comes to equality with males in the family. This applies even to small matters such as eating food of the same quality. The systematic unjust socialisation takes root in the conscious and unconscious minds of women. They have no power to make decisions on how to behave or dress, whether or not to get an education, whom to marry, whether to have children and how many, whether to plan a family, whether to maintain ties with her parents' family, marriage or divorce, contact with the outside world, her health and so forth. All powers are vested with the males of the family.     Such circumstances make her unaware of the complexities of the outside world and fosters an ignorance of the laws of the country that govern her life. She does not know how she is made a featherless bird. But she knows full well that individually it is not easy to fight for her rights, even if she wishes to. She is caught in a complex web and thus succumbs to male authority and dominion.

Women's encounter with pesticidesWomen have always played a key role in disease and pest management which took shape in various activities of soil improvement and fertility management as well as direct measures to eradicate the diseases in crops and animals. But with the advent of new pest management techniques and technologies women have been by-passed. Recognising only men as farmers, they have become the focus of extension. In order to fully comprehend women's encounters with pesticides, and the impact of these chemicals, it is necessary to look at their total farming workload.     In the area studied, over 60 activities of women to the whole system of farm work have been identified. In the course of these  they frequently encounter toxic chemicals. The survey conducted for this study notes that generally, women are not directly involved in spraying pesticides, but are involved in the following activities which expose them to pesticides:

helping mix pesticides washing tanks

disposal of empty containers

washing pesticide-soaked clothes 

storage of pesticides

weeding and thinning

picking cotton

storing the harvested cotton

collecting sticks and using them for fuel

taking food to men in the fields

Generally, women wash clothes in water courses which are near or run through the fields. In most cases, houses are surrounded by the fields that are sprayed, exposing all the inhabitants to deadly poisons. When weeding-a task which falls to women five to six times a season-pesticides are inhaled and absorbed. Cotton crops are sprayed at least six or seven times in a season, and in sugar cane fields their exposure is even more prolonged.    Taking food to men in the fields brings women to freshly sprayed fields,

and can prove extremely dangerous. Jobs like taking animals to the fields, cutting fodder for animals, taking care of vegetable plots, collecting material for fuel, bathing animals in the water courses, are all activities where women could be affected by the poisons in addition to direct involvement in agriculture or related activities that expose them to the hazards of pesticides.

Major hazards arise from cotton productionCotton picking is one of the main areas of women's exposure to pesticides. Exposure begins when women treat the seeds with sulphuric acid and carries on through to storage of the picked cotton. Seed treating is carried out using a large vessel, where acid is mixed thoroughly with the seeds in a ratio of 2 grams of acid to 1kg of cotton seeds. After a few minutes, the seeds are washed off with water and dried. Then the seeds are ready to be sown. The same vessel is used for other purposes in the house such as washing clothes.    Women are engaged in cotton picking for a period of two and a half to three months. This constant and prolonged exposure to toxic chemicals in many ways poses greater health problems than spraying itself. While picking, they are vulnerable to cuts and skin rashes that further expose them to the hazards of pesticides. Studies quoted in the report of this survey have shown that "out of a total of 88 female cotton pickers only 1% could be termed out of danger. 74% had blood acetylcholine esterase (AChE) inhibition between 12.5-50%. 25% were in dangerous conditions where blood AChE inhibition was between 50-87.5%." After picking, women are not in the habit of changing clothes which may have had contact with pesticides.     All the respondents pick cotton during pregnancy which poses additional problems: "I go for picking even to the last day during pregnancy", said one woman. Women feed children in the fields, without first washing, posing serious health hazards for the mother and child. During the survey, it was noted that some of the women carry their small children while picking cotton. Many children were found in the fields, either helping their mothers or just following them. All the young pickers were girls.     During cotton picking, pesticide poisoning has increased and symptoms reported by include: sneezing, muscular pain, dizziness, nausea, burning skin, itching, cough, headache, blisters on body and suffocation.

Vulnerability and health careThe women interviewed found it ridiculous to ask how they treat poisoning

symptoms and laughed at the researcher for suggesting they consult a doctor. It is not possible to go for medicine for small ailments. One of them remarked "Unless we are unable to move, we do not think of going to a doctor or of taking medicine." Some local remedies are used, for example in case of skin burning, they apply mustard oil or butter oil. "Where can we get that much money to spend on burnings treatment?" remarked a woman. This is a reflection of the low status assigned to women and how they have internalised it. They cannot "afford the luxury of medicines" when there are so many other needs to be attended to in the family. The needs, problems and interests of women come last.     One woman who did spray pesticides, Perveen, has been adversely affected. Her most painful complaint is that she cannot hold food in her stomach and vomits food as soon as she consumes some. Other symptoms include sneezing, vomiting, watery discharge from her nose, and pain in the ribs. She has taken medicines but to no avail. She feels better for three or four days and then the complaints recur.     Generally speaking, the farmers feel that there are many new diseases unheard of in the past. Although there is no laboratory tested evidence, they tend to attribute the introduction of diseases like frequent fever, blurred eye sight, diabetes, blood pressure and cancer to the use of chemical pesticides and chemical fertilisers.     The examples reveal rural women's vulnerability to chemical pesticides. Unfortunately, in the absence of proper diagnostic apparatus, it is difficult to pinpoint the cause of any illness as arising from exposure to pesticides. An exception is the case of acute poisonings. However this makes life even more difficult. As a doctor from Liaqatur commented, "doctors are not trained to find the cause of a particular ailment where farmers' are exposed to pesticides. Thus they are unable to diagnose the illnesses properly. Generally, pain killers are given in such cases".     As women's access to health care, even during times of visible discomfort, is minimal there is no monitoring of the absorption of pesticides, of the impact on blood, reproductive organs, size of infants, and so on.     While the pesticides law has been amended several times, the amendments are focused on the issue of quality of the chemicals and no mention has been made of the threat facing human health.

Towards a just and equitable societyA number of reforms are essential to ensure better visibility for women's work and to recognize their role in the mainstream of agriculture. It is of paramount importance that land reforms be initiated that guarantee joint

ownership of agricultural land by both men and women. Technology packages which are oriented towards women must be urgently introduced, especially where women are already key actors. Effective measures are needed which encourage participation of women in the market processes.     A rapid policy shift would be helped by studies which highlight women's roles in various areas, including:

socio-cultural life of rural Pakistan with a focus on the gender relationships;

women's role in securing food and fibre;

the relationship between economic dependence and access to nutritious food;

the qualitative and quantitative contribution to agriculture of women all ecological zones;

the role of women in natural resource management;

documenting women's knowledge on agriculture;

agricultural technologies traditionally used by women, their displacement by the advent of modern technology;

women's exposure to chemical pesticides in cotton and in other cash crops: particularly in vegetable cultivation a traditional area of women's labour with a growing concentration of chemical pesticide use;

pesticide residue levels in blood and the  impact on women's reproductive system.

Almost no programmes address the problems of rural women. A few donor-driven, men-led women's groups exist, but the token presence of women in these groups without a real voice or decision-making powers is not encouraging. Initiatives which are women-led and which understand the mechanisms of gender relationships can form a sound basis for future action that strives for a society free of discrimination and injustice.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

Pakistan’s crop sector is the leading sector of agriculture. Agreement on Agriculture is affecting the crop sector not only in terms of export but also affecting the structure and composition of crop sector indirectly. The main goal of Pakistan should be to give the right direction to the crop sector because a large number of labor force is associated with it along with the earnings and expenditures of exports and imports respectively.First of all government should give a lot of consideration to Sanitary and Phytosanitary standards because this agreement has affected the exports of crop adversely. So there is need to have new and energetic team of inspection. There should be proper way of utilizing waste. Education for farmers can also play a major role for cleanliness of our crop sector. As the matter of fact Pakistan’s population is also becoming very much aware about health and cleanliness of food products. This all is happening due to awareness at the global level. If government of Pakistan could not improve its Sanitary and Phytosanitary standards then our products will not only be unable to convince the international consumers but also local consumers will ignore them.Secondly mechanization of agricultural sector should be increased. There should be new technology and machinery for our farmers because mechanization can increase the gross production of crops. Only import of new machinery will not bring about revolution in the crop sector of Pakistan. Actually good machinery can only be beneficial if the way to use the machinery is advance and productive.The system of providing agricultural credit should be improved. As we saw in our research that the main source of agricultural credit to our farmers is non-institutional loans. It is not beneficial for the farmers to get loans from the other sources because they have to pay a high interest on those loans. It is duty of government to fulfill the basic needs of farmers. This will not only help the farmers but also the productivity of our crop sector will increase. There should be financial institutions in most of the part of our rural areas and also the procedure to get those loans should be easy for farmers. Along with these financial institutions there should be guiding centers for our farmers from where they get the information about effective pesticides for their particular crops. These guiding centers will also help in giving education about the proper use of certain seeds and fertilizers. There should also be training for some of the officials in understanding WTO. This will help to make suitable decisions according to the agreements. Also we can perform well in negotiations. If government of Pakistan gives proper consideration to the above-mentioned points then our crop sector will not only fulfill the domestic needs

but also it will get huge foreign exchange earnings by exporting agricultural products. This is the way to face the new challenges of liberalization of global trade.

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Fakhar. H (2004). An Economic and Legal Benefit Analysis of Regional Trade Agreements. Paper presented at 7th Sustainable Development Conference. 8-10 December Holiday Inn, Islamabad