Problems Faced In Agriculture in Pakistan

By Mr Allah Dad Khan

Culturable waste in country

Issue/ Problem– The Total area of Pakistan is about

79.6 million hectares out of which Out of which 40.7 million hectares cultivated land 7.11 million hectares is Culture able waste 23.7 million hectares (28%) is used .

Solution– Steps to be taken to make this area

to cultivation through public private partnership

Lack of Certified Fruit NurseriesIssue/ Problem

– Lack of certified nurseries and poor quality planting materials

Solution– Establishment of certification

system for nursery plants

Non utilization of culture able waste land

Issue/ ProblemOut of 40.7 million hectares cultivated land 7.11 million hectares is Culture able waste land which accounts for a greater percentage of the total agricultural land in Pakistan. As the increase in population is very rapid, consequently per capita availability of land is decreasing mainly.

Solution– The expansion of cultivated area has already

slowed down. The culturable waste lands of 7.11 million hectares may offer good opportunity for bringing in more lands into production however it would require huge investments and enhanced water availabilityGovernment of Pakistan took a step towards the provision of the cultureable waste land to the students that are related to agriculture sector but the land holding groups didn’t permit the government to precede the project,

Low per acre yield

Issue/ Problem

– The most Important problem of agriculture is its low yield per hectare for almost every major crop.

Solution– Use of Modern Practices

Political instability

Issue/ Problem

– Political instability has affected development in all economic and social sectors.Unfortunately the political situation in country are not stable.It creats unrest among the

Solution– In sure the Political stability

Defective Land Tenure System

Issue/ Problem

– Landlords and Feudal Lords live in Posh Urban Areas while tenants and peasents have no or less incentives for their hard work .So, the productivity in agriculture sector remain low.

Solution – Tenure Laws need to be

implimented

Farmers litigation

Issue/ Problem

– There are frequent and continuous litigations among the farmers directly or in directly . They are often seen in courts , police stations , irrigation offices.Due to mentioned problems our farmer cannot devote his time, energy , efficiency and labour to agricultural productions.

Solution– Early Justice provided to farmers

water logging and salinity Problems

Issue/ Problem– water logging and salinity is

increasing day by day. No effective measures have been taken to curb it. 38 % of Pakistan's irrigated land is waterlogged , 14 % is saline .30 Lakhs acres of land have become uncultivable .

Solution – Control of water logging through

biological control, drainage ,choice of crop species . In case of salinity soil reclamation .

Weak Linkage Between Agriculture Research , and Agriculture University

Issue/ Problem

– The weak linkage between extension, research and farmers limits the effectiveness of agricultural research and extension to contribute towards the agricultural development.

Solution– There should active coordination

between Agriculture Research and Agriculture Extension so that acquired knowledge is consistently disseminated from Agriculture Research to Agriculture Extension and finally to farmers.

Soil Erosion Biggest Threat in Agriculture

Issue/ Problem– No mechanism has been adopted to eradicate the

soil erosion and even after harvesting nothing is done to improve or restore the soil energy. Therefore, the fertility of soil is decreasing day by day. The thickness of fertile layer of soil in Pakistan is more than 6 inches but the average yield is lower than other countries where layer of fertile soil is only 4 inches.

– Soil erosion implies loss or removal of surface soil material through the action of moving water, wind or ice

Solution– It is therefore very necessary for

the sustainable economic future of Pakistan and a friendly environment to cope with Soil Erosion problem on war-footing bases. Productive lands and healthy environment are the only gift worth passing to our next generations.

Climate change effect on Agriculture

Issue/ Problem– Temperatures are predicted to rise

by 3 degrees by 2040 and up to 5-6 degrees by the end of the century. Monsoon rains will be drastically reduced but have a much higher intensity. Droughts and floods are predicted for the whole of South Asia.

Solution– Investment in research and development

that provides solutions to high-stress agriculture ● Hi-tech meteorological services along with early warning systems to predict floods, drought, cyclones, tsunamis, wind shear, fog, hailstorms, etc.

– ● Breeding of livestock species and multiplication of seed varieties that are resistant to drought

Absence of ecological based specialized cropping belts.

Issue/ Problem– Every geographical location has a

perfect environment for the production of a specific agricultural commodity. Many parts of Pakistan are not getting the optimum production mainly due to the absence of this strategy (Qureshi, 2012, Manzoor et al., 2013, Asim et al., 2013).

Solution– Just like industrial zone, there is an

urgent need to establish special agricultural zones, where only farming and agriculture related activity should be allowed.

Conventional farming practices. Issue/ Problem

– Conventional farming practices have an owner yield as compared to the modern practices. It is perhaps a great hurdle to replace the conventional methods with modern ones (Feder, 1985). He traditional practices are more common in the developing countries like Pakistan and these practices are mainly due to the smaller farm size as the small level peasant is unable to bear the farm expenses and result in low yield per unit area (Khwaja, 2013).

Solution– Latest machinery should be provided to the farmers

to increase the per acre yield. This provision should be on easy installments so that the farmers can avoid the burden of loans. If possible subsidy should be given by the government of modern machinery.- Modern techniques of irrigation can solve the problems of irrigation in Pakistan. This includes drip irrigation and sprinkle irrigation methods. By using this technique the farmers can save a huge some of money which he pays for irrigation through tube wells and tractors.

Indirect access of farmer to main market. Issue/ Problem

– Middlemen intervention is one of the biggest hurdles to improve the socio economic status of the small land holders.

– For this reason the farmer fails to get the real price of his hard work and inputs. Small peasants are unable to access the market and get the rate that is the original price of the commodity .

Solution– Regulated Marketing

Water deficiency and drought conditionsIssue/ Problem

– . Pakistan, a country once a water-surplus country, is now gaining attention as a water-deficit country . Pakistan is estimated to be losing 13 million cusecs [approximately 368,119 cubic meters/second] of water every year from its rivers into the sea, as it does not have enough reservoirs or dams to store water. The archaic method of flood irrigation is still in practice in whole of the country which wastes almost 50 to 60 percent of water. A new irrigation system called drip irrigation system has been introduced in many parts of the world. This not only saves water but also gives proper quantity of water according to the needs of plants. However, this system is yet to implemented in our country if we are to maximize our water utility.

Solution– More dams should be constructed on

Indus, Jehlum and Chenab rivers. This will enhance the storage capacity of water and reduce the per acre cost of all the crops. This step will also reduce the salinity chances of the lands as less tube well water will be flooded to the lands which cause salinity.

Long duration load shedding.

Issue/ Problem

– Load shedding is counted among some of serious threats to agriculture. There is an increasing loads heeding with the passage of time. More than 1,075,073 tube wells (Government of Pakistan. 2011) are irrigating the land and due to the serious electricity short fall, these fail to work in an optimum manner. Diesel is an alternate to run these tube wells but the higher diesel prices have posed another problem to the farmers of the country. Unannounced load shedding can disturb the sowing of different crops (Daily Nation, 2008).

Solution– Construction of dams. Construction of a big dam like Kala Bagh

Dam is the only solution towards a long term support to agricultural sector. Small projects like Gomal Zam Dam (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Greater Thal Canal (Punjab), Rainee Canal (Sindh), Kachhi Canal (Balochistan), Raising of Mangla Dam (AJ&K), Satpara Dam (Skardu) and Right Bank Outfall Drain (RBOD) are some of the current projects that are under construction and may add some part in solving this issue (Government of Pakistan, 2012) Nuclear power plants. Pakistan, being a nuclear state, has a capability to produce the nuclear powered electricity. The recent development is coming due to the cooperation of Russian Journal of Agricultural and Socio-Economic Sciences, 8(20) 23 China in the making of two nuclear power plants that are expected to work at the end of 2016. Each power plant will produce electricity of 340 MW (Pakistan Today, 2013)

Lack of Farmers Organizations

Issue/ Problem

– Lack of Farmers Organizations

Solution– There is a need for farmers' groups or associations at the village

level, to create a sense of unity among farmers in trying to solve their financial and social problems, and in approaching extension departments for services. These farmers' associations will mediate disputes regarding water and land. They will maintain watercourses and will arrange quality seeds and fertilizer for the farmers. Moreover, these associations will be able to arrange some funds for needy persons, contact higher officials and ensure the availability of training for their members. These associations will be able to carry out collective developmental works like transport management, roads maintenance, and facilitation of water. They will be beneficial in creating awareness among farmers about their rights. In some places the associations may face political troubles, but with time these can be overcome

Lack of roads from field to market and lack of storage facilities

Issue/ Problem

– There is a lack of farm to market roads. There is also lack of storage facilities in KPK. The rural areas of the province are major grower of crops, fruits and vegetables. As most of the regions are backward and lack facilities of black top roads. Therefore farmers suffer physical hardships and financial loss in timely reaching the produce of their land from far of rural cultivated land to market located mostly in urban area at a large distance from their farms

Solution– Black top road facilities from market to farm

and improved storage infrastructure can surely help in getting due prices for output and in minimizing transportation costs and minimal loss of perishable produce. Government should provide a marketing system which ensures the proper and stable prices. Government should arrange foreign markets for domestic agricultural produce so that farmers can get better prices of their produce

Lack of attention to Livestock and Forestry

Issue/ Problem– Livestock and forestry have better output and support a

high percentage of households. There is a need for development of the livestock sector by providing new breeds for milk and beef. This sector can raise the income level of households in the northern mountainous regions as well as southern rain-fed plains. Approximately 20 percent of the income of farm households and land-less families comes from animal husbandry. A significant population in Hazara, Malakand, and Dera Ismail Khan Divisions depends on livestock for its livelihood. The province also has the largest area under forest in the country (Khan, Plan of action under Fes).

Solution– Strenthenging the departments

Low prices of agricultural output Issue/ Problem

– Proper prices paid for output play an important role in increasing agricultural production. In Pakistan the prices of crops, particularly food grains, were kept below international levels by government to boost the urban industrial workers. At the time of independence Pakistan was strong agriculturally and was weak industrially. An unbalanced growth model was followed by Government of Pakistan to boost large Scale industries It has been remain the policy of Government of Pakistan since 1950 to keep the prices of agricultural crops below the world level and the costs of finished goods above the world level. Also some conceal taxes were imposed on export of agricultural goods and export of machinery for large scale machinery was relieved of export duties.

Solution– Judicious prices for agriculture

output

Poor extension services.

Issue/ Problem

– Agricultural extension is one of the driving forces that are responsible for the growth of agricultural productivity by transferring latest and improved technologies to the farmers and ultimately strengthens the national economy .

– Unfortunately, the developing countries are failing to transfer the technology to farmer level and it is getting worse with the passage of time Out dated traditional extension services are unable to fulfill the demands posed by modern crop production and protection

Solution– Strengthening of Agriculture

Extension Services.

Need for national weather risk management system/disease alert system

Issue/ Problem

– Need for national weather risk management system/disease alert system

Solution– Facilitating national weather risk

management system that alerts farmers when there is a danger of extreme weather, would go a long way in reducing losses in agriculture.

Absence of land reforms

Issue/ Problem

– . Land reforms refer to the government backed changing in the law and regulations for the transfer of ownership of agricultural land evenly in the whole state (Kinsey, 1999). Due to the absence of the land reforms in Pakistan the subsidies and other farmer based incentives given by the government are enjoyed by the landlords and the farmer with small land holding suffers in the end (Haq, 2012). About 2 percent of households has a complete hold on the 45 percent of the land area. Progressive and politically influenced farmers have also taken advantage of government subsidies in agriculture and water sectors, and benefited from technological improvements which have boosted yields on their large farms while the small farmer is unable to enjoy these benefits (World Bank, 2003). Absence of the land reforms is also bringing about negative changes in the society and is resulting in an over increasing rate of poverty and consequently there is an increased rate of the negative behavior in society (IRINEWS, 2009).

Solution – Implementation of justice based land

reforms. Land reforms, perhaps, seems to be the key element in the reduction of poverty and empowerment of the poor farmers having small land holdings. Landless farmers should be given the opportunity to improve their social status. A great political and judicial intervention is needed so as to overcome to fight against the feudalist system prevailing across the country .

Inadequate and poor quality seed productionIssue/ Problem

– . Poor quality seed has a major effect on the germination as well as the overall vigor of the plant especially in the case of wheat which is considered as the staple food in Pakistan

– Provincial Seed Corporations are intended to distribute the quality seed. Due to the limited level availability of certified seed, misguidance by many local seed distributors and low quality seed the agriculture sector is suffering from low production per unit area. Availability of poor quality seed is one of the major problems in modern agricultural context in Pakistan .

Solution

– Federal Seed Certification and Federal Seed Registration is approved but it should taken responsible steps in approving seeds as it has already approved 36 new kinds of seeds. Specially, those seeds should be banned which can create pest problem in near future. These seeds are of cotton mainly. International seed makers are providing those seeds which are not successful in our country as these seeds are not tested on our soil.

High price of fertilizers and monopoly of companiesIssue/ Problem

– Due to the increase in the prices of these fertilizers an average farmer fails to give his best on the farm and in turn low yield cause the financial pressure and other problems (FAO, 2004). As high as 2.5$ increase per bag of urea is expected by the peak season in 2013 which will be overall discouraging for the farming community in Pakistan .

Solution

– Proper prices of agricultural outputs play an important role in increasing agricultural production. Government should provide a market system that ensures proper and stable prices. The role of middleman should be abandoned. Government should arrange foreign markets for domestic agricultural products like fruits and vegetables. As these items are more perishable, better storage facilities are must for them.

Inappropriate use of fertilizers and pesticides

Issue/ Problem– Inappropriate use of fertilizers and

pesticides has led to water pollution and damage to larger ecosystems, where excess nitrates from agriculture enter water systems. Fertilizer nutrient runoff from agriculture has become a major problem in intensive systems of Asia, causing algal bloom and destroying wetlands and wildlife habitats.

Solution

– Judicious use of Fertilizers and Pesticides.

– It is recommended that testing of farm soils and tubewell water should be made mandatory and the testing results be used for determination of proper nutrient mix and water treatment.

– The use of biotechnology techniques to develop disease resistant varieties and integrated pest management technologies may reduce production costs and increase yields of various crops

Real estate mafia constraint in AgricultureIssue/ Problem

– We can see even fertile land best suited for agricultural purpose being sold to real estate people, who prepare plots and give attractive advertisements to sell at exorbitant price. There is need to implement strict measures to prevent land grabbing.

–

Solution

In an agro-based economy like Pakistan’s, we cannot afford to lose agricultural land. As a government, we must put a restriction and strict barriers to entry on development of housing schemes

Most farms are small and economically unfeasible

Issue/ Problem

– The ground reality is that majority of the farmers in Pakistan own as little as two acres of land. Cultivation on such small area is not economically feasible. Such small farmers have become vulnerable

Solution

– Cooperative farming

Lack of Female Extension officersIssue/ Problem

– Lack of Female Extension Officers in Department

Solution

– Keeping in view the conservative nature of the area, female extension workers from the local areas may be appointed who can communicate with the rural women

Inadequate credit support to farmersIssue/ Problem

– There were many problems faced by the farmers like complicated procedure, unnecessary delay in disbursement, unlawful demand of official, but the major problem is collateral due to which the tenants and share cropper were dropped from loaning schemes.

– The majority of the small farmers could not borrow due to unavailability of collateral.

Solution

– Procedure for obtaining bank loans for agriculture purpose may be made simpler and use

Lack of fruit orchards

Issue/ Problem

– In Pakistan, fruit and vegetable growing is highly dispersed with a large number of (usually small) farmers involved in production of these crops. They usually grow poor planting material of different species/varieties of fruits and many among them follow diverse and usually un-standardized cultivation practices. As a result, the quality of fruits and vegetables is not uniform. This affects quality of processed products and their acceptability by the consumers, specifically in the international markets

Solution

– Lay out of fruit orchards

Low exploitation of potential in organic farming Issue/ Problem

– In Pakistan, soils are generally deficient in organic matter and essential plant nutrients, due to high temperature and intense microbial activity. The application of organic fertilizer (farmyard manure and green manure) is limited and that of chemical fertilizers is increasing. This coupled with unbalanced use and faulty management practices the fertilizer efficiency is quite low

Solution

– The development and use of bio-fertilizers in combination with organic and chemical fertilizer may improve crop yields, reduce costs, and conserve land and water resources

Natural Clamities

Issue/ Problem

– Hailstorms, torrential rains, floods and heavy winds destroy thousands of acres of standing crops across Pakistan each year, leaving thousands of families in economic peril – and the problem is growing worse as climate change brings more extreme weather

Solution

– Government is required to compensate farmers for crops damaged by natural disasters, under legal provisions known as the Land Administration Manual.

– This manual is need to be implemented.

Use of adulterated or expired insecticides. Issue/ Problem

– Although government has claimed that it has controlled the pesticide adulteration and decreased it to 1% but there is a continuous trend of using low quality insecticides (Daily Times, 2012) Poor quality insecticides affect the environment and also induce some of the serious health issues due to their prolonged residual effects (Jabbar and Mallick, 1994). Moreover, during the peak season there has been a shortage of the good quality insecticides and the market is dominated by the business of the adulterated or expired insecticides which in turn are detrimental for the overall economic progress and the sustainable agriculture in Pakistan (Dawn, 2013).

Solution – Implementation of rules and

regulation

Risk and vulnerability of small farmers Issue/ Problem

– Smallholders face a number of individual risks such as disease, injury and death of animals, as well as common or aggregate risks such as drought, epidemic and economy-wide shocks, affecting everyone in the locality. The consequences of these risks can be extremely severe, potentially leading to malnutrition, disease, starvation or even death. As a result, managing and coping with risks are an integral part of the daily lives of poor rural people.

Solution

– Risk to be minimized through incentives

Alternate source of income for farmers

Issue/ Problem– There is no Alternate source of

income for farmers

Solution – Small farmers should be

encouraged to develop alternative sources of income and the government should take up the responsibility for providing training to the farmers to acquire new skills.

Alternate Source of Energy

Issue/ Problem

– Pakistan has been experiencing an acute shortage of energy right across all sectors in particular, industry and through energy disruption to domestic users

Solution

– Technology transfer in the area of renewable energy at farm level and green technologies to save the environment from the vagaries of Climate Change

Deliberate smuggling of agricultural productsIssue/ Problem

– . Among the crops, wheat (Pakkissan, 2005) and rice (Pakkissan 2007), while among fertilizers, urea (Tribune, 2011) is smuggled more as compared to any other agricultural produce. Due to the war in Afghanistan, this problem has drastically increased and disturbing the agricultural sector

Solution

– Controlling smuggling of agricultural products. Intervention of border forces and security checks across the country can help controlling this issue (Tribune, 2013). Now the government of Pakistan is also taking some of the serious actions towards the cross border Russian Journal of Agricultural and Socio-Economic Sciences, 8(20) 24 movement of the agricultural commodities especially wheat so as to increase the availability at consistent price levels (Dawn, 2013)

Non cooperation between modern research and extension

Issue/ Problem– . Flow of latest research to the

farmer is not immediate mainly due to the non cooperation of the extension and research departments working separately in Pakistan (Kyomo, 2006)

Solution – Strengthening research-extension bond. After the

privatization of the extension department, the next step should be the integration of the department with different research institutes and universities. The students should be given the cultivable wasteland and they should be given a target. Performance based farming based on the new research should be promoted and incentives should be given to those farmers who perform and get higher yields by the adoption of new technology

Need for meaningful crop insurance policiesIssue/ Problem

– Absence of organzied crop insurance policy. In case of any loss due to heavy insect attack, disease outbreak, floods, fires, etc. there is no insurance plan for the small land holders. The farmer suffers due to these losses and ultimately, agriculture suffers

Solution – Crop insurance policy for small land

holders. Crop insurance should be provided to the small land holders for decreasing poverty and improving the socioeconomic status of farmer. The crop insurance policy is very important as it will give a security to the farmer but this policy will fail if the government fails to subsidize the rates of fertilizers and pesticides

Depletion of forests

Issue/ Problem

– . Area of forest is decreasing due to due to an annual (2011-12) contribution of more than 92,000 Cubic meters (Government of Pakistan, 2012). Due to increase in the deforestation, there has been a progressive increase in the process of Erosion and flood losses are expected to increase in the coming months

Solution – Reforestation. Special community based

incentives should be offered in effort to induce reforestation movement in the country. Mass forestation campaigns should be launched at national level involving the academia and the farming community. Biannual farming campaigns and incentives for the perennial farmers will increase the forest area in Pakistan. This will be helpful in longer term and in the province of Sindh to avoid the threat of expected floods all over the country in the coming decade.

Lack of modern post harvest technologies. Issue/ Problem

– The post harvest losses are major influencing factors that determine the final production of a country. Pakistan is facing heavy post harvest loss due to poor infrastructure, lack of modern storage facilities, limitation of processing units and slow transportation (Shah and Farooq, 2000)

Solution

– Introduction of modern post harvest technologies. Modern post harvest technologies should be provided to reduce the post harvest losses in horticultural crops as well as in fisheries (The NEWS, 2012). Storage technologies should be reformed to store the grains and other agricultural commodities for a greater period of time. For this purpose, the success stories of the progressing nations should be followed

Disease outbreaks of poultry birdsIssue/ Problem

– . New Castle poultry disease and Bird flu disease are counted among the most lethal disease that infects whole population in a very short period of time (The News, 2012).These diseases are contributing to the lower yield of per capita availability of protein.

Solution

– Promoting controlled environment sheds. Controlled environment sheds should be subsidized by the government to help the farmers shift from conventional sheds to modern sheds. Poultry vaccines and other medicines should be available so as to avoid some of the serious disease in this poultry sector. Farmers should be educated for the importance of control sheds and subsidy should be given on the raw material and equipment required to build these advanced structures.

Lack of guidance is the main reason for the farmers' backwardness

Issue/ Problem

– Lack of Agriculture Advisory services

Solution

– The only mean of communication in rural areas is T.V or radio so it is urgently needed on the part of these mass communication resources to air the programs related to the new agricultural techniques and allied sciences. But these programs should be telecast in regional or local languages. Because lack of guidance is the main reason of farmers backwardness. The communication gap between well qualified experts and simple farmers have not been bridged. Availability of these experts is not ensured in rural areas as they are reluctant to go there.Pakistan is rich in fertile land yet the land is being wasted in different ways. 79.6% million hectors of land is Culturable where as only 20.43% million hectors is cultivated. The reason can be described in two points.