All the sectors contributing to a country’s economy need an overarching overhaul to keep pace with the requirements of the bloating population and have sustainable growth, but some sectors might be prioritized more than the others based on their huge contribution to the economic development of a specific country. Keeping this in view, it can fairly be assumed that such sectors of paramount significance can hardly withstand any grave neglect. The agricultural sector in Pakistan which possesses a tremendous potential in boosting the economic growth has never mesmerized the attention of those at the helm who seem to be fixated more on where they will be getting more bucks from instead of how economic prosperity can be achieved and sustainability in food security maintained.
Agriculture in Pakistan can undoubtedly, if given the required heed by the authorities, play a vital role in both economic growth and food fortification, lessening the harmful threats posed by climate change to future food security. Agriculture in Pakistan account for 19% of GDP which is testament to the humongous dependence of Pakistani population on this sector which barely affords being overlooked. Similarly, more than 42 % of labour force in Pakistan is embroiled in the agricultural sector, further revealing how bitterly the population will get affected if the future threats being predicted display themselves. While this sector seems to be drowning, largely due to commercialisation of lands, urban migration, strain of burgeoning population,and farmers’ vulnerabilities, the successive governments’ pledges vis a vis bringing about the much-vaunted reforms ring hollow.
Many elements played their parts in the consistent slump in the agricultural productivity including cost of production, farmers’ oblivion about the changing environmental issues, lack of access to well-preserved seeds, climate heat, governments’ apathy, inaccessibility to the required information, lack of research in agricultural sector, absence of targeted loans for the marginalized farmers in the hinterlands, inefficient use of water, almost inexistent information about innovative methods for enhancing crops production and so on. More disturbing is the fact that this long-neglected sector is unlikely to witness any rectification in its production as the policymakers still lurk behind mere rhetorical statements.
The highly water-consuming crops such as wheat, sugarcane, rice and cotton have been given preference over the decades, seemingly due to the sheer interests of the elite. The highly consuming crop sugarcane, for instance, can be done away with in order to grow other valuable crops through efficient use of water. Furthermore, what can be more baleful than the growing apprehensions about the dangers of climate change in the ensuing future as Pakistan has already been inundated by the summer floods of 2022 which damaged its standing crops, displaced millions of people, and left a major chunk of livestock drowned. The already frail sector will be incapable of bearing the brunt of the climate disasters wrecked through the industrialists’ avarice, pushing the despondent people further down the bleaker abyss.
Pakistan needs to reap the dividends of a thriving agricultural sector through laying emphasis on export-products based on agricultural inputs, undertaking awareness campaigns about the innovative technology and advanced methods of production, promoting efficient use of water, protecting erosion of soil, launching financial-support programs to assist farmers in growing crops in neglected rural areas, enhancing opportunities through having public-private partnership, reducing fossil fuels-driven crop cultivation to nurture sustainable growth, preferring irrigation through canal waters, retrofitting farmers with the incentives, enticing the potential investors from abroad and the dismantling of roadblocks to improve farmers’ access to central market.