Unveiling the Future of Agriculture in Pakistan: Challenges and Opportunities

 

The mainstay of Pakistan’s struggling economy is Agriculture, accurately accounting for 42% of the local workforce according to the 2019 report.

Despite the most significant part of the national economy, agricultural productivity is declining, causing food security concerns. The population of Pakistan is expected to increase exponentially in the next 30 years, which means we would possess millions of mouths to feed.

Global warming and climate change are presenting increased challenges to national food security causing strain on conservative agricultural policies.

According to economic statistics, Pakistan is among the top 10 countries to be adversely affected by climate change by 2050. This means that there would be a drastic shortage of land water for irrigation, industrial and humane consumption.

Image by Herney Gómez from Pixabay 

According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation, the number of climate-related disasters has doubled since the 1990s with an average of 213 events occurring every year from 1990 to 2018 affecting agricultural activity and food productivity to the maximum.

2019’s unusual humidity and temperature have inadvertently caused a widespread loss of raw cotton, rice, and maize productivity in Punjab and Sindh.

 

Before letting the situation slip out of control, Pakistan needs to modify its agricultural reforms.

 

Globally, agriculture is adopting modern technologies to ensure raw resources and increasing food production. These include the use of sensors, devices, machines, and information technologies. The current decade is using more advanced scientific techniques such as gene editing, robots, drones, digital agriculture and even producing vertical farms using artificial technology.

These advanced techniques enhance the precision of agriculture and allow outcomes to be more profitable, efficient, and environmentally friendly. These modern experiments are ready to light up the next more advanced and innovative inventions in fields of agriculture that would encourage farmers around the globe to fight against climate changes, global warming, water shortage and drastically increasing population.

 

Pakistan interminably drags its feet when it comes to adapting the groundbreaking innovations while other developing countries are embracing new innovations to improve their agricultural economy. The recent locust attack in 2020 is an example of the lack of application of agricultural policies.

 
Widespread problems faced by the agriculture of Pakistan

 

Soil erosion

No mechanism is adapted to eradicate the soil erosion in rain-fed and mountainous areas and there is a lack of restoration of soil energy even after the harvesting causing soil fertility depletion. One of its notable contributing factors represents the lack of use of fertilizers. Every crop harvest results in a decrease in soil nutrients.

 

The fertility soil layer in Pakistan is  6 inches but the average crop yield is much less than in countries where the the fertility soil layer is 4 inches.

 

Climate impacts

According to research, there is more than 20% loss of overall crop because of unfavorable weather conditions resulting in droughts, floods, or torrential rains.

 
Flood irrigation

The archaic flood irrigation method is still in use which wastes 50 to 60% of water. Developed countries are using drip irrigation techniques to save this water wastage.

 

Agronomic agricultural constraints

The average crop yield per acre in Pakistan is much less than in neighbouring countries like Nepal, Bangladesh, and India because of the lack of adaptation of modern harvesting techniques. There is also inadequate availability of improved quality seeds. Expensive and Improper use of fertilizers and plant diseases also cause constraints on productivity.

 

Water salinity:

No effective methods are overwhelmingly adopted to curb waterlogging and water salinity. It is increasing because of a considerable number of tube well installations by plight farmers.

 

Alleged communication gap:

A remarkable communication gap between experts and farmers is a barrier to agricultural development.

 

Institutional Constraints:

It is a great threat to this sector as people are moving to cities and cities are spreading over the fertile lands, leaving fewer agricultural lands.

 

Other factors include:

 

●     False policies of Government

●     Unequal canal water distribution

●     Improper use of the canals and groundwater

●     Low water use efficacy.

●     Ineffective agricultural education

 

Encountering the modern challenges, Pakistan needs to adopt modern technology and experts' guidance to cope with the downfall in agricultural fields.

 

Dr. Yousef Zafar, the former chairman of the Pakistan Agriculture Research Council, while suggesting the solutions to collective problems stresses the adaptation of more sustainable technologically advanced approaches. He says that our policies should work on enabling farmers to produce more from less. For precision agriculture and productivity enhancement, he practically suggests the use of the following technologies:

 

●     Laser land leveling

●     Solar-powered highly efficient irrigation system

●     Smart water grids

●     Drones

Leveraging drone techniques will also help in:

●     Aerial mapping

●     Plant health monitoring

●     Soil analysis

●     Weed detection

 

Other steps to be taken:

 

●     Corporate farming

●     Increase in agricultural exports

●     Necessary adaptation of innovative technology

●     Construction of dams

●     Consumer-friendly policies should be issued.

●     Cultivation according to Agricultural zones

●     Productivity enhancement programs

 

 

Experts comment that the potential of such advancement is unexpected because of the absence of legislative and policy framework, regulatory regime, and lack of adequate resources. This has discouraged private-sector investment in local agriculture to a vast extent.

 

Pakistan requires an enabling business environment for the prompt adoption of the most recent technologies that will boost agriculture and attract more meaningful advancement.

 

Is biotechnology the future in Pakistan?

 

On the policy front in Pakistan, it is recognized as the 6th priority area in Science and technology. The adoption of biotechnology is reinforced in the 2025 vision. However, the benefits of biotechnology are scale-neutral. Despite the massive investment in Biotechnology, the formal commercialization of biotech crops remains distant from reality, due to a lack of policy connectivity at various government levels.

 

Conclusions:

 

Agriculture through improved productivity plays a crucial role in the economic development of a country by ensuring food security, enhancing the quality of livelihood, and eradicating poverty.

However, Agriculture in Pakistan faces profound water, land, environmental, agronomics, institutional, and socio-economic challenges that give rise to severe productivity complications.

Comprehensive strategies and political actions are desperately required to radically improve water and non-water elements for enhanced agricultural productivity in Pakistan. As well as a determined and stable policy with the constitutional and regulatory framework will ensure the business environment in facilitating long-term purposeful investments and technological advancements.

Article by Dr. Nimra S.

Pakistan.

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