This is apropos a Business Recorder editorial "Reforming agricultural sector" carried by the newspaper yesterday. I congratulate Dr Omer Javed for his scholarly approach to the subject; no doubt agriculture has been the backbone of country's economy. It is quite true that the Covid-19 pandemic, as pointed out by the writer, "has only exacerbated the need for such reform, not just in Pakistan, but mainly in other developing countries as well".
It is quite unfortunate that the country has been importing wheat while India's Punjab has recorded a bumper wheat production during this pandemic.
The incumbent government in particular has failed to pay the kind of attention this sector truly deserves. It seems to have mostly expended its energies on dealing with the wheat flour and sugar scams so far. Agriculture sector contributes 26 percent of country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and accounts for half of employed labour force; it is the largest source of foreign exchange earnings.
Faizan Khan (Islamabad)
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020
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