EDITORIAL: It’s good that the government has decided to focus on reviving agriculture in the coming fiscal year, even though it has made the sector its “top priority” at least twice over the last two-and-a-half years, because another year of pest attacks, vanishing produce and a bad harvest would certainly push the whole sector, and the related export industry, over a cliff. Finally, the central and provincial governments have agreed to do the only thing possible to turn things around - that is to join forces and finances for a targeted action plan. Hopefully, whatever final touches they are putting on the Rs110 billion, three-year agriculture plan, on an equal cost-sharing between the centre and provinces, will be completed in time for the budget so farmers as well as buyers can breathe a sigh of relief and government can go back to not worrying about wheat, sugar and the deficit at the eleventh hour.
This is a very welcome move because even though agriculture is a provincial subject, hence subject to provincial taxation, it is still the backbone of the economy which the federal government must, at the end of the day, answer for. And with the polls not very far away anymore, this is also a very smart political gambit by the government. Farmers, who will once again have assurances of more support and subsidy, and consumers, who shouldn’t have to literally pay extra for the government’s inefficiency if this plan works, also make the largest vote bank. Rs110 billion would be worth the trouble if it puts agriculture back on track, helps stabilise the overall economy, and also gives the ruling party’s campaign a shot in the arm. But it could also prove very counter-productive very quickly if it fizzles out after the usual chest thumping.
So the focus now should be on close and very detailed coordination with provincial governments. And nobody should even need to be reminded of the sensitivity of the moment for all parties concerned. If anybody comes to the table not realising full well the cost of provocation and obstruction, then this initiative will run out of steam even before it is put on the road; like all the others before it and people suffering now for no fault of theirs will simply have to deliver their verdict at the election. Therefore the need to plan this through properly, taking all stakeholders on board at the right time, cannot possibly be stressed enough. The last thing anybody wants or needs is for everybody to overcome their differences, implement the plan, and then find out that they took off in the wrong direction to begin with.
The government has based this plan on three pillars – alleviating poverty, catering for food, feed and fibre, and providing raw material to industry – and seems to have estimated that it will enhance agriculture sector productivity by about 25 percent in two years. That is very welcome news and should put smiles on the faces of exporters, who feed on the agri sector for input for industry, as well as policymakers, who could do with a bulge in exports because it cannot possibly be too long before the extraordinary jump in remittances plateaus and reserves come under pressure again. Surely, all stakeholders understand that the key to this, or any, plan’s success will how effectively it can enable technological modernisation and mechanisation of the sector. For a country that relies so heavily on agriculture, it must border on criminal neglect that no government so far has given much thought to giving the sector a technological makeover.
It has been clear enough for decades that we’re unable to milk this sector for what it’s worth simply because it still employs practices that much of the world moved on from decades, if not centuries, ago. From irrigation to seeding to harvesting, the whole process is the very definition of inefficiency by modern standards and the only reason for this is lack of will and initiative on the part of the government. Unless they put mechanisation at the centre of the plan, it will not achieve what it is intended to even if whatever else is decided is also implemented in letter and spirit. How much of a good omen this turn out to be for the agriculture sector, then, remains to be seen. But it does seem an essential step in the right direction and is appreciated as such.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
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