‘Slowing down of agri sector growth casing serious repercussions on economy’

ISLAMABAD: The slowing down of agriculture sector growth is causing serious repercussions on all aspects of the economy including inflation, poverty, employment, income distribution, current account and food security.

This was stated by agriculture expert and former Secretary Pakistan Tobacco Board Khan Faraz, while talking to media here on Wednesday.

He further said Pakistan was agricultural country and agriculture was the backbone of the country’s economy. “Agriculture remains the second largest sector in the country providing livelihoods to almost two-thirds of the population, food, water, energy security to the country, and three-fourth of export earnings.

The industrial and services sectors are dependent upon it for their sustenance. However, a country endowed with one of the largest contiguous irrigated areas (43 m acres) and vast reservoir of underground water in the world cultivating about 21 million hectares of land has not only been able to fully exploit this rich potential but in fact is facing stagnation over the last two decades.”

Faraz said agriculture sector maintained a long term growth rate of four percent annually. It is to be added that agriculture growth rates from 1960 to 1989 exceeded 5.0 per cent and for a brief period from 2004 to 2006 over six percent. Since 2000 it is the rapid growth of livestock poultry and dairy that is the main driver while the crops have lagged behind.

He said the most recent period 2007-08 to 2022-23 show a dismal record averaging two percent – which is below the population growth rate. Per capita food availability also rose in the earlier 60 years as the cereal crop output growth exceeded the population growth rate.

In the last few years, domestic production has hardly been keeping pace with the consumption of the rising population and hence there is a resort to imports. The slowing down of agriculture sector growth is causing serious repercussions on all aspects of the economy – inflation, poverty, employment, income distribution, current account and food security, he added.

Faraz said that in view of the above, past experience and experimentation provided a lot of evidence upon which the strategy for agriculture transformation can be built.

“This however would require intense collaboration and coordination between all the stakeholders: the federal and provincial governments, research institutes and universities, private-sector companies, commercial banks, machinery service providers, marketers, and processors. The past record has not been that impressive but realization of the incoming onslaught of climate change risks that would make us deficient in food, water and energy makes it incumbent upon all of us to wake up to work together to meet those risks,” he added.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023