High market prices help increase earnings of 13-acre landholders

The earnings of the rural population with landholdings of 13 acres and above have substantially increased due to increased market price of important crops like wheat, sugarcane, paddy, cotton, maize, pulses, vegetables and livestock. Contrary to general perception support price has played a lesser role as opposed to market price in spreading wealth in rural farms of 13 acres and above, sources further revealed.
Information collected from multiple sources including farmers' representatives, federal and provincial governments' departments dealing with the agriculture sector revealed that during the past ten years income of the farmers especially with landholdings of 13 acres or above have doubled as compared to the decade of 1990s.
According to these agricultural experts besides enhanced prices of agricultural products there are many other factors especially expansion of skilled and higher education which played an important role in increasing incomes of the rural areas. Pakistan last year exported agriculture products worth Rs 300 billion including food grains, vegetables, fruits, tobacco, fisheries products, spices and livestock.
According to officials of Ministry of Food Security and Research, Pakistan last year exported fruits amounting to Rs 20 billion, Rs 19 billion fisheries products, Rs 1.15 billion tobacco/tobacco products, Rs 200 billion rice including Basmati and Irri-6, Rs 10 billion vegetables, Rs 10 billion livestock and meat products, Rs 2.25 billion spices, Rs 13.78 billion oilseeds/nuts and Rs 32 billions other agri products, which indicate that earnings of the rural population are increasing.
Imran Jazib, a farmer talking to Business Recorder on phone from Okara, revealed that during the past eight years in rural areas use of motorbikes, cars, fridges, and other luxury items has increased, but it should not be attributed to only increased support price of wheat or other crops.
According to him, there are many other factors which played key role in the development of rural areas including improvement in education levels and greater awareness of consumer products due to the arrival of cable and internet in the rural areas. Quoting his native area's example, Jazib said that during the last 12 years as many as 50 persons had completed masters degree in his village and many of the educated peoples were serving in banks or in government service in good positions so education had played an important role in reshaping rural life.
Despite massive flooding in Sindh the country during ongoing year produced cotton crop of over 12.5 million bales, nearly 25 million tons of wheat, over 60 million tons of sugarcane and six million tons of rice. However according to these experts, there is a substantial yield gap with neighbouring countries, and there are immediate opportunities to increase production of important crops through improved soil and water management, use of quality certified seeds, balanced use of fertilisers and proper plant protection measures.
It was estimated that Pakistan can increase cotton production by 62.5 percent with the use of certified BT seed and modern pest control techniques, said Dr Pervaiz Khan of Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (Parc). He said that due to better prices farmers had dedicated more lands for the cultivation of cash crops like rice, sugarcane and cotton. Moreover, flooding in 2010 and 2011 increased fertility of land, and healthy output of major crops is expected during next year too.
However, Ibrahim Mughal, Chairman Agri-Forum Pakistan while talking to Business Recorder claimed that Pakistani farmers were getting much lower prices for their crops compared to their cost of production. The cost of production versus the support price (in parenthesis) is as follows: Rs 905.50 per 40 kg for wheat against Rs 1,050 per kg, Rs 175 per 40 kg sugarcane against Rs 150 per kg and Rs 1,300 per 40 kg Basmati paddy against Rs 1,250 per 40 kg. While the government announced wheat support price is Rs 1,050 per 40 kg, Rs 150 per 40 kg sugarcane and Rs 1,250 per 40 kg Basmati paddy.
Pakistani farmers annually bring 21.5 million acres of land under wheat cultivation and with Rs 1,050 per 40 kg price a farmer with a landholding of 13 acres or above would benefit while farmers with smaller holdings would be unable to take advantage as the bulk of their output would be consumed by the family.
Total usage of urea in agricultural sector is 130 million bags out of which 40-45 million bags are used for wheat, while 35 million bags of DAP are used out of which 20 million bags are used for wheat crop. Yield can be increased by enhancing the use of fertilisers which contain Phosphorus (DAP). Prices for imported urea have been announced by the government at Rs 1,300 per 50 kg bag but unfortunately not a single bag is available at this price to farmers who are purchasing per 50 kg urea bag at Rs 1,800 bag for this.