Pakistani Punjab is far behind the Indian Punjab in productivity of four main cash crops, ie, cotton, sugarcane, wheat, and rice, seasonal vegetables and fodder for livestock, an eminent economist Dr Abdul Hafeez told Business Recorder on Wednesday.
Speaking about income accounts for India and Pakistan, Dr Hafeez Pasha said that there is 62 percent difference in yield per hectare (Indian Punjab and Pakistan Punjab), 43 percent difference in production of wheat, 44 percent in the output of rice and 28 percent in the yield of sugarcane. Dr Pasha pointed out that binding constraints in the per acre yield of Pakistani Punjab were: Water stress, inefficient use of water, non-availability of quality seeds, imbalanced use of fertilisers and the poor research.
He said Punjab's stagnant textile exports have further dropped by $1 billion due to energy shortages. Sounding a positive note, Dr Pasha, who was former Finance Minister of Pakistan, said that the country's GDP growth rate could be increased by two percent by removing the constraints: energy shortage, cost of doing-business, skills and security.
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