Quoting the Member Agriculture of the Planning Commission, Dr Kausar Abdullah, a Business Recorder news report from Islamabad has it that no NOC will be issued for setting up new sugar units until finalisation of the proposed new study of agricultural zoning, which is expected to take a few months.
It is, however, just another matter that it is not known whether the decision in this regard is sugar specific or it may be applicable to any other agro-industry too. Confusion may also arise about the fate of the already planned six sugar mills, marked for establishment in the cotton growing areas. However, dilating upon the proposed study, Dr Abdullah made no secret of its purpose or of the circumstances leading to it, saying that study on agricultural zoning had become inevitable.
Nevertheless some idea of the need of such a study may be had from the reference he made to replacement of cotton with sugarcane cultivation in certain parts of specific cotton belts, because of concentration of sugar mills in such areas. Viewed in this perspective, the idea of designating certain areas for specified crops should appeal to reason. Resort to this kind of a study will appear to have been prompted by the urge to address the serious disarray in crop planning by the farmers.
Kausar Abdullah's reference to rice, being grown in the areas where other crops could give better yields, should leave little to doubt the advisability of initiation of the proposed study. This should become all the more understandable from his remarks about the practice in vogue having impacted the overall ecology of the farming sector.
The approach of the study and the methodology applied in the exercise will appear to be pragmatic in essence. This refers to the elaboration that the proposed study would take input from the already conducted study of agro-climatic zones, which was conducted jointly by Meteorological Department and the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock (Minfal).
Notably, this study classified agricultural environment into around 50 agro-climatic zones; its parameters covering mean monthly rainfall, daily maximum, minimum and mean temperatures, along with accumulated seasonal temperatures and average daylight. Moreover, evidently to add to its credibility the new study would go for a comprehensive survey of the practices of land utilisation along with and soil analysis.
From all indications, a thorough scientific approach will be seen to have been applied in the laudable exercise. This should become all the more evident from the reference made to the revelations made by an earlier extensive study of industrial growth in different areas of the country. This study is stated to have indicated the grim fact that industries were allowed to grow in a haphazard manner.
So much so that no thought was given to advisability of their location in or in proximity with closely linked farming, which was mostly left to the will of the farmers to grow whichever crop they wanted. Similarly, in the case of the entrepreneurs, they would set up manufacturing units without prior study on the suitability of their location.
An instance of this is the setting up of textile and paper and board units on prime agricultural land along the Sheikhupura-Faisalabad Road and of flourmills in areas with minimal or no wheat sowing. Mention in this regard has also been made of concentration of sugar mills in particular areas, which has led to the growth of sugar industry at the cost of the ecology. Some idea of the serious neglect of the advisability of putting up industrial units in agricultural environment may be had from dispensing with the zoning system that was in place in early 1980s.
That system made it binding on the farmers to sell sugarcane only to the mills in the specific zones. Little wonder that excessive cultivation of sugarcane was done haphazardly in all zones, thereby jeopardising both the farming and industrial sectors alike to the growing predicament of both. Now that countries such as India and China are resorting to more advanced scientific methods to increase their crop yield and make early assessment of the crop size, it will be in the fitness to things to ensure expeditious completion of the proposed study, and its follow-up in right earnest.