Speakers at the recent inauguration of a kitchen garden promotion campaign at the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry regretted the fact that the agriculture sector's share in the GDP has fallen from 38 percent to 20 percent of the GDP while the livelihoods of some 66 percent of the country's population still depends on it.
What accounts for this poor performance is obvious from the following comparison the LCCI President, Mohammed Ali Mian, offered at the event: Our per hectare wheat yield is only 2.5 tons whereas in India and Egypt it is 4.5 tons and 6.2 tons, respectively. Our sugarcane production is 45.1 tons per hectare as against India's 65.2 tons and Egypt's 90.9 tons.
Similarly, we produce 17.2 tons of potatoes per hectare as compared to 20 tons in India and 23.8 tons in Egypt. He also said that 40 percent of our harvest goes to waste due to lack of preservation facilities. Pakistan is the world's fifth largest producer of milk, yet the use of relevant bio-technologies and cool chain systems is grossly inadequate.
That the government needs to offer the farmers a helping hand goes without saying. Both the LCCI president and the chief guest, Punjab Minister for Revenue and Relief Haji Mohammed Ishaque, mentioned some plans and possibilities in this regard though these won't be sufficient. The minister talked of the need to bridge what he termed a communication gap between agricultural researchers and the farmers, as he went on to lament that the farmers were not benefiting from the latest research. He also said that the government was spending a huge amount of money for the promotion of mechanised farming in the country.
Indeed, new research-based farming techniques and seed varieties are needed to boost production. But it is equally important that the small and middle level farmers should have the resources to afford the necessary inputs whether these are to be high yield seed varieties, fertiliser, pesticides, better implements, or the know-how as well as resources for post-production preservation and processing of the produce.
Interestingly, the LCCI president cited the example of Thailand to argue that even though it is not a Muslim country, it exports 'halal' meat worth $5 billion whereas our share in this market is negligible. As a matter of fact, Thailand's example is more pertinent in the overall context of rural uplift. Following his election in 2001, the country's former prime minister, Thanksin Shinawatra introduced - in the aftermath of the Asian financial crisis of the late 90s - a scheme which envisioned that access to capital, basic social services, and employment opportunities could turn underdeveloped rural areas into engines of economic growth.
The scheme earned him spectacular success and many disciples in the ASEAN region. Basically, it demonstrated that with a little bit of help from the government, rural communities could find ways of increasing productivity to their personal and collective advantage, making significant contribution to overall economic growth. The same approach is needed here to enable the agriculture sector make a contribution to the GDP in way that is commensurate with its potential.