President Asif Ali Zardari has observed that the introduction of mechanised farming cannot only help meet Pakistan's own food requirements; it can also make the country a major exporter of foodgrain. The government should therefore ensure farmers' access to mechanized farming, and consider importing re-conditioned tractors, which will also inject an element of competition in the country's tractor manufacturing industry, besides helping the farmers increase their crop production capability.
A lot can indeed be learnt from the Chinese model, if there is sufficient political will on our part. Of course, Pakistan cannot follow the Chinese model in entirety, but it can adapt the Chinese model to suit its socio-economic conditions. Heilongjing, China's largest grain producing province, has taken effective measures for increasing grain production since 1997, and the rate of success has been simply spectacular.
The province supplies nearly 20 million tons of grain to the country's grain market annually. As compared to a steep downturn in Pakistan's agriculture sector since 1949-1950s when its contribution to the GDP stood at as high as 53 percent, China's agriculture sector has achieved phenomenal growth.
Pakistan's agricultural growth performance has by and large been of a volatile nature, which has proved detrimental to the income growth of land tillers, though large landholders have been reaping huge profits. Another noteworthy factor in Pakistan's agriculture sector has been the decline in the share of labour force from 65 percent in 1950-51 to around 48 percent at present.
This has spawned increased rural unemployment and poverty, which in turn has triggered rural-urban migration, with all its attending socio-economic consequences for the country. China has experienced one of the fastest rates of agricultural and economic growth over the last decade.
With a population of well over 1.2 billion, China's agricultural growth of 6% and industrial growth of 8% per capita from 1978 to 1997 was remarkable for its speed and duration. Further, China has lifted its 200 million people out of poverty, in which its robust agriculture sector has played a key role. In 2006, China had fixed its grain production target at 500 million tonnes.
The increase in China's grain production has been attributed to the increase in area under cultivation. Although China's agricultural production is the largest in the world, only about 15 percent of its total land area is cultivable. Its arable land, which represents 10 percent of the world's total arable land, supports over 20 percent of the world's population, which is reflective of the success of the Chinese model.
China's major agriculture producing regions are close to the urban markets, and are connected through a vast network of farm-to-market roads, of which there is an acute paucity in Pakistan. Above all, China has traditionally implemented policies that have encouraged grain production at the expense of cash crops, to ensure food security of its population, in sharp contrast to the practice followed in Pakistan.
As a result China has experienced one of the fastest rates of agricultural and economic growth. Community farming and smaller landholdings have helped China achieve the miracle. It is said that a novel hydropower strategy has been adopted for modern agricultural farms in China, which not only ensures water supply and electricity to farms. Tubewells pump water up to the huge elevated tanks built at four corners of the farm, which, when released, runs turbines to produce electricity for use on the farm.
The mechanism not only ensures steady supply of water, but also of power. Pakistan, on the other hand, has failed to develop its immense hydropower potential, which has restricted growth of both these key sectors of the economy. Almost all our water and power projects are behind schedule, while the country is caught up in a severe water and energy crisis.
The double-digit food inflation of nearly 15 percent in Pakistan has contributed to the erosion of gains, if any, achieved in poverty alleviation, which has generated social unrest and popular discontent. The president has done well to advocate pursuit of the Chinese model of farming, but do we have the financial and technological wherewithal as well as the political will to implement the Chinese model?
Will the IMF, which is going to keep us on a tight monetary leash, allow implementation of the Chinese model? Why not nudge the water and power bureaucracy to undertake fast-track implementation of the Vision 2025 programme? Above all, can we muster the political will and sincerity of purpose of the Chinese leaders? We only wish we could. There is an urgent need for us not to resort to kite flying any more, because the crisis the country is caught in today needs serious and sincere action.