Our economy depends largely on agriculture sector. Large percentage of our population, which depends directly on agriculture, suffers from poverty due to unemployment or semi-employment. In comparison to developed countries, our agricultural produce is very low. Given below is a brief survey of the problems our agriculture sector is faced with :
Waterlogging and Salinity:
Underground water level rises and comes very close to the surface of the earth, this condition is called water-logging. Underground salts dissolve in this water and come to the surface of the Earth. Water evaporates due to heat of the sun and leaves these salts on the surface. These salts make a crust on earth surface, this condition is called salinity. Waterlogging and salinity destroy the fertility of land and make cultivation impossible. Our governments have made substantial efforts to fight waterlogging and salinity. Despite all the efforts being made by our government, millions of acres of land has been spoiled by waterlogging and salinity. Thousands of acres are still being destroyed, on yearly basis, in the provinces of the Punjab and Sindh.
Lack of Water Storage for Irrigation:
Cultivation in our barani-areas and the level of water in our rivers depends totally on precipitation (falling of rain and snow). We receive excessive rainfall in the months of July and August, in other months rainfall is insufficient. Southern areas receive less rainfall as compared to northern areas. We are in need of dams for the storage of water in rainy season. Dams, we already have, do not meet our storage requirements. Their storage capacity has graduallydecreased due to silt deposits. Construction of new dams and better water management can helps resolve our water shortage problem.
iii. Floods and Land Erosion:
Floods are very common in Pakistan, almost every year, crops are destroyed by floods. Flood water wipes off the upper layer of the soil which contains humus, this reduces the fertility of the soil. Another factor is erosion. According to an estimate we have already lost almost one million acres of valuable land due to erosion.
iv. Under-Utilization of Cultivable Land:
According to an estimate, Pakistan has 80 million hectares of cultivable land, only 20 million hectares out of this land is under cultivation. It means that a larger portion (75 percent) of our cultivable land has so far not been utilized. In addition to that, due to poor agricultural techniques we are not taking full advantage of the land we are cultivating.
v. Urbanization:
Due to fast population growth, agricultural land in the vicinity of cities is being turned into housing colonies. Fast speed of urbanization is eating up our fertile cultivable land gradually.
vi. Insufficient Transportation Facilities:
An efficient infrastructure of farm to market transport plays a vital role in the progress of an agriculture system. This makes timely supply of seed and fertilizer to the farmers and transportation of saleable agricultural goods to the market, possible. We do not have a good network of farm to market roads This is a great hindrance in the way of our progress in the field of agriculture.
vii. Farm Knowledge illiteracy:
Modern agriculture is not possible without the knowledge of advanced agricultural techniques. Most of our farmers are illiterate, therefore, they are unable to use modern techniques and get maximum output from their land.
viii. Poverty:
Majority of farmers is extremely poor. They are not in a position to apply modern agricultural implements and buy quality seeds, fertilizers, pesticides and insecticides. This deficiency makes our agriculture less profitable and less productive.
ix. Uneconomical Land Holdings:
Most of our farmers have very small land holdings. Their incomes are hardly sufficient to meet their basic needs, they live hand to mouth and cannot spare money to invest on mechanical cultivation.
x. Lack of Agriculture Research:
We have a poor research base in the field of agriculture. Modern scientific research is essential for the development of more productive agriculture. We should follow the developed countries and encourage our agricultural scientists to produce new knowledge in their respective fields.
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