Policy and planning should include balancing populations and resources between urban and rural areas
ISLAMABAD: A seminar held on World Food Day, observed on October 16th, underscored the importance of much neglected rural development. As with 2030, more than half of the country’s population will be living in urban areas, this will resultantly lead to less human capital available for agricultural purposes. With increased area of land available for crop cultivation, the effect will be set off with low population density. The urban-rural divide has prompted migration to urban areas, however with scarce resources available in urban dwellings the situation is likely to turn worse over the years.
Policy and planning should include balancing populations and resources between urban and rural areas. Another fact bought forward during the session was of Pakistanis spending 70% of their income on food, due to inflation, which explains the lower standard of living a major strata of population struggles to improve. Hence, the solution for sustainable development does not lie in rural to urban migration but better allocation and utilisation of natural and agricultural resources through planned and mechanised techniques. Alongside the income equality the migrating rural population is likely to face in metropolises due to differentiating skill set, the issue would lead to congestion, population imbalance and rapid degradation of environment.
Ali Usman
Published in The Express Tribune, October 19th, 2017.
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