Agricultural revival in Punjab

A beginning is in sight to address the neglect of agriculture in Punjab

In recent years, the media portrayal and the common perception of the Punjab government’s economic performance suggest a preference for mega projects related to urban infrastructure in central Punjab. The crucial sectors of agriculture, health and education are said to be lower down the scale of priorities. While the neglect of education and health is a recurrent national story, not specific to Punjab, the failure to address the agricultural crisis in Punjab has implications for the country’s exports, industrial growth and, above all, food security and poverty alleviation. Nearly 69 per cent of the total cropped area of the country is in Punjab, producing over 80 per cent of cotton, wheat and fine rice, besides 63 per cent of sugarcane. Around 80 per cent of the country’s total exports are concentrated in agricultural commodities and agro-based products. In July- February 2015-2016, exports of rice, raw cotton, cotton yarn and major textile items were all in the red. In manufacturing during July-January 2015-16, the growth of wheat and grain-milling was negative, cotton yarn grew under two per cent and cotton cloth under one per cent. Deficient demand has reduced tractor production by as much as 47 per cent.

Agriculture has suffered not just from the slump in international commodity prices. It is a sector in which overproduction hits the grower (remember the story of the farmer who hanged himself for fear of plenty) and underproduction hits the country. Although agriculture is largely a private-sector activity, the state has to balance these two extremes through a sensible price support policy. In addition, the state has to subsidise relevant research and, when appropriate, inputs. After the devolution under the 18^th Amendment, there is considerable confusion in policy formulation and ownership. This is why the farmers’ package announced by the prime minister has not made much headway.

The convening of the Punjab Agriculture Conference 2016 last week has raised hopes of an agricultural revival. The conference made a serious effort to recognise that the prosperity of Punjab depended on the prosperity of the farmer. It brought all the stakeholders together to set the future strategic direction for agriculture, formulate a plan of action for 2016-2018 and thinking up a supportive policy framework. In a vertically operating bureaucracy, a holistic sectoral view involving horizontal coordination is not easy. Hopefully, the active participation of all the five departments involved — agriculture, livestock, forest, irrigation and food — laid bare the constraints and produced a consensus on a prioritised agenda for 2016-18.

Good policy cannot deliver without political will, adequate resources and the capacity to govern and execute. Reputed to be a doer, Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif’s presence at the conference signalled political commitment. The announcement of a hefty Rs100 billion package by him removed the financial constraint. His unequivocal statement that the money will be in addition to the allocations for the existing programmes is a departure from the practice of announcing packages by lumping together existing projects and programmes. A Kissan Commission is to be set up to oversee the implementation. The chief minister also hoped that the agriculture package would benefit small cultivators. This is crucial, as majority of the cultivators are small landholders. The conference resolved to transform every farmer into a progressive farmer. But there was a presumption that only large farmers can be progressive. Corporate agriculture, a nonstarter so far in Pakistan, was allowed a full session. There was no discussion on the skewed land distribution, absentee landlordism and the relationship between farm size and productivity. That said, a beginning is in sight to address the neglect of agriculture.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 25^th, 2016.

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