A Snapshot of agriculture friendly policies in Pakistan

Agriculture friendly policies of the government over the past decade have made Pakistan a net exporter of guar products, tobacco, cotton, and rice. Other major agricultural exports include molasses, fruits and vegetables, guar and guar products, and tobacco. Principal crops with 1999 output (in thousands of tons) were wheat, 17,790; sugarcane, 53,104; and rice, 6,900. Production of sunflower seed amounted to 120 tons in 1999. Other crops include millet, barley, sesame, flax, groundnuts, mangoes, citrus fruits, and vegetables.

Pakistani Agriculture was engaging about 44% of the economically active population in 1999. Agricultural production increased by an annual average of 4.4% during 1990–2000, accounting for 26% of GDP in 2001. The development of a huge irrigation network covering two-thirds of the total cultivated area with massive land reclamation projects made possible the farming of vast tracts of previously barren and unusable land.

Indus Valley of Punjab is Pakistan's agricultural heartland. Here are two principal growing seasons: the kharif season starts between April and June and ends between October and December, while the rabi season starts between October and December and ends during April or May. Grains constitute the most important food crops, with wheat, rice, corn, and citrus the major products. Cotton, the most important cash crop, generates more foreign trade income than any other export item. Total cotton production during 2001/02, was 8.3 million bales. Rice, sugarcane, tobacco, rapeseed, and mustard are also large export earners. Rice covers 11% of all cropland and its total production in 2001/02 was 3.88 million tons.

Farming trends remained limited by primitive methods till 1980, and started mechanization farming after the year 2000. The introduction of improved wheat and rice varieties has met with some success, although the greatest impact on agriculture has derived from the Indus basin irrigation schemes, which by the 1970s had provided Pakistan with the largest irrigated network in the world. The frequent availability of water made possible the increased use of chemical fertilizers, with the most intensive consumption occurring in cotton production. The government has rapidly instituted soil conservation, farm mechanization, land reclamation, and plant protection programs.

Enhancing the increase of smallholders' equity and provide further incentives for agricultural improvement, in 1959 the previous governments started to reduce the maximum holding for single person not more than 200 ha (500 acres) of irrigated land or 400 ha (1,000 acres) unirrigated. Land in excess of these amounts was used to acquire by the government and paid for in interest-bearing 30-year bonds. In March 1972, the maximum permissible size of a holding, measured in terms of production index units, was reduced by two-thirds, with the government empowered to confiscate without payment all excess land for free redistribution to landless peasants and small tenants. To help the new landowners, the government provided loans for purchase of seed, feed, and bullocks. In accordance with a statement of national agricultural policy issued in 1980, the Agricultural Price Commission was established to provide incentives to Pakistani farmers through higher prices for farm products.