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Archives of Business Research – Vol. 10, No. 11
Publication Date: November 25, 2022
DOI:10.14738/abr.1011.13405. Tagar, H. K., & Barroso, J. G. (2022). Agricultural Practices in Pakistan: Sustainability and Food Security in a Post-Pandemic Era.
Archives of Business Research, 10(11). 94-114.
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
Agricultural Practices in Pakistan: Sustainability and Food
Security in a Post-Pandemic Era
Hamzo Khan Tagar
Post Doctoral Research Fellow European Scientific Institute (ESI) &
Associate Professor of Economics, Government of Sindh
Education Department Karachi, Pakistan
Josué Gutiérrez Barroso
Department of Sociology and Anthropology
Universidad La Laguna Spain
ABSTRACT
The key objectives of the paper are to examine the growth sustainability of
Pakistan’s agricultural sector in a historical context and its impact on other
associated sectors of the economy, particularly on food security. The study also
examines major challenges faced by this sector in its growth process making its
performance unstable. A descriptive time series analysis is performed on the data
obtained from various sources for the period 1951 to 2020. The study finds that the
factors like; low investment in this sector, unequal land distributions and
utilization of scarce water resources, inadequate supply of major inputs,
insufficient infrastructural facilities and unskillful labour force reduce the
opportunities for stable agricultural growth in the Indus valley region. It is also
evident that duringthe last 70 years period at least ten years of growth was
observed instable with negative trends and this phenomenon jolted overall
economic indicators that harmed the economic development process at large and
impacted food insecurity in Pakistan.
Keywords: Agriculture Practices, Growth Sustainability, Indus valley region, (GDP),
Public Policy and Food Security
This paper is part of the author’Post Doctoral Research Fellowship in European Scientific
Institute (ESI) in co-authorships of the advisor of the Study Prof.DrJosué Gutiérrez Barroso,
Universidad La Laguna Spain.
INTRODUCTION
The word agriculture derives from the Latin ager (field) and colo (cultivate) signifying, when
combined, the Latin agriculture: field or land tillage. “It has a very wide spectrum of activities
that are integral to agriculture and have their descriptive terms, such as cultivation,
domestication, horticulture, arboriculture, and vegeculture, as well as forms of livestock
management such as mixed crop-livestock farming. The term agriculture is occasionally
restricted to crop cultivation excluding the raising of domestic animals, although it usually
implies both activities.).”(Q.Fuller, 2014)
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Tagar, H. K., & Barroso, J. G. (2022). Agricultural Practices in Pakistan: Sustainability and Food Security in a Post-Pandemic Era. Archives of Business
Research, 10(11). 94-114.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/abr.1011.13405
Agriculture lays down a foundation of economic growth and development within an economy,
the sector contributes in terms of providing food and fibre to the human population and
livestock and provides essential raw materials used by various industries in the manufacturing
sector which produce products with higher value addition. One aspect of contributions made
by the agriculture market to the overall economy is through its backward linkages with
industries and urban centres such as farmers’ expenditures on industrial goods i.e. clothes,
furniture, household, utensils, building materials, fertilizers, pesticides, tools and implements.
The net transfer of capital from agriculture to the non-farm sector is an important means of
growth and development. The transfer of surplus and skilled labour, from agriculture to
another sector of the economy is also accelerating the growth and development process of an
economy.
The agriculture sector provides an opportunity for international market linkages plus allows
the flow of capital goods and technical expertise between the developed and developing
emerging markets. It is an important source of saving and investment with its potential for
gross domestic product (GDP) growth and its ability to provide food security to its nation and
around the world. On a global scale “the agriculture sector has contributed between 4% in the
last 20 years in global GDP with the highest value additions of 73% 3.5 trillion USD. Agriculture
employed 874 million people in 2020, or 27% of the global workforce, compared with about
1050 million” (or 40%) in 2000.(FAO, 2021)
The importance of this sector is manifold as it feeds the country's people, provides the raw
material for industry and is a base for foreign trade since the green revolution to date but still,
agriculture and agro-based products are the largest sources of the country’s total export
earnings. Pakistan exports raw agriculture items along with semi-finished and manufactures
agriculture goods. The biggest source of foreign exchange for Pakistan has been through the
export of agricultural goods based on the textile, leather and sugar industries. The majority of
the population of Pakistan resides in rural areas and earns its livelihood, directly or indirectly,
from agricultural activities e.g. crop cultivation, livestock, labour in agriculture, agriculture
input supply, transportation of agricultural output to the market etc. Therefore it can be rightly
stated that the development of the agriculture sector is synonymous with the development of
the country.
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Review of the Literature: Agricultural practices and their growth sustainability with their
correlations to another sector of the economy in the context of sustainable economic growth
and food security of the country have been studied worldwide.
(Shujie, 2000), demonstrate how agriculture has contributed to China's economic development
using both empirical data and co-integration analysis. They have drawn two important
conclusions in their empirical study. First, although agriculture's share in GDP declined sharply
over time, it is still an important force for the growth and development of the other sectors of
the economy. Second, the growth of non-agricultural sectors had little effect on agricultural
growth and development. This was largely due to the government's poor policies and their
improper implementations in the agriculture sector and less proportion of investment in the
rural population.
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(Sunil)criticizes the “neglect” of the agricultural sector's role in the development process of the
less developed economies. (Ahmad & (2000), Vol., 39.4,); and (S.Akbar .M and Z. F.Naqvi
(2000))have worked in detail on the relationship of two important variables of the economy,
exports and growth, grounded in endogenous growth theory tested in the case of Pakistan by
applying the same method to conclude the significance of agricultural growth in the economy.
(S . Akbar Zaidi (2005))investigated the agriculture growth trends in Pakistan and he finds out
that the agriculture sector's growth and its development are the most dependent on the policies
of the government and the political scenario in Pakistan. From the political economy
perspective political instability, poor policies toward sustainable agricultural growth and their
weak implementations are also the major challenge to sustainable agricultural growth and
development destinations.
(Katircioglu, (2006), )analyzes the relationship between agricultural output and economic
growth in North Cyprus, a small island that has a closed economy using co-integration. The
learned author uses annual data covering the (1975-2002) period, to find the direction of
causality in Granger sense between agricultural growth and economic growth. His empirical
results suggest that agricultural output growth and economic growth as measured by real gross
domestic product growth are in a long-run equilibrium relationship and there is a feedback
relationship between these variables. The study also concludes that the agriculture sector still
has an impact on the economy although North Cyprus suffers from political problems and
drought.
(Lachaal, (2007), ), examine the agricultural sector's role in economic growth and its
interactions with the other sectors using time-series co-integration techniques. The empirical
results from this study indicate that in the long run, all economic sectors tend to move together
(co-integrate). But, in the short run, the agricultural sector seems to have a limited role as a
driving force for the growth of other sectors of the economy i.e. industries, manufacturing,
commodity markets export and services sector to some extent.
The World Bank Report “Agriculture for Development” concludes that the agriculture sector
offers pathways to reduce poverty and to provide food security if serious efforts are to be made
to increase productivity in the staple foods sector, connect small-holders to rapidly expanding
high-value horticulture, poultry, aquaculture and dairy markets, and generate jobs in the rural
non-farm economy as soon as possible.. “Agriculture has served as a basis for growth and
reduced poverty in many countries, but more countries could benefit if governments and
donors were to reverse years of policy neglect and remedy their underinvestment
andmisinvestment in agriculture” (Agriculture for Development, 2007-2008)
(Ahmad A. H., 2009)study shows that growth and productivity can be achieved due to applying
modern farming methods such as mechanization, land, water, labour and the use of inputs such
as certified seed, sufficient fertilizer and pesticide etc. It can be concluded in the context of the
above study that Chinese modern farming technology can be used for a better result in the case
of Pakistan agriculture to remove the time-barred traditional practice of farming for ages
because it is cheap in price and easy to use.(Khan, Unpublished, 2009.), concludes the existence
of strong time trends with a significant impact of the investment of 0.5 on the growth of the
agriculture sector. Similarly, (Zubairu, 2010)empirical results indicate that the agricultural
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Tagar, H. K., & Barroso, J. G. (2022). Agricultural Practices in Pakistan: Sustainability and Food Security in a Post-Pandemic Era. Archives of Business
Research, 10(11). 94-114.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/abr.1011.13405
sector is contributing higher than the petroleum and manufacturing sectors. The coefficient
value of the agriculture sector is 1.7978 which means a 1 unit increase in contribution, gross
domestic product GDP will increase by 1.7978 units. However, petroleum is contributing 1.14
units to the GDP which is low compared to the contribution of the agriculture sector.
(Raza, (2012)) have analyzed the role of agriculture in the economic growth of Pakistan.
However, regression results show that there is a positive and significant role of agriculture sub- sectors to the economic growth but only the forestry sub-sector should insignificant
relationship with gross domestic product GDP.(Olajide, 2012) found a positive causal
relationship between gross domestic productgross domestic product(GDP) and agricultural
output in Nigeria; however, their study was limited to showing only that agriculture and GDP
growth rate are correlated.(Abdul Razzaq Nazish (Corresponding Author), 2013) findings
suggested that the agriculture, industry, manufacturing and service sector are significantly
affecting the annual gross domestic product (GDP) growth of Pakistan. The result of their study
indicates that the agriculture sector is more important than other sectors of the economy of
Pakistan.(Zaheer, 2013) results suggest that the growth of the agriculture sector has fluctuated
over sixty (60) years in Pakistan.
(Anwer, 2015)have analyzed the role of the agriculture sector share ingross domestic product
GDP. The study reveals a positive and significant relationship betweengross domestic product
GDP and agriculture in Pakistan. The above-referred studies conclude significant
contributionsto other sectors of the economy and are acknowledged with strong and
undeniable evidence.
Feed the world(How o feed the World in 2050, 2009) concludes that “Cross country analysis
shows that GDP growth originating in agriculture is, on average, at least twice as effective in
benefiting the poorest half of a country’s population as growth generated in non-agricultural
sectors. Agricultural growth is key for overall growth and development and poverty reduction”.
The findings of the above-reviewed studies in detail show that an unstable agriculture growth
rate has impactedgross domestic product GDP Growth and affects other sectors of the economy,
overall export and investment in the country.
Significance of the selected outline and the Interest of the Authors in the Proposed
Study:Pakistan as an agricultural country still has not tapped the potential of the agriculture
sector to ensure the food security of more than 200 million people in 2nd decade of the 21st
century. The sector should be more focused on by the policy makers because of itsimportant
contributionsto the economy.It has also been concluded by two other prominent scholars that
“Agriculture provides a base for economic development and expansion of non-agriculture
sector depends on agriculture. It helps the low-income country to achieve a higher standard of
living and provide scope for the rural sector to combine income distribution objective with
development objectives. Agriculture and economic development are interrelated with each
other. For the foreseeable future, the economic and social welfare of much of the world's
population inhabiting the developing countries will continue to depend upon progress in
agriculture”(Keningersent)This is also observed in Pakistan from a farmer's perspective that
real estate and other urban centres activities are promoted more in comparison to the
agriculture sector. These low intentions of the policymakers are reflected inversely as slow and
sometimes negative growth in the agriculture sector which harms overall national economic
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Tagar, H. K., & Barroso, J. G. (2022). Agricultural Practices in Pakistan: Sustainability and Food Security in a Post-Pandemic Era. Archives of Business
Research, 10(11). 94-114.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/abr.1011.13405
taken from barrages mostly built on Indus and also other rivers. The Indus Valley has been a
centre of agriculture for the last 6000 years, about a thousand years before the development of
Mohan-jo-Daro. “This assumption is based on the discovery of an agricultural village at the
KotDiji (District Khairpur). About 25 miles east of Mohan-jo-Daro, The village is said to be 500
years older than Mohan-jo-Daro”(Rehman)
Scholars agreed that the world’s oldest cotton was discovered from Mohan-jo-Daro is evidence
valid enough to sustain the assumption that the Indus valley is the home of cotton. The Rig- Veda, Ramayana, Mahabharata and the laws of Manu famous books of sub-continent history
also write about cotton cultivation and the cotton textile industry in the region. In 325 – 26 B.C.
Alexander the Great entered the Indus valley through the Khyber Pass and conquered great
parts of the country. He was surprised when he saw trees of cotton and said, “Is their wool in
the tree!!!?” At that time trees of cotton were so tall that cotton was picked while riding on
camels. “Inarches, who accompanied Alexander on his invasion of Indus valley, described the
dress of the people and reported that the lines from the trees are more shining white than any
other lines unless it is that the people being dark make lines appear all the more white” (Bury,
1961).The British ruled here from 1843 to 1947 and promotes textile industries because of the
strong cotton belt and potential for other agricultural commodities.
Present Cropping Pattern and Major Crops
The crop sector has enormous potential to influence not only the performance of overall
agriculture growth but can serve as an anchor for the food security of the country, particularly
after the emergence of a food crisis on the global front. To do so, a shift in emphasis from price
to yield is vital. Global integration and changing dietary patterns across regions have caused
structural shifts. Agriculture growth in the Indus valley mostly depends on major crops such as
wheat, cotton, sugarcane, rice and maize.
Major crops account for more in agriculture value addition and it contributes importantly to
the gross domestic product(GDP) of the country. In major crops, the cotton crop is a source of
raw materials for the textile industries. Sugarcane crop is a cash crop and it is important for
sugar and sugar-related production. On the other hand, wheat and rice staple food crops; the
rice crop is a source of foreign exchange earnings item of Pakistan.
Minor crops also play a key role in agricultural sector growth and provide food security to the
people residing in hard areas of the country's desert and hilly areas located in far-flung
locations of the country. These are included as Gram, Barely and Tobacco. Furthermore, minor
crops such as oilseed crops, sunflower, rapeseed, mustard, cottonseed, canola onion, chillies
and potato etc. Minor crop shares are also important to the agriculture sector and towards GDP.
Figure -01 below shows the copping zones in detail.
Livestock subsector
The livestock sub-sector contributed more than 50 per cent value-addition to the agricultural
economy. While gross value addition of livestock was greatly increased as compared to crops.
This sector meets the domestic demand for meat, milk, and eggs. Pakistan is the 3rd largest milk
producer country in the world. In this sector, more than eight million rural families are engaged
in raising livestock. it has the potential to play a key role in global food security and to earn
foreign exchange at large in minimum investment with little risk factor.
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Tagar, H. K., & Barroso, J. G. (2022). Agricultural Practices in Pakistan: Sustainability and Food Security in a Post-Pandemic Era. Archives of Business
Research, 10(11). 94-114.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/abr.1011.13405
country due to political instability in the country. But the land reforms of 1958 and the green
revolution period of the 1960s brought structural change; this paradigm shift on the one hand
brought about significant changes through modern inputs and on the other led to a constraint
in the agricultural economy of the country.
Despite several constraints, the agriculture of Indus valley still forms the backbone of the
economy, contributing one-fourth to gross domestic product (GDP) and engaging the majority
of the rural population in the valley. This is a farmer’s perspective that Pakistan’s agriculture
sector growth performance has suffered due to a lack of strategic planning of the sector for its
sustainable growth and development and its responsibility can be fixed on political economy
elites making and implementing public policies from time to time in the greater public interest.
The share of the country’s cultivated crops and irrigated areas has fallen. Millions of acres of
land are cultivable waste only due to water scarcity. It is also an important fact that the
agricultural sector is mostly ignored by policymakers in developing and fragile economies like
Pakistan in short/long-term planning particularly; after initiatives of the green revolution.
Above mentioned ignorantly has affected agricultural growth and also spread rural poverty,
particularly in the last three decades.
The growth practice and performance of the agriculture sector in the past were also attractive
when Pakistan came into being a share of agriculture was more than 50% ofthecountry's gross
domestic product (GDP) asa single large sector of the economy. The decade-wise average
growth rate in agriculture has remained stable from 1950 to 1959, very impressive from 1960
to 1969 and was seen lowest in the year 1970 to 1971 details are mentioned in Table-01 below.
It is very interesting at the initialstages that in 1951Gross Domestic Product-(GDP) and
Agriculture growth were not impressive due to partitions of India and the migration process of
the refugees but in 1952 it was stable with the support of the manufacturing sector growth
which was 9.97. In 1953-54 overall growth jumped an impressive agriculture growth recoded
as 15.23 with gross domestic product (GDP) growth 10.22. The next year it decreased again
negative growth of -2.21 affected allied sectors and gross domestic product (GDP). The negative
growth of agriculture was observed again in 1960-61 and 1970-71. The main reasons were
political instability, separation of the eastern part of the country, war with India and internal
hue and cry so the political economy could not play its role in the development of agriculture
in the country as sustainable solutions to the challenges prevailed in the feudal dominated
agriculture structure of the country. It can be seen the decreasing trends in agriculture growth
jolted all other sectors of the economy at large in table 01 in details
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197
8-79
5.5
3
3.10 8.01 5.07 6.11 11.33 9.13 7.93 11.94
197
9-80
7.3
3
6.61 10.26 8.46 5.91 24.05 24.81 20.88 32.90
198
0-81
6.4
0
3.66 10.63 6.26 6.58 9.83 4.77 -1.22 13.06
198
1-82
7.5
6
4.72 13.75 15.09 7.90 19.62 14.43 19.77 7.97
198
2-83
6.7
9
4.40 7.03 4.64 2.24 9.63 13.14 11.98 14.69
198
3-84
3.9
7
-4.82 7.89 0.38 7.61 12.04 12.07 7.97 17.42
198
4-85
8.7
1
10.92 8.09 9.45 8.21 12.81 12.59 11.35 14.07
198
5-86
6.3
6
5.95 7.55 6.93 5.77 11.58 12.35 13.07 11.49
198
6-87
5.8
1
3.25 7.53 5.76 5.86 13.46 14.27 17.03 10.99
198
7-88
6.4
4
2.73 9.98 6.12 6.77 11.07 11.22 1.49 16.73
198
8-89
4.8
1
6.87 3.96 5.77 3.81 19.65 19.69 15.99 23.94
198
9-90
4.5
9
3.03 5.72 4.69 4.48 11.34 11.19 3.63 19.33
199
0-91
5.4
2
4.96 5.39 5.61 5.21 18.96 19.53 16.29 18.31
199
1-92
7.5
7
9.50 7.22 8.34 6.76 26.46 27.19 28.25 30.98
199
2-93
2.1
0
-5.29 4.44 -0.27 4.63 13.79 13.86 15.59 13.33
199
3-94
4.3
7
5.23 4.55 4.53 4.20 9.95 9.41 8.51 11.51
199
4-95
5.0
6
6.57 2.54 5.32 4.80 13.41 13.30 21.23 8.48
199
5-96
6.6
0
11.72 3.73 8.16 4.99 16.39 15.91 16.49 18.66
199
6-97
1.7
0
0.12 -0.07 -0.10 3.61 8.04 7.72 0.64 19.52
199
7-98
3.4
9
4.52 6.93 5.30 1.64 8.99 1.51 -14.85 13.28
199
8-99
4.1
8 1.95 4.10 3.42 4.99 -3.56 1.51 25.77 -11.44
199
9-
200
0
3.9
1 6.09 1.53 3.02 4.79 10.19 10.49 5.50 14.31
(Pakistan, 1972-2000)
Agricultural Growth Sustainability in 21st Century (2001-2020) & Pakistan Economy
Sustainable agriculture has very interesting definitions “A sustainable agriculture is one that,
over the long term, enhances environmental quality and the resource base on which agriculture
depends; provides for basic human food and fibre needs; is economically viable, and enhances
the quality of life for farmers and society as a whole”.(American Society of Agronomy, 1989,
pp15). The modern practices in the agricultural sector are indispensable to the country’s
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Tagar, H. K., & Barroso, J. G. (2022). Agricultural Practices in Pakistan: Sustainability and Food Security in a Post-Pandemic Era. Archives of Business
Research, 10(11). 94-114.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/abr.1011.13405
sustainable economic growth, food security, employment generation and poverty alleviation
particularly, at the rural level. The agricultural growth rate has been constrained by shrinking
arable land, climate change, water shortages, and large-scale population and labour shifts from
rural to urban areas. Increasing agricultural productivity, therefore, requires the adoption of
new approaches. The better performance of agriculture is attributed to better weather and
improved production system.
This is an Indus valley farmer’s perspective in the digital era of the 21st century that the people
related to the agricultural sector are suffering from multi-dimensional problems; small growers
are worried about inadequate supply of input. They complain that feudal lords/elite groups get
the lion’s share of the input. Faced with such a dilemma, small growers fall prey to revenue and
irrigation department officials even though they are not able to pay agricultural taxes imposed
on them by the government. They have several complaints about the degradation of their land;
millions of acres of land were completely affected by water logging and salinity. Every year
country loses thousands of acres of fertile land due to population pressure; per capita land is
also decreasing sharply and has created a fragmentation problem. Uncertainty in the supply of
water and improper utilization of available water resources need serious attention. The
shortage of quality seeds, pesticides and chemical fertilizer is a common problem. Many times,
the cotton crop of the country was greatly affected due to the unavailability of good quality
pesticides, inflicting a loss of billions on the economy.
The growers have complainedagainst public sector credit institution officials that they get
bribes for loan sanctions. Rampant corruption was observed in agriculture, irrigation and other
associated departments. The government research institute faces a shortage of trained workers
and funds for research work. Every year, growers bear greater finical loss due to a flawed
marketing system, mismanagement of public sector organizations and conspiracy/hegemony
of commission agents and industrialists. These setbacks in the primary sector of the Pakistan
economy which is called agriculture impacted a decrease in output and income of the people
and economy, because the low level of investment and negligence of policymakers spread rural
poverty at large, increased food inflation to double-digit and food insecurity among urban
poor’s, unemployment and other socio-economic problems, particularly in the rural economy
of the country. Asa result of the above-mentioned problems, the average growth of agriculture
during the era ofmilllinum development goals (MDGs) initiatives of UNDP (2000-2015) is 2.2
% over15 years. The agricultural growth was observed as negative as 0.27% in the year 2015-
16. It's mainly due to a 28% drop in the cotton crop which set back 0.4% in GDP growth in the
long run and the target of Gross Domestic Product-GDP growth is not achieved as planned by
economic managers of the country. The instability of growth leads to food insecurity in the
region. The table 03elaborates on the 20 years of agricultural growth practices and
performance in close inspections.
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TABLE-03
Economic growth of pakistan (2001-2020)
(Constant basic prices) Current MP)
Year GDP Agriculture Manufacturing Commodity
Producing
Sector
Services
Sector
Gross
Capital
Formation
Gross
Fixed
Capital
Formation
2000-
01
3.65 -0.72 10.49 2.00 5.09 7.94 7.83
2001-02 2.37 0.76 4.07 1.01 3.51 -1.52 -2.32
2002-03 5.64 4.41 7.29 5.53 5.74 12.99 13.40
2003-04 7.70 2.85 16.38 9.23 6.45 13.80 13.62
2004-05 7.52 7.02 16.03 6.78 8.14 23.87 24.84
2005-06 5.56 1.27 9.39 2.38 8.20 25.77 26.81
2006-07 5.54 3.42 9.03 5.48 5.58 9.29 9.00
2007-08 4.99 1.81 6.10 5.05 4.94 17.70 17.94
2008-09 0.36 3.50 -4.18 -0.88 1.33 13.38 12.41
2009-10 2.58 0.23 1.37 1.76 3.21 1.43 0.31
2010-11 3.62 1.96 2.50 3.21 3.94 9.84 8.36
2011-12 3.84 3.62 2.08 3.09 4.40 17.11 18.05
2012-13 3.68 2.68 4.85 1.73 5.13 10.79 10.69
2013-14 4.05 2.50 5.65 3.49 4.46 10.01 9.72
2014-15 4.06 2.13 3.88 3.63 4.36 17.02 18.00
2015-16 4.51 0.27 3.66 3.03 5.55 5.02 4.90
2016-17 5.28 3.46 5.27 4.26 5.98 11.05 11.23
2017-18 5.5 4.0 5.4 4.3 6.3 25.4 13.7
2018-19 1.9 0.6 -0.7 -0.9 3.8 -21.6 7.1
2019-20 -0.4 2.7 -5.6 -0.1 -0.6 13.2 6.5
(Division, 2000-2020)
Agricultural Growth Instability and Gross Domestic Product (GDP)Nexuses
Agricultural growth insatiability debuted worldwide in the literature on economic growth and
development It is defined as “The fluctuations in agricultural production disturb the rhythm
and mutual balances among many interdependent processes in the economy”(Mahir, 2004).
Indus valley agriculture was the part and parcel of sub-continent agriculture before the
partition and there are several systemic similarities in the same countries now named Pakistan
and India after 1947. The available literature is also the same to address the challenges and to
re-address the sector or frtherimprovmnets/reforms at large. “There has been stong linkage
between growth and instability in agricultural output and it has widely argued that instability
is a consequence of growth.There is a positive as well as a negative relationship between them”
this is concluded by the renewed Indian scholar (Paltasingh, 2013).
The prominent researchers in the field of agricultural growth conclude that “Agriculture
growth and instability have remained subject of intense debate in the agricultural economics
literature in India. While the need for increasing agricultural production or growth is obvious,
the increase in instability in agricultural production is considered adverse for several reasons.
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The study concludes that Pakistan’s agriculture sector growth performance has suffered due to
the poor role of the political economy and a lack of strategic planning of the sector for its
sustainable growth and development in global competitiveness. In support of the above- mentioned statement the share of the country’s cultivated crops and irrigated areas has fallen
sharply. Millions of acres of land are cultivable waste only due to water scarcity. The farm sector
in the region faces expanding demand for food, feed and bio-fuels, the rising price of energy,
increasing water scarcity as well as the upraising effects of climate change destabilising
agriculture growth particularly impacted the unstable gross domestic product (GDP) growth of
the country. The farmer’s community has several complaints about the degradation of their
land; every year country loses thousands of acres of fertile land due to population pressure, per
capita land is also decreasing sharply and has created a land fragmentation problem.
Uncertainty in the supply of water and improper utilization of available water resources needs
serious attention from policymakers. The shortage of quality seeds, pesticides and chemical
fertilizer is a common problem. Growers do not get off the best quality seed. Every year, crop
production is affected due to insects and pest attacks which leads to growing instability in the
region at large. This study suggests afurther study to develop a feasible strategic policy
document for sectoral reforms and to address the above-refereed issues/factors impacting
growth sustainability and creating food insecurity in the Indus valley in a separate policy
document to help the government in the greater public interest.
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