KARACHI - The net area under cultivation of Pakistan has been declined to 21.2 million hectares from 22.3 million hectares due to water shortage and raise in soil salinity during 8 years (from FY02 to FY09) in country.State Bank of Pakistan in its annual report about economy of country for FY08-09 has also disclosed that a huge decline of 1.1m hectares has been observed in area under agriculture purpose.
However, the stress on the available cultivable land has increased in recent years and the share of area cultivated more than once, in total cultivated area, rose from 29pc in FY02 to 35.1pc by FY09.
Discussing the key issues faced by agriculture sector, the central bank said the repeat cropping reduces soil fertility, causing reduction in yield.
Maintaining yield then requires higher inputs, thus increases cost of production and reduces farm incomes. The reduction in net cultivated area is principally due to lower availability of canal irrigation water, water loses between canal heads and farm gate and rising underground water levels that raises soil salinity.
However, the intensity of these losses may be reduced through cut down in water losses with concrete lining of water courses to reduce irrigation seepages, enhancing of irrigation efficiency with use of laser technology for land levelling and adoption of sprinkling and drip irrigation, particularly for selected minor crops.
SBP noted that not only net area under cultivation has declined in Pakistan, but inappropriate use of inputs with traditional cultivation methods are also hindering the achievement of higher yields.
With efficient use of fertilizers, the SBP indicated that the yield of wheat may be increased by 34.2 percent, rice by 57.1 percent, cotton by 77.5pc and sugarcane by 45.8 percent relative to FY09 yields.
It should be remembered that rise in yields cannot be achieved without substantial investment in agriculture. In practice, levels of investment in this sector are negligible in Pakistan, with downward trend seen during most recent years, SBP says, adding that the surge in international commodity prices, including food commodities, reinforced the importance of food security as it is high time that Pakistan invests heavily in agriculture to improve supply of quality inputs, research and extension services.
SBP stressed that it is necessary to raise yields to meet the domestic food and fiber demand to ensure food security of the country as well as produce exportable surplus to earn foreign exchange.
Meanwhile, discussing the performance of agriculture sector during last year, the SBP noted that a robust agriculture sector performance provided a major impetus to FY09 GDP growth, with both, the crops and the livestock sub-sectors exhibiting above-target growth.
Particularly impressive contribution by crops was a result of clearer incentives to farmers in terms of higher prices, which motivated them to increase area under cultivation. The impact of this was supported by very favourable weather that helped mitigate under-utilisation of other key inputs due to uncertainty over fertilizer prices and lower availability of canal water. The weakness in usage of inputs was reflected in lower growth in fertilizer off-take and the fact that growth in credit disbursement for the agri-sector decelerated during FY09. This suggests that even the strong yields seen in FY09 could have been exceeded comfortably, given the use of optimal inputs mix, SBP says.
The most prominent feature of the FY09 agri-growth profile is the record harvest of three major crops (wheat, rice and maize), that together generally account for around 59.0 percent of value-addition by major crops; in FY09 this share reached 62.7pc, SBP maintained.
Consequently, despite a massive decline of 21.7 percent in sugarcane output, major crops recorded an impressive growth of 7.7 percent in FY09 against the target of 4.5 percent. The growth in minor crops was also impressive despite production declines in few crops including canola, onions, mangoes and some pulses; the 3.6pc growth seen in FY09 was higher than the target of 2.0pc.
To Learn more about Pakistan Agriculture: http://www.parc.gov.pk
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