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A SNAPSHOT OF THE
PAKISTAN AND INDIAN
AGRICULTURE
Pakistan
Agriculture forms the backbone of the economy in Pakistan. It contributes
with 21% to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) with an annual growth of
2.7%.1 Although the contribution to the GDP is not impressive, but it
generates productive employment opportunities for 44% of the country’s
labor force and 62% of the rural population still depends upon this sector
for livelihood.1;2 Agriculture in Pakistan plays a vital role to ensure food
security for a relatively huge and growing population of 185 million people;
ranking 6th globally.2 Besides that it is one of the major suppliers of raw
materials to the industry, especially for cotton. Around 80% of the
country’s total export earnings comes from agro-based products,3
showing the essential role of Agriculture within the economy of Pakistan.

The farm sizes in Pakistan are very small as in most of the other Asian
countries. Approximately 89% of the farms in Pakistan are below 5 HA and
cover 55% of the cultivated area.4

The main province for the agricultural production in Pakistan is by far the
Punjab province. Punjab covers about 69% of the total cropped area of
Pakistan, contributing a major share in the agricultural economy of the
country by providing about 83% of cotton, 80% of wheat, 97% of the fine
aromatic rice, 63% of sugarcane and 51% of maize to the national food
production.3 The second most important province for agricultural
produces is Sindh, especially for tomatoes, chilies and banana its
contribution is higher than the province of Punjab. In addition all other
cash and major food crops play also a significant role for the farmers in
Sindh.

Most of the commercialized farms in Pakistan have access to water. In

general around 80% of the cropped area is irrigated and 90% of the
agricultural output comes from irrigated land.5 Besides the irrigation
facility also the monsoon season play a key role for the agricultural
production in Pakistan.

In Table 1 and 2 a short overview of the main agricultural facts and crops
are highlighted for Pakistan.

(/_cache/images/cms/Contentbilder/Information-Center/Graphs/Pakistan-and-
India/.2575646d62dc2e715fb233078728ac3c/Key_characteristics_Pakistan.png)

Table 1: Key agricultural common characteristics of Pakistan

(/_cache/images/cms/Contentbilder/Information-Center/Graphs/Pakistan-and-
India/.2575646d62dc2e715fb233078728ac3c/Key_commodities_pakistan.png)

Table 2: Key agricultural commodities of Pakistan and their global ranking

Basically Pakistan has two crop seasons: 1. “Kharif” (first sowing season
from April – June and harvested during October – December) with the
main crops such as rice, sugarcane, cotton and maize and 2. “Rabi”
(second sowing season from October – December and harvested in April
– May) with main crops such as cereals and oil seeds.1

For the crop protection industry cotton is by far the main crop in Pakistan.
It is planted in the province of Punjab (72% of cotton area) and Sindh. For
the farmers in Pakistan it is an important cash crop – known as “white
gold” – significantly contributing to the national economy. Based on the
recent Kleffmann Group computations, the market share for cotton in the
total Pakistan Market for crop protection products is around 60%, with
insecticides as the main segment contributing approximately 66% to the
total cotton market. Therefore by segments insecticides has the biggest
market share in total, contributing around 70% to the Pakistani market.
The recent development indicates that the cultivated area decreased in
comparison to last year around 0.2% around 2.8 Million HA during the
season 2013-14. The major adoption of BT-varieties is the significant
attribute for such a development. Interesting is the fact that BT-varieties
were officially introduced in 2010,6 but the farmers were planting
smuggled BT varieties from its neighbor country at least since 5 years,
which can be even confirmed in the first AMIS (= Agricultural Marketing
Information System) cotton study in Pakistan conducted by the Kleffmann
Group in 2008, where many BT varieties could be identified. Currently 84%
of the cotton area is cultivated under BT (see chart 1), whereas the BT
penetration on the province level is different.

(/_cache/images/cms/Contentbilder/Information-Center/Graphs/Pakistan-and-
India/.2575646d62dc2e715fb233078728ac3c/Chart_Cotton_adoption_Pakistan.png)
Chart 1: BT Cotton adoption in Pakistan 2011 and its provinces
(Source: amis®4you)

In 2012 more BT varieties were approved by the government of Pakistan;

however these varieties do not express the most recent technology.6
The results from the Kleffmann Group amis® study indicates, that BT-121
is the most popular cotton variety, cultivated on 21% of the cotton area in
Pakistan. On the provincial level, BT-121 seems to be very popular in
Punjab (24% of the cultivated area), whereas in Sindh it covers 11% of the
area.

In general it can be addressed that due to the adoption of BT technology,

farmers could reduce their input costs for especially bollworm sprays
(Bollworms or in general chewing pests are very challenging to control
and cause massive destruction to the cotton crop), whereas the seed cost
increased, but the decline for the crop protection product costs was
higher, so in total it was a profitable adoption for the farmers in Pakistan.6
On the other hand the market for crop protection products against sucking
pests, such as white fly is still significant, due to the easy possibility to be
control such pests by strong agrochemical products.7

Besides cotton, rice and maize are two of the crops becoming more
prominent in Pakistan.

Rice is on the one-hand the second most important food crop after wheat
but on the other hand a very interesting cash crop for farmers. The recent
development shows the increase of 3.6% of the cultivated area during the
year of 2014 in comparison to the previous year. Rice was under 2.9
Million HA cultivation in Pakistan during the 2014 season.8 Its contribution
to the agrochemical industry is around 12%.9 It is important to state that
Pakistan is one of the two known countries producing high quality of fine
aromatic (basmati) rice for the domestic and global market and therefore
the availability of quality inputs (varieties, agrochemicals, fertilizers etc.) is
essential to meet the domestic as well as the global standards.

Maize is currently one of the most profitable agricultural crops in the

country. It is planted in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (mainly rain-
fed) and Punjab. In the season of 2014-15 the production decreased by
5%, mainly due to less sown area in comparison to previous seasons.1
However according to the projection of experts few years back the maize
production continuously grew until the last season of 2013-2014.10 For
the Maize production, seed has been and still is the most important
limiting factor; only 34% of improved seed is available in Pakistan.10
Therefore the potential for the seed companies by offering high quality
seed is huge. Currently farmers in Pakistan are urging the government of
Pakistan to approve GM or BT Maize varieties, for commercial farming,
but no decisions have been made until now.
Besides the above mentioned crops also wheat, sugar cane, potatoes,
fruits (especially Mangoes and Citrus) and vegetables are very important
to farming in Pakistan.

Although Pakistan is an important player for global agricultural production

for various crops such as cotton, wheat and rice, with its huge
infrastructure for irrigation and its favorable climatic conditions, it is still
away from the global and average yields per HA for its major crops. An
illustration of the yields per HA from the main crops of Pakistan in global
and different regional comparison (i.e. Europe, Africa and Asia) are
demonstrated in the following (see chart 2).10 The message of the chart
is, that Pakistan in comparison to global or regional averages is
underperforming in the production for its major crops, due to low level of
yields. For all demonstrated crops its average is below the Global, Asian
and European yield average.

It is clear that with better farm management and practices, especially

using quality seed and quality crop protection products and the
governmental and institutional support it will be able to feed its growing
population but also contribute to the wellbeing of its farmers.

Source:
1Pakistan Economic Survey 2014-15; 2World Bank Data 2014;
3
www.agripunjab.gov.pk; 4Agriculture Census 2010 Pakistan; 5Bhatti et al.
2009; 6Nazli et al. 2012; 7Rao 2009; 8FAOSTAT; 9amisAgriGlobe; Tariq and
Iqbal 2010;
1
CIA World Factbook; 2World Bank Data 2014; 3FAOSTAT;
4
amis®Agriglobe®; 5Ministry of Agriculture 2010; 6James 2011; 7CNBC
TV Program from 19.01.2013; 8Institutes of Pesticides Formulation &
Technology; 9Agricultural Census (2005-06 &2010-11)

India
India is currently one of the fastest growing economies of the world.
Measured by its country size, India is ranked at 7th position and by its
population, which is estimated to be around 1.2 billion people, it ranks 2nd
at the global comparison.1 Keeping the large population in mind, one can
assume the importance and role of agriculture within the Indian economy.
On the one side agricultural production is the key for the national food
security and on the other 68% of the population still lives in rural areas by
employing 50% of the total labor force.2 Besides that agricultural
production is a major supplier of raw materials to the industry, especially
in the case of cotton.

The value added by agriculture to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is

around 18% with an annual growth of 1%.2 In total approximately 10% of
India’s total export earnings are based on its agricultural sector.

One of the biggest resources of India is its arable land. With approximately
157 Million HA of arable land India ranks 2nd on the global comparison.
Although India has a large arable area for its crop production, but crop
yields are generally low in comparison with other countries (see Graphic);
two main identified factors for the low yields according to experts are lack
of adequate water supply and a poor rural infrastructure. In terms of total
irrigated area, India ranks first,3 which is 41% of its arable area. The
majority of the crop area in India depends on rainfall, where the monsoon
season plays a significant role for the agricultural output.

The farm sizes in India are very small and tend to decline. The recent
Agricultural Census (2010-11) reported that the average farm size in India
is around 1.16 HA. In the last Census (2005-06), it was around 1.23 HA.
85% of the farms in India are below 2 HA and cover 44% of the operated
area. Whereas the farms between 2 – 10 HA accounts for 14% by covering
45% of the area. The relatively large holdings (10 HA and above) account
for 1% only but covering 11% of the total operated area.

Basically, India has two crop seasons, one “Kharif” (summer season,
mainly affected by monsoon) and “Rabi”. Similar to the agricultural
production in the region, “Kharif” crops are mainly rice, cotton, sugarcane
and maize and main “Rabi” crops are cereals and oil seed crops, i.e.
mustard and rape. As already indicated above the majority of the crop
area in India depends on rain, whereas around 65 Million HA are equipped
with irrigation. This is 41% of the arable area and besides that the biggest
irrigated area worldwide.3

In Table 3 and 4 a short overview of the main agricultural facts and crops
are highlighted for India.
(/_cache/images/cms/Contentbilder/Information-Center/Graphs/Pakistan-and-
India/.2575646d62dc2e715fb233078728ac3c/key_characteristics_india.png)

Table 1: Key agricultural common characteristics of India.

Source: World Bank Data 2014

(/_cache/images/cms/Contentbilder/Information-Center/Graphs/Pakistan-and-
India/.2575646d62dc2e715fb233078728ac3c/Key_commodities_India.png)

Key agricultural commodities of India and their global ranking. 

Source: FAOSTAT 2013

For the crop protection industry rice is the most important crop by value.
Experts are of the opinion that its contribution is between 35 to 40% for
the crop protection industry, where insecticides are the biggest segment.4
Also for herbicides and fungicides the current usage – according to
experts – in India is very low in comparison to other rice producers and
therefore in future both segments will be in an important role.

Besides that the seed business is becoming very interesting. Different

research studies and reports have been recently published claiming that
rice yields can be raised at least by 15 – 20% by adopting hybrid rice
varieties.5 The reported area under hybrids in India is around 3%. Just for
the comparison, in China, who is the biggest rice producer globally, the
area under hybrid rice is around 53% and approximately 58% of its
production depends on hybrids. Also the yields in India are very low. China,
for example is looking to introduce new super hybrid varieties for rice by
targeting 15 t/ha, whereas the yields in India are around 3.5 t/ha.3

There is also a current discussion about the introduction of BT rice

varieties that appears close to commercialization in India, which may take
some value from the insecticides sector. But until now, no announcements
by the Government of India regarding BT rice have been made.

Cotton used to be the most important crop for the Indian crop protection
market, but now has been overtaken by rice, due to the decline of its value
as explained by experts mainly impacted by BT cotton. On the other hand
BT cotton area and its trend are positive. India belongs to the 15 biotech-
mega-countries (ranking 4th globally) and planted in 2011 a record area of
10.6 Million HA of BT cotton which occupies 88% of the total cotton
planted area in India.6

In general, the development in the seed business has been very positive
but due to the BT adoption, the value of insecticides decreased and the
market for herbicides is estimated to be at a relatively low level in India for
cotton. One of the main reasons is the low consumption of agrochemicals
in general in India.

Cereals in India are the third most important crop by its value for the crop
protection industry. The main segment is herbicides. Although the
cultivated area is in a decreasing trend, but the crop protection market
value is growing in experts’ perspective. On the global level, India is one of
the top producers of for cereals. According to FAOSTAT rankings, India is
the biggest producer for Sorghum and Millet and second biggest for
Wheat, by keeping in mind, that India is still a low yield producing country.

In chart 2, it is clearly visible that the yields in India in comparison to

global and regional averages are very low. Thus the potential in production
increase due to yield increase in India is massive.

Besides that other crops such as fruits and vegetables (especially for
exports, i.e. apples, grapes and mangoes) and oilseed rapes are also
gaining importance and the crop protection markets are significantly
moving towards a positive direction.

In total, according to experts the outlook for India, especially in the long-
term is very positive. On the one side, new varieties and the adoption of
GM crops is gaining importance within the public and private sector, but
on the other side one should not ignore the potential of the agrochemical
market. There is still a huge potential for the crop protection industry,
especially by knowing that the current agrochemical consumption per HA
by India is far from the world average, thus in India the current
consumption is around 600g per HA in comparison to the 3000g per HA
World average.7 Besides that the agrochemical consumption and its
penetration amongst farmers is significantly low. The current
agrochemical consumption in India is limited to 25% of the arable land.8
The main reason for this low level of consumption is basically the lack of
awareness among farmers regarding the benefits of the use of crop
protection products.

In general, it can be addressed that with more governmental support for

agriculture and by providing a sustainable infrastructure, it is just a matter
of time, when India will become the top producer for major agricultural
commodities and the leading market for the seed and crop protection
industry. The potential of the country is visible but has to be correctly
utilized by the public and private sector together.
(/_cache/images/cms/Contentbilder/Information-Center/Graphs/Pakistan-and-
India/.2575646d62dc2e715fb233078728ac3c/Chart_Compariosn_India_and_Pakistan.png)
Chart 2: Comparisons of yield (t/ha) for major crops in India and Pakistan with different regional
and global averages.
Source: Own illustration based on FAOSTAT

Source:
1
CIA World Factbook; 2World Bank Data 2014; 3FAOSTAT;
4amis®Agriglobe®; 5Ministry of Agriculture 2010; 6James 2011; 7CNBC

TV Program from 19.01.2013; 8Institutes of Pesticides Formulation &

Technology; 9Agricultural Census (2005-06 &2010-11)

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