Agriculture Sector of Pakistan

What is Agriculture ?
• Agriculture is a broad term.
• It does not mean only growing grain crops like wheat, rice, sugarcane,
pulses, oil seeds .
• It includes lot of many activities like growing vegetables ,fruits,
making honey, milk & milk products (dairy farming), fish & animal
farming, poultry, tec.
• Agriculture is the process of cultivation of land or soil for production
purpose.
 Agriculture Sector of Pakistan
• Sector wise contribution to Economy.(2020-21)
• Agriculture 19.2%
• Service sector 61.2%
• Industry sector 20.3%
• Labour force sector wise
• Industry 23%
• Agriculture 42%
• Service sector 35%
 Significance of agriculture in Pakistan
• Economy of state depends on three sectors: i.e. agriculture ,industry & service.
• Agriculture is the backbone of Pakistan economy because it generates
employment opportunities for 42% of country’s labour force.
• Besides meeting food requirements, it supports other sectors of the economy
such as manufacturing & services .
• About 25% of Pakistan land area is under cultivation & is watered by one of
the largest irrigation system of the world.
• Punjab is the most agricultural province where major crops are grown such as
wheat ,rice, sugarcane & cotton.
• It accounts for 75% of the value of total crop output.
 World Ranking of Pakistan
• 4th largest cotton, milk, mango producing country.
• 5th largest sugarcane, date palm.
• 6th kinnow & oranges producing country
• 7th largest wheat, onion producing
• 11th largest rice producing country
3.94% GDP growth forecasts (FY21)
Products Fiscal year (2019-20) Fiscal year (2020-21)
Production data in Million metric (+ Growth)
tons(MMT)

Wheat 25 MMT 27.2 MMT (+8% growth)

Sugarcane 66.8 MMT 81 MMT (+22% growth)

Rice 7.5MMT 8.4MMT (+13.6% growth)

 Production & consumption (2019-20)
Products Total production Consumption per capita
per year
Wheat 25 million tons 115 kg per person

Rice 7.5 million tons 13 kg per person

Sugarcane 66.8 million tons 25 kg per person

Poultry 18 million eggs 80 eggs per person

 Production per hectare comparison
Products Pakistan Different countries

Wheat 3.1 tons  4.1 tons in India

cotton 2.5 tons 4.8 tons in China

Sugarcane 60.4 tons 65-77 tons in China, India 

Maize  4.6 tons  11.1 tons in France

 Livestock sector
• Live stock contributes almost 11 % to GDP.
• It is net source of foreign exchange reserves.
• Pakistan is Asia largest camel market.
• Almost 8 million small & landless farmers raise livestock, making it an
ideal sector for attacking rural poverty in the country.
• Almost 41.6 million tons of milk production.
• Nestle is the 4th major milk processing group in the world.
 Problems of Agriculture sector
• Water logging & salinity : waste of land & reduction productivity.
• Inadequate infrastructure : electricity, roads, education, storage.
• Old method of production: no modern seeds adoption(GM seeds).
• Inadequate supply of agricultural inputs.: fertilizers, pesticides.
• Improper crop rotation: constant one-two crop decrease fertility.
• Subsistence farming: consumption in own house.
• Inadequate research : 16 institution in Pakistan .
 Socio-Economic problems
• Consumption oriented: Farmers have no proper records of their
income & expenses. They spend more when they have more money.
• Farmer litigation: Farmers are seen in courts, police station, irrigation
problems due to which they cannot utilize their energy in production.
• Joint family system: Our farmer is poor; he has to support his big
family. It creates deficiency in saving & investment.
• Illiteracy &ill-health; farmers are untrained & inefficient to boost up
agricultural productivity. On the other side the health of the farmers
is improper due to rural backwardness
 Financial & natural issues
• Lack of credit; farmers are poor & 51% poor borrow from land lords. Credit
facilities are not properly available in Pakistan.
• The number of agricultural credit borrowers witnessed a decline of 5pc, falling
from 3.7 million in FY20 to 3.5m in FY21.
• Poor financial position; farmer lacks to get timely fertilizers, pesticides for
improvement .
• Instability in market prices; unstable markets. Farmers do not get due rewards.
• Natural disease ;pest & insects attack reduce productivity.
• Scarcity of HYV seeds; Our farmers use lower quality seeds due to unviability of
high yielding variety(HYV).
 Incentives given by Government to
Farmers
• Direct cash assistance to farmers.
• Improved availability of water through reduced tariffs on electric tube
wells.
• Increased credit disbursement
• Subsidized fertilizers prices.
• Reduction in custom duties on import of machinery related to this
sector.
 Agriculture Area
• Out of total area of 79.6 million hectare ,22 million hectares are
cultivated ;rest of the territory is rangelands.
• Cropped area constitutes 22 million hectares.
• Forestry occupy 4.21 million hectares.
• Almost 80% of the cultivated area is irrigated (water supply).
• 20% comes from dry lands depending on rain water.
• The five major crops are wheat, cotton, rice, sugarcane, & maize.