Until eighties Pakistan was counted amongst the agricultural economies of the world but now we have entered such a critical period that neither we have been an agricultural country nor our industry is capable to earn foreign exchange.
In view of this situation experts in the agricultural sector have once again warned that climate change is putting such a heavy burden on horticulture and crop production that if centuries-old seed and irrigation methods are not abandoned very soon. We will face severe food insecurity and a water crisis that we will never recover.
It has also been found that a two degree increase in warming would reduce overall agricultural production by 20%. This means that if you have not planned for it, these goods are imported at the last minute for dollars with no guarantee of getting the required supply in time. This means that small farmers will be crushed and big farmers will suffer huge losses because there is no way to wake up the government, declare an agricultural emergency to ensure full adoption of modern seed and irrigation technology.
Many Observers are demanding for such measures only because climate change has long been considered a major problem but no government regardless of the party in power has done so. Agriculture is Pakistan’s natural endowment, the largest employer, the sector with which the largest number of Pakistani families are associated and is definitely considered the food basket of the country.
Yet we have turned from a net exporter to a chronic importer because we still want to run the sector on primitive knowledge and technology even though the undeniable effects of climate change have forced the entire world to adapt.
According to world resources institute Pakistan is in a region where agricultural production could decrease by 50% from 2015 to 2050 due to climate change and its impact on crop production. This means that changing weather conditions resulting in changing rainfall patterns in both summer and winter will cause more damage than usual in our region.
It is also based on our own selective blindness, prejudices and resistance to modern technology, it is not too difficult to figure out how and why we went from having the most water in the world to the least water in the world. It is a shame that the government has set up research centers and even the Ministry of Climate Change, yet experts and stakeholders are lamenting that these institutions have failed to benefit farmers at all.
The old argument that farmers themselves are reluctant to change their habits is untenable. Why can’t we learn from the Chinese who grasped the complexities of climate change and revolutionized their agricultural sector using the latest technologies?
This should be considered as the last wake-up call for the government. The destruction of the agricultural sector and the water crisis will lead to economic, social and political crises that can paralyze the country. If still no action is taken on this its means that our leaders cannot read the writing on the wall and perhaps they do not have the ability to take the country out of this harmful situation. In these circumstances, when the entire nation is hoping from their elected leaders that they will solve their agricultural problems and the ways of bringing a new agricultural revolution in the country will be paved due to their legislations and policies.
If attention is not paid to the agriculture of the country even on this occasion when most of the agricultural lands have been swallowed up by residential and commercial constructions, then in the coming times we will have to face more agricultural depressions for that the government officials and land mafias would be responsible.
Therefore, there is a need for the government to focus on providing abundant water to the agricultural lands in the country as well as rehabilitating the barren lands so that self-reliance in food can be achieved in the coming harsh period.
