Conservation agriculture can boost crops’ productivity and help ensure food security while keeping environmental degradation in check.

But not much is being done in this regard.

The current 2.5 tonnes per-hectare yield of paddy is lower than 4.5 tonnes in Bangladesh; the national average wheat yield of around three tonnes per-hectare is way behind four tonnes per-hectare in Ukraine.

And, our below- five tonnes per-hectare average yield of maize pales in comparison with 12 tonnes in Chile, according to the latest published stats.

Minimising mechanical soil disturbance, ensuring maintenance of permanent organic soil cover and diversifying crops via rotation/association are three pillars of conservation agriculture

The FAO defines conservation agriculture as a concept for ‘resource-saving agricultural crop production that strives to achieve acceptable profits together with high and sustained production levels while concurrently conserving the environment’.

Minimising mechanical soil disturbance, ensuring maintenance of permanent organic soil cover and diversifying crops via rotation/association are three pillars of conservation agriculture.

Zero-tillage practice has gained some currency in Pakistan but it must be expanded. More work must be done on development of bio-pesticides to keep arable lands rich and healthy for long. And crop rotations and growing of two crops simultaneously must be incentivised, officials and progressive growers say.

In early 2000s, the Punjab government had initiated sowing of wheat after rice with zero tillage drill in the rice growing areas of the province. “Since then the practice in on but delayed announcement of minimum support price for wheat often makes it difficult for farmers to continue it,” complains a rice-wheat grower.

One main concern regarding this practice was that it might increase rice borer attack on the following rice crop and expand weed population in wheat crop sown after rice. Later on, these concerns were addressed and as a result, paddy yields in Punjab have shown a rising trend.

“Had successive governments ensured timely announcement of minimum support price, wheat yield, too, would have increased,” says an official of Pakistan Kissan Ittehad.

Progressive growers and officials say that the use of bio-pesticides in Pakistan is very limited due to the lack of research and investment in this area. Officials of National Institute of Organic Agriculture, however, claim that many farmers in the country now use a mix of chemical-organic fertilisers and pesticides.

Farmers find this estimate highly exaggerated. “Had this been the case, our per unit export value of food items would have soared as the world grows crazier of organic food”, challenges an official of Agri Forum Pakistan.

Use of bio-pesticides helps in maintaining permanent organic soil cover and mitigating such environmental hazards like soil degradation and excessive emission of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. And, application of organic fertilizers enhances the per-hectare yields of crops besides resulting in production of more nutritious and disease-free food-grains.

But investment in this area, in particular, and generally in overall agricultural research and development is a key impediment to progress. “Most bio-pesticides, fungicides or bio-insecticides that are used on a limited scale in the form of sprays, dusts, liquid drenches and concentrates, powder and granules come from foreign sources, either in finished or semi-finished form.

Wide-scale local production is too difficult without a proper policy on it and enough support from the government” says an official associated with a supplier of these items.

Diversification of crops through rotation or simultaneous planting and via switchover from one crop to another or from one crop to multiple crops which is the third key feature of conservation agriculture, has relatively been an established practice in the country.

But that, too, continues to suffer from inadequate research, inconsistent policies and lack of overall agricultural growth vision.

In Sindh, for example, agronomists have been suggesting that gram and sorghum be considered as alternate crops to wheat and rice respectively to reap ecological and economic grounds.

“But landholding pattern is such that wheat and paddy cultivars belong to elite political class and they don’t want to come out of their comfort zones. They prefer short-term economic gains and status quo over sustainability in agriculture and higher productivity of land,” complains a former secretary of Sindh agriculture department.

But he admits that in addition to this, some other factors also hinder smooth progress of conservation agriculture in Sindh and elsewhere in Pakistan. In Balochistan and Sindh, sufficient availability of irrigation water itself has long been a problem.

“Now, economising of water uses naturally becomes a secondary concern. Similarly, small farms across Pakistan are run in primitive ways of cultivation. For them talk about mechanical soil disturbances is all Greek.”

Low level of of fresh investment in agriculture sector and reinvestment of the returns that are gained in agricultural activity is the real culprit of all agricultural woes, analysts say.

In past three years, gross fixed capital formation (at current market prices) in this sector grew at annual average rate of below 8pc — too low to encourage extensive research and development.

Published in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, May 8th, 2017