AS the federal government is set to announce the next year’s budget, agriculturists and growers are concerned about the water issue, rising costs of inputs, lower price of commodities, and subsidies.

Agriculture experts and farmers’ leaders want the federal government to ensure an enabling environment that can help growers get desired per-acre productivity. The delay in transfer of powers to provinces in the wake of the 18th constitutional amendment has also affected the performance of the sector, which recently recorded negative growth, they argue.

Water and unending power outages has taken a heavy toll on growers across Pakistan, prompting them to ask the federal government to focus on the provision of solar-powered tubewells.

“Agriculture has yet to be fully devolved to provinces, even nine years after the 18th amendment,” Mohammad Ibrahim Mughal, chairman of Agri Forum Pakistan, tells Dawn from Lahore. Practically speaking, some important sub-sectors of agriculture are still with the federal government, he says.

He urges the federal government to take policy decisions in the upcoming budget, so that the farm sector is completely transferred to provinces.

Agriculture sector growth has fallen drastically in the recent past, mainly because of a widening gap between the cost of inputs and commodity prices, stakeholders say

Mr Mughal observes that agricultural growth is directly linked with strict regulation of seed, fertiliser, farm equipment, agriculture credit, pesticides and price control mechanism. However, provinces still look towards the centre if they have to take any decision regarding the import or export of fertiliser, pesticides and seeds, or if they need to import machinery and require tax waivers, he says.

He says the agriculture sector contributes 22 per cent to the country’s GDP and should therefore get at least half of its contribution, if not proportionate funds.

“Historically, growth in the farm sector has varied between 4pc and 5pc. But it has fallen drastically in the recent past, mainly because of a widening gap between the cost of inputs and commodity prices,” he says.

Punjab, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa witnessed unprecedented crisis this year over sugar cane prices, as sugar millers refused to follow government-notified rates.

Hyderabad-based progressive grower Mahmood Nawaz Shah, the vice president of Sindh Abadgar Board, believes that the farm sector lacks an enabling environment — ie services, infrastructure and farm credit.

“The federal government must ensure just disbursement of farm credit to save growers from exploitation in rural areas, where they turn to informal lenders to run their economy,” he says. According to the State Bank of Pakistan, 88pc of farm credit was absorbed by Punjab last year.

Reduced water flows coupled with increasing on-farm water losses also pose a serious challenge to the agriculture sector across the country. Energy crisis aggravates the issue even further, as growers cannot run tubewells for most of the day. The provision of solar-powered tubewells is still a far cry.

Mr Shah says the federal government needs to ensure continuity in its agriculture policy. Small and midsized farmers are quite concerned about farm credit, the non-availability of certified seeds and higher costs of inputs.

He expects the federal government to link the agriculture sector with the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, as China, despite being a large producer of agriculture commodities, still imports a sizeable quantity of commodities from other countries. Horticulture produces are one such option in this regard, he says.

In KP, officials of Kissan Board point out that the federal government has not focussed on regulating the cash crop of tobacco, which is under the domain of the federal commerce ministry.

“Tobacco crop contributes Rs110bn annual excise duty to the centre, but growers continue to be exploited owing to monopoly of some companies,” contends Rizwanullah of Kissan Board from Peshawar. The federal government should ensure that the Pakistan Tobacco Board should play its due role in this regard, he says.

Quetta-based Naseer Shahwani, secretary general of the Zamidnar Action Committee, complains that Balochistan is not usually featured in federal government’s policymaking relating to the agriculture sector.

“Kachhi Canal that started from Punjab can irrigate 600,000 acres, but it has been stopped at Dera Bugti. It needs to be extended to Bolan district for irrigated agriculture,” he says.

He says the province has 30,000 tubewells, which should be converted to solar power. Besides, more solar-powered tubewells should be installed to bring more area under cultivation.

“Balochistan has a huge potential for horticulture produces like dates, which are exported to Iran and then again lands in Pakistan under Iranian brand names,” he claims.

Published in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, April 23rd, 2018