LAHORE: Lack of capital for mechanisation, poor knowledge of modern farming techniques, absence of formal credit and marketability at harvest as major reasons behind the failure of ordinary farmers in achieving productivity, a report on Pakistan’s agriculture sector notes.

The report, a copy of which is available with Dawn, has been prepared by the National Defence University (NDU) in consultation with agriculture sector stakeholders.

It presents a set of recommendations to boost to the agriculture sector which is presently on the decline because of certain official policies, climate change impact and unregulated sub-sectors.

Official support price for at least 20 major crops, research budget equal to 2 per cent of the agriculture GDP, abolishing all taxes from farm inputs and providing a level playing field to the local farming community to put them at par with their counterparts in neighbouring states are some of the proposals prepared by the forum.

The NDU says the consultation followed a seminar on ‘Pakistan Economy: Challenges and Way Forward’ held on June 27 on the request of the GHQ. Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa attended the consultation for five hours and assured the participants that he would personally talk to Prime Minister Imran Khan for maximum implementation of the suggestions, claims Kissan Ittehad Pakistan president Khalid Mahmood Khokhar who represented growers at the meeting.

The report warns that if the four factors are not addressed, the sector will reach nowhere. It further called for incentivising the farmers to supplement their income, manage supply of raw material and regulate prices of the final product.

It asserts that the incumbent government’s step to slash tax on farm loans from 39pc to 20pc will only benefit the banking sector increasing their assets without providing any relief to the farmers. The lack of incentives is marked by non-reduction in fertiliser prices, exploitation by middlemen in agri-marketing and high input costs.

The report suggests extending subsidy support to local farmers at par with what is given to Indian farmers that is $250 per annum per farmer; blanket tax exemption; subsidies on fertiliser, seed, energy and irrigation water; soft loans; cheap crop insurance; high tariffs on food imports; and support price for over 20 crops.

“This will provide level playing field to Pakistani farmers to compete with the Indian farmers on export end.”

Observing that no relief was provided to an average farmer in the current budget, it calls for reducing to a minimum all taxes on electricity, fertiliser, diesel, pesticide, seeds, tractors and farm implements, timely announcing cotton support price for securing grower profitability in the wake of monopoly of the textile industry in buying lint.

Expressing concern at only 5pc of bank loans for purchase of farm machinery in the last five years, the report holds lack of policy direction, low bank lending and poor local farm machinery manufacturing as responsible for slow mechanisation and suggests a “well-integrated agriculture mechanisation plan with a focus on local industry” and “the government should provide small-scale farmers machinery on minimal rent”.

Criticising unregulated seed business, it says “the 850 private seed distributors have no ethics and are manipulating the sector profits only” flooding the market with impure seeds of different names leading to seed pollution.

It recommends public-private research partnership for introducing hybrid and genetically modified crops and preserving indigenous seed.

Published in Dawn, October 5th, 2019