Should we fear farm mechanisation and technical innovations? While there is widespread consensus that the use of machines is essential to increasing agricultural productivity, many people in Pakistan are concerned that it may reduce labour demand in the agriculture sector, rendering workers — especially unskilled ones — redundant, which may lead to higher unemployment in rural areas along with a widening income disparity. This is particularly worrisome given that the agriculture sector still employs 37.5 per cent of the country’s total labour force as per Pakistan’s Labour Force Survey 2020–21.

Worldwide, the same arguments were advanced in the past when steam engines, electricity, and tractors became key components of industrial and agricultural production. However, every time, the industrial and agricultural sectors ended up using more workers with relatively higher wages.

In fact, these technologies proved to be skill-demanding rather than deskilling. Once adopted, they enhanced the overall production volume and ultimately generated new demands for jobs and skills in different sectors.

In the past, mechanisation was driven by industrial development, technological advancements, and socio-economic changes. However, climate change — with its increasingly expanding sphere of negative influence on the agriculture sector of Pakistan — has become a new driver of farm mechanisation to be reckoned with.

Increased use of machinery can ensure optimum agricultural production and crop yields with minimum possible food losses at each stage of the value chain, helping the country cope with climate change

As has appeared evident from the recent developments in rural areas, it is anticipated that, in the future, farmers will have no other option but to increase mechanisation to cope with the adverse effects of climate change.

In June-July 2023, the largest cluster of spring maize (corn) in Pakistan — district Kasur, Okara, Pakpattan, and Sahiwal — had to face an unusual negative effect of climate change. The mean monthly temperature of April, May, and June 2023 in these districts remained lower than the mean observed in previous years. On the other hand, rainfall during these months was excessively above average.

As a result, spring-sown maize matured over a longer period than usual, delaying its harvesting by almost two weeks. Usually, in these districts, maize harvesting and rice planting — both highly labour-intensive operations — are often undertaken sequentially, and most of the labour force harvests maize first and then carries out rice planting.

Climate change-driven delays in maize harvesting shifted both activities almost in parallel, and consequently, both faced an acute labour shortage.

To top it all off, the unusually high prevalence of hairy caterpillar — a worm-like insect — on maize crop during harvesting proved disastrous for harvest workers as it caused severe skin itching. In several geographic pockets, labour refused to harvest maize (corn) despite being offered extra remuneration.

Delays in rice planting in some of these areas are another dimension of the labour shortage issue. Many farmers felt almost helpless and powerless to complete rice planting well in time to ensure better crop yields.

The situation has given the labour force higher bargaining power, turning farmers from “decision makers” into “passive actors”. As a result, labour did not bother maintaining the ideal plant-to-plant distance that guarantees the optimal number of rice plants in an acre — a major determinant of crop yield.

In the given circumstances, medium- and large-sized farmers have no choice but to use self-propelled corn picker/corn harvester and mechanical rice transplanter. These machines were introduced in Pakistan a few years ago and are currently in limited use owing to their considerable capital cost.

This year, untimely successive rains in June and July proved to be another challenge for farmers, adversely affecting the sun-drying operation of maize cobs in open fields, resulting in high post-harvest losses.

Such climate change has left farmers with no other option but to switch from labour-intensive sun drying to mechanical drying, despite the high energy cost in Pakistan. However, biomass (maize residues) can serve as a cheap source of energy/heating for such drying.

The deteriorating health of rural workers is an important factor which has so far not been taken into consideration while discussing and debating the future of farm mechanisation in Pakistan.

In rural areas, millions of those young men and women have entered the labour market who face severe problems of under-nutrition in their childhood and stunted growth. With below-average height and small physical stature and strength, they are hardly capable, if not incapable, of undertaking strenuous farming operations, especially during intense summers and recurring heat waves — another consequence of climate change.

There is no question that all of the abovementioned factors are proving to be catalysts for increasing farm mechanisation in Pakistan, despite the conflicting opinions expressed by many policymakers, who want mechanisation only to the extent where lost jobs in the agriculture sector (as a consequence of mechanisation) could be balanced out with the new employment opportunities, generated by other sectors of the economy.

However, it is crucial that we not lose sight of the fact that Pakistan is already lagging behind other countries in the region in farm mechanisation and without it, even corporate farming — the recent initiative of the government to attain food security — would remain futile and fruitless.

Finally, Pakistan ranks among the top ten most climate-vulnerable countries in the world. With every passing year, the country is increasingly suffering the consequences of climate change. The slow and gradual approach of mechanisation, which is currently very widely accepted and practised, may hold water in a static environment, but the growing threat of climate change necessitates tailored mechanisation as an adaptation measure in all agricultural operations that are impacted by climate change.

In the evolving scenario, only it can ensure optimum agricultural production and crop yields, with minimum possible food losses, at each stage of the value chain.

Khalid Wattoo is a farmer and a development professional.
Sara Mehmood is a researcher in climate change, environmental sciences, and forestry.

Published in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, August 7th, 2023