Although the present government inherited a bad state of affairs in relation to the overall economy and agricultural growth in the country, it has not done much to improve the situation. Firstly, it has not exposed the bad policies of the previous government that brought the country’s economy to the brink of disaster. Secondly, it has ignored the agricultural sector and let wheat and sugar crises spiral out of control. Therefore, the present regime has not given encouraging signals to the poor people whose mandate brought it into existence.

The economic policy should explore the potential of the local people and the agricultural sector. The government’s policy should encourage agriculture and the farm economy, as nature has provided us with vast cultivable land and an effective irrigation system. Growth originating in agriculture is four times more effective in reducing poverty than growth coming from non-agricultural sectors.

The country has experienced a concerning trend of negative agricultural growth over the past few decades, despite a rising population. Unfortunately, the agricultural sector finds itself lacking the capacity and capability to conduct essential scientific research. Moreover, valuable agricultural land is swiftly being transformed into commercial properties, driven by short-term profit motives. This disregard for long-term consequences jeopardises our food-producing resources, setting the stage for a potentially irreversible disaster in the coming decades. Urgent remedial and corrective measures are imperative to avert this looming crisis.

On the other hand, growth in the agricultural sector, consistent with population growth, is crucial for reducing the disparity between rural and urban incomes and raising incomes of the rural poor, while also meeting the ever-growing food demand in the country. The government’s previous initiative of providing eight acres of government land to landless poor women in the province of Sindh was a commendable step towards poverty eradication and empowerment of rural women, with far-reaching positive effects on the overall rural economy of the province. As a long-term solution, the government should bring in the much-awaited agricultural reforms by restricting land ownership to only 50 acres by an individual agriculturalist. This will not only be instrumental in freeing a large number of workers from the shackles of big landowners but will also ensure the optimal utilisation of manpower for maximum produce from agricultural land.

The government must keep a vigilant eye on the unchecked conversion of agricultural land into commercial empires, a trend that is fast becoming instrumental in reducing fertile agricultural land into non-productive concrete monsters, with a negative impact on overall agricultural productivity.

The agricultural sector can be an important source of growth provided the asset position of the rural poor is improved by making them owners of land in the respective localities where they live. This will ensure making smallholders’ farming more productive, diversifying income towards the labor market and rural non-farm economy, and facilitating rural-urban migration with desirable developmental outcomes.

It is time the government gave more attention to the economic front by adopting revolutionary measures for the development of the agricultural sector, as a better economy will guarantee the stability of the government and peace in the country.

ABDUL SAMAD CHANNA,

Karachi.