As all is not well with the economy, the danger of food insecurity is another pressing issue which is looming large in Pakistan. The country is facing food shortage despite the fact that Pakistan has started producing bumper crops of all major food products and commodities after years of gap. However, economists believe there is a need to invest in research to increase production. According to the Ministry of National Food Security and Research, the country has produced good wheat, rice, sugarcane and maize crops despite shortage of water in many areas.The urbanization process has drastically cut short the area of cultivation.There is a need to bring more land under farming and also there is a need to development new seed varieties and adopt modern farming techniques to increase per acre yield. The government encourages the export of food items which is also an area of concern for economists. The businessmen want larger-scale export of food items instead of value added goods. The Federal Committee on Agriculture has set a higher target of production for major and minor crops for the current fiscal year. However, water shortage could have negative impact on the production volume.
The committee expects 7.3 million tonnes production of rice, 81.4m tonnes sugarcane and 5.3m tonnes maize during the current fiscal year and measuresare being taken to increase the area of cultivation.The expectations for higher yields are rational as some new high-yielding varieties are getting popularity among farmers. Incidentally, the output of wheat crop recorded a modest increase of 0.5 percent during the current fiscal year despite shrinkage in the sowing area. The committee has set the wheat production target at 26.46m tonnes for 2017-18, which is up from 25.75m tonnes during the previous year. However, it is expected that average yield of wheat will be 2.96m tonnes per hectare from next year, up from 2.84m tonnes this year.
The government should encourage the production of value-added food items which have great demand within the country and concentrate on industrial production. The population of the country has been growing at a fast rate and urbanization process has already curtailed the area of cultivation in the country. The agriculture sector will only get boost when processed food is exported and not the precious fruits and vegetables. Importance should also be given to minor crops which have great domestic consumption and cannot be sacrificed to earn foreign exchange.
