Pakistan is agrarian economy by default and major sources of gross domestic product in the country. The exports of value added goods such as textile, leather and sports goods are also have agricultural background, but this vital sector needs structural reforms, modern infrastructure and technological assistance. A vast area of the country still remains untapped and the potentials of fertile land has also not been fully utilized for the last 70 years. Indian Punjab, which is one third of Pakistani Punjab fulfills the food requirement of almost the entire population of over 1,200 million. Unfortunately, this side of Punjab has failed to fulfill the needs of the province alone and also depends on the agriculture yields from the East Punjab. Despite being in the list of top 10 countries in the production of pulse, rice, cotton, sugar-cane, citrus fruit and milk, various world food and agricultural organizations fear that Pakistan could face food scarcity in coming years.
Meanwhile, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has directed the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics to initiate a survey of the rural areas as part of documentation of the economy. After the development of computer technology, every big and small country is racing against time to computerize its economy, but despite the best available brains in Pakistan and software experts, the country is lagging behind various emerging economies. In the modern world, ready data is the basic requirement for devising the economic policies but Pakistan could not even computerize its land record. Now Mr Dar has entrusted the job of the survey of the rural economy on the bureau of statistics. According to a PBS official,most of the work on digital mapping of the urban areas in the countryis near its final stage under a specific project and it will take only two more months to complete the rest of the work. According to him, four surveys related to various sectors have been completed while anotherstudy is underway to ensure building of infrastructure for transportation of goods through land route as well asagriculture, industrial, wholesale and retail sectors.
It is imperative to introduce structural reforms in agriculture sector and invite the corporate sector to participate in the development process of the rural economy. Leaving this vital sector undocumented and disorganized is a big hurdle in the way of development. Any new policy for the agriculture sector must protect the small land owners but those who own millions of acres land unutilized must be cut to their sizes. The agriculture sector is the backbone of the national economy and the country cannot afford to ignore it anymore.
