By Muddassir Rizvi
ISLAMABAD, Apr 4 (IPS) - Rising costs of agricultural inputs, declining soil productivity and poor government support are making it tough for Pakistan's small farmers and threatening the food security of the country.
The miseries of small growers, who feed this nation of more than 130 million people, are now beginning to be reflected in the overall food production of the country and also in rising poverty levels.
Estimates by the department of statistics say some eight million families having an average of six members each are involved in agriculture but live at subsistence levels.
"Growing food insecurity and resultant poverty directly relate to the fact that producers of food are increasingly losing control over traditional production systems in view of official policies that are made in line with inequitable international trade agreements," said Mohammad Arshad at the Islamabad-based non-government organisation, 'The Network.'
Listed as a food deficit country by the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), Pakistan has already faced severe food shortages over the last three years - which the officials shrug off as the handiwork of hoarders and smugglers.
Although domestic demand has been met through imports, the government has so far failed to come up with a plan to overcome long-term food insecurity in a country where 19 per cent of the people are undernourished.
By the year 2010, the demand for wheat will increase by 29 per cent from today's level but its production is only projected to register a 22 percent rise.
Farmers' organisations and food rights activists blame the situation on ill-conceived policies that promote corporate-style agriculture, which not only limit farmers' choices over what to grow but also undermine traditional farming systems, food distribution and biodiversity.
"Some 30 years ago farmers used to grow more than 10 varieties of wheat, but now 90 per cent of farmers grow one variety," commented Dr Shahid Zia, Research Coordinator at the Islamabad-based Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI).
Zia said the issue of food insecurity stems from green revolution technologies and now a complete reversal to sustainable agriculture is needed to overcome growing food insecurity.
"Long-term food security lies in strengthening local food production systems, reliance on traditional ways of farming and protecting our biodiversity," he said.
The rising cost of agriculture is also causing a number of small farmers to move to urban areas for livelihood. "Farming is no more economically feasible in Pakistan unless you own a large chunk of land and have political influence to get agricultural credit," commented Nusrat Abbas.
Abbas now works at a government department in Islamabad so that he can support his family in the agrarian Sargodha division of the Punjab province.
"My father and three brothers are still farming, but they find it hard to feed their families through the produce they get from their three acres - they always look to me for financial support," said Abbas.
A majority of farmers interviewed by IPS said low return on agricultural produce was the major cause of their dwindling incomes.
"The prices of agricultural inputs like fertilizers and pesticides have risen faster than the prices of agricultural commodities," commented Karam Dad, who owns a small plot in rice rich Sheikhpura area near Lahore.
In the mid-sixties along with the introduction of green revolution technologies, the Pakistani government instituted support price mechanisms for wheat, rice cotton, sugarcane, pulses, potato, onions, sunflower, soyabean, canola, tobacco and safflower to ensure that growers get a fair price.
However, the support price mechanism, especially on staples like wheat and rice, always worked against the growers and in favor of urban consumers, and were dictated by political expediencies.
The Ministry of Food and Agriculture itself admits that decades of misconceived policy that placed the consumer before the producer of agricultural commodities has dampened output.
"Subsidies to consumers, for example on wheat, could have been better employed if diverted to the producer," an official report by the ministry said.
While economic conditions for small growers get tougher, the public sector support services available to them also erode and become ineffective.
Most farmers complain that they do not have access to agricultural credit, despite a network of branches of the public sector Agricultural Development Bank of Pakistan (ADBP) in the rural areas of the country whose primary function is to disburse loans to farmers.
"If we get timely low interest credit before sowing our yields would be better, our incomes would increase and we can send our children to school. But credit is cornered by big landlords with political clout," commented Ghulam Hussain, a farmer from Rawalpindi Division, a rain-fed area.
Although ADBP officials deny that there is inequitable distribution of credit, statistics provided by the agriculture ministry's economic wing speak volumes on discrimination against small farmers.
In 1990, the bank doled out only 46 per cent total credit to farms of the size of 5 hectares or less although they made up 81 percent of total registered farms in the country.
The rest went to farmers with more than 5 hectares of land. One of the major concerns of farmers as well as agricultural scientists is the losing fertility of soil as a result of decades of indiscriminate use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides.
In southern Sindh province, 60 per cent of the land has been rendered uncultivable due to water-logging and salinity.
Said a report prepared by the Islamabad-based public sector National Agriculture Research Centre: "The green revolution promoted extractive crop rotations and replaced traditional production systems."
"The result was that soil organic matter reduced to the point where soil texture and fertility are restricting crop output, and more importantly increasing production costs through the need for additional tillage and more fertilizer."
The consumption of chemical inputs in Pakistan has shown a tremendous increase as compared to the increase in the area under cultivation.
According to official statistics, fertilizer consumption in Pakistan has more than doubled since 1980, while that of chemical pesticides has increased from 665 metric tones in 1980 to 44,872 tonnes in 1997.
"Each year, we have to use more and more chemical inputs for there is a new crop disease or plants show low growth," said Karam Dad.
While the government continues to devise supply-focused policies to overcome food insecurity in Pakistan, the Sustainable Agriculture Action Group (SAAG), a coalition of farmers' organisations suggest a more holistic approach.
"The government should link the objectives of its policies to manage natural resources, social sectors, economy and agriculture," said Mushtaq Gadi, who works with Sungi Development Foundation, a member of SAAG.:
