Modern agriculture

Food security and self-sufficiency is no doubt a worldwide problem and the same would probably remain impossible for Pakistan too unless it trains, supports and encourages farmers to utilise modern-day tools skilfully in the agriculture sector. Agriculture, being the dominant sector of the economy, contributes around 21 percent to the GDP. Also, it is one of the major sources of employment for around 45 percent of the workforce. However, the country has not achieved the required targets of self-reliance in wheat production, primarily due to non-adoption of modern techniques.

It is worth mentioning that farmers are usually reluctant to go for change in adopting new techniques to increase agriculture productivity. Agricultural development is only possible through the adoption of modern agricultural practices. The diffusion of modern technology has considerably increased growth of all crops including wheat. New wheat varieties, recommended seed ratio, irrigation, fertiliser, pesticide and regional factors are positively contributing to the increase in wheat production. Likewise, educated farmers can easily be trained for responding to latest opportunities, and getting themselves adjusted with socio-cultural changes. Education also provides an opportunity to adapt to modern technology to increase production and income. Adoption of modern education has extensively been accepted as a leading element in agricultural development, while the literacy status of farmers is an important variable, which affects farmers’ receptivity to innovations and resource allocation efficiency. The reason for non-adoption of modern technology is that the majority of farmers are small landholders. This is one of the major obstacles towards the adoption of new technology in agriculture. The majority of small farmers are hesitating to adopt modern technologies for cultivation due to a number of reasons, including high rates of agriculture appliances, unavailability of quality seeds, fertilisers and pesticides in the market at an affordable rate. There is thus a need to educate farmers to use latest technology like combined harvesters, which not only saves precious time, but also increase per acre yield with low labour cost.

Khan Faraz

Peshawar