‘Big gap between potential yield
and production of small farmers’
From Our Correspondent
FAISALABAD: Speakers during a workshop have called for adopting the farming cooperative society model to address problems of the small growers.
The small farmers would get soft loans, inputs and machinery under one roof through the suggested cooperative society and would heave a sigh of relief from exploitations of middle men.
University of Agriculture Faisalabad Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan chaired the moot on “Agriculture Sector in 2030-Challenges and options for the extension and outreach services”. The moot was arranged by US-Pakistan Centre for Advanced Studies in Agriculture and Food Security, UAF.
Prof Iqrar said the cooperative farming system is the best answer to small uneconomic holdings and will change the pattern of agriculture. He said only in the case of wheat, progressive farmers were getting 80 mounds per acre against the average per acre production of 28 mounds. This is a big gap between potential yield and the production of the small farmers, he said, adding that the small farmers were unable to reap the benefits of the modern machinery, inputs and other tools due to financial constraints.
He said developed countries were using the system of cooperative farming, resulting in increasing the productivity manifold.
He also showed his concern that 80 percent of the groundwater was not fit for the agriculture sector.
Earlier, CAS Director Dr Bashir Ahmad said 90 per cent of the farming community in Pakistan consists of smalls farmers and they are unable to afford the machinery and other tools. He said establishment of the cooperative farming will pave the way of the agriculture development and to redress the grievances of small farmers. He said that only 0.3 per cent of the gross domestic product in Pakistan was being spent on research whereas, India is spending 5 per cent. Rana Iftikhar Muhammad from Anjuman-e-Kashtkaran Punjab said they are kicking off cooperative farming model as the pilot project in 30 villages of the province. He said they are planning spreading this model in 5,000 villages of the province.
CAS Outreach Chair Head Dr Babar Shahbaz said usage of the Information and Communication Technology was the need of the hour to spread the message among the farming community. He said the 60 per cent of people are facing the food insecurity in the country. He viewed that urbanization, high population, decreasing agricultural land are aggravating the issue.
CAS Policy Chair Head Dr Muhammad Jamil said Pakistan was standing among the bottom in the index of food security with 76 position out of 107 countries. CAS Precision Agriculture Chair Head Dr Jehanzeb Cheema stresses upon the need to promote the precision agriculture to increase agricultural productivity manifold.
CAS Dr Bushra Sadia Bio Technology head said the small farmers were far lagging behind in the adoption of modern agricultural technologies. CAS Climate Changes Prof Dr Ashfaq Ahmad Chattha said that climate changes can reduces the agricultural productivity ten per cent in coming decades.
