Agricultural crisis

Agriculture is a very important part of Pakistan as it contributes around 20 percent of our GDP and much of our employment. Unfortunately, the sector is, nevertheless, highly neglected and disorganized. In addition, issues such as climate change and population growth are diminishing the productivity of the agricultural sector, which appears to be in a state of terminal decline. Few efforts are being made to prepare our farmers for a new agricultural landscape that prizes technology-driven productivity and relies less on manual labour. In fact, the state is busy facilitating the real estate cartel into turning large chunks of our arable land into housing society, making a mockery of the concepts of future planning, food security and sustainable growth.

We all know that any human society relies upon agriculture to sustain itself. Hence, there is perhaps no greater threat to our national security than the decline of the agricultural sector, which will make us even more dependent on foreign countries and institutions than we already are. The government must do its best to reform our agricultural sector and preserve our food security.

Dadshah Bahadur

Quetta