Agriculture plays a pivotal role in the economy and development of Pakistan providing food to consumers, raw materials to industries, and a market for industrial goods. Unfortunately, agricultural production is stagnant due to several barriers including a fixed cropping pattern, reliance on a few major crops, a narrow genetic pool, poor seed quality, and a changing climate. In addition, the high cost of production, weak phytosanitary compliance mechanisms, and a lack of cold chain facilities makes Pakistan agriculturally uncompetitive in export markets. Despite all these issues, agriculture is the primary industry in Pakistan and small farmers continue to dominate the business. Small farmers grow crops for subsistence under a fixed cropping pattern and a holistic approach is required to develop agriculture to improve the livelihoods of the rural populace. This book presents an exhaustive look at agriculture in Pakistan. Chapters provide critical analyses of present trends, inadequacies in agriculture, strategic planning, improvement programs and policies while keeping in view the natural resources, plant- and animal-related agricultural production technologies, input supplies, population planning, migration and poverty, and balanced policies on finance, credit, marketing, and trade.

While policy makers, media, and the international community focus their attention on Pakistan’s ongoing security challenges, the potential of the rural economy, and particularly the agricultural sector, to improve Pakistanis’ well-being is being neglected. Agriculture is crucial to Pakistan’s economy. Almost half of the country’s labor force works in the agricultural sector, which produces food and inputs for industry (such as cotton for textiles) and accounts for over a third of Pakistan’s total export earnings. Equally important are nonfarm economic activities in rural areas, such as retail sales in small village shops, transportation services, and education and health services in local schools and clinics. Rural nonfarm activities account for between 40 and 57 percent of total rural household income. Their large share of income means that the agricultural sector and the rural nonfarm economy have vital roles to play in promoting growth and reducing poverty in Pakistan.

This study, Indus basin of Pakistan: the impacts of climate risks on water and agriculture was undertaken at a pivotal time in the region. The weak summer monsoon in 2009 created drought conditions throughout the country. This followed an already tenuous situation for many rural households faced with high fuel and fertilizer costs and the impacts of rising global food prices. Then catastrophic monsoon flooding in 2010 affected over 20 million people, devastating their housing, infrastructure, and crops. Damages from this single flood event were estimated at US dollar 10 billion, half of which were losses in the agriculture sector. Notwithstanding the debate as to whether these observed extremes are evidence of climate change, an investigation is needed regarding the extent to which the country is resilient to these shocks. It is thus timely, if not critical, to focus on climate risks for water, agriculture, and food security in the Indus basin of Pakistan.

The world has made remarkable progress in maintaining adequate food supplies during the past quarter century by introducing yield-increasing technologies such as better genetics, crop protection products, and more efficient use of fertilizers and irrigations. Far more people depend on irrigation in the modern world than during the times of ancient Sumeria. The spread of irrigation has been the key factor in increasing global crop yields. But future scarcity present the single biggest threat to future food production. The shift of water from agriculture to the growing cities and industry almost certainly will impact global food production. This means that dryland agriculture will be increasingly important in meeting food requirement for the growing population. Advaces in plant genetics and agronomic conservation technologies, when considered in concert, continue to provide the greatest opportunities to achieve sustainability and profitability in dryland agriculture and will continue to be the focus of the ARS research program. The ARS is please to join the crop Science Society of America and international center for Agriculture Research in Dry Areas (ICARDA) in sponsoring a symposium “Challenges and strategies for Dryland Agriculture” at the Trisocieties Annual Meeting in November 2002 at Indianapolis, IN. This special publication contains an impressive series of paper by international group of experts on dryland agricultural production, conservation, and policy. The principles, philosophies, and technologies presented in this publication have the potential to contribute to improve food security and livelihoods for the people in dryland regions of the world.

Debates about public expenditure in the agricultural sector have reopened in many developing and emerging economies because of high budget deficits and changes in public opinion. As a result, agricultural policy in many of these countries is beginning to take a more market-oriented approach to agrarian problems, most notably through the introduction of contract farming. This book explores the policy issues around contract farming and its transformative potential and addresses the lack of empirical research on this topic by focusing on South Asia: principally India, Bangladesh and Nepal. The book first addresses the effects of contract farming (vertical coordination) on productivity, food security indicators (yield, consumption expenditures, prices), employment and input usage. Then it draws lessons from the South Asian case studies on the impact of institutional changes, like contract farming, on income and food security of smallholder households. The core of the book includes case study chapters on several commodities that are produced under contract farming, including vegetables and fisheries in Bangladesh, low-value crops in Nepal and coffee in India. Other chapters also explore contracts, storage, input usage and technical efficiency in these cases. This book serves as an essential guide to academics, researchers, students, legislative liaisons and think tank groups interested in agrarian issues, agricultural economics and agricultural policy in emerging economies and particularly in South Asia.