Agriculture in Pakistan
Pakistan is a net importer of petroleum products, and any depreciation in the value of the rupee against the dollar has also led to higher prices for both petrol and diesel, which are extensively used by the general population.
They cultivated six-row barley, einkorn and emmer wheat, jujubes and dates, and herded sheep, goats and cattle.
[7] The size and prosperity of the Indus civilization grew as a result of this innovation, which eventually led to more planned settlements making use of drainage and sewers.
[8] Archaeological evidence of an animal-drawn plough dates back to 2500 BC in the Indus Valley civilization.
Pakistan ranks 8th globally in farm output, according to the List of countries by GDP sector composition.
[13] Pakistan is a net food exporter, except in occasional years, when its harvest is adversely affected by droughts.
Only a limited amount of the remaining water is actually absorbed, and used by the crops due to poor soil texture and unlevelled fields.
The exports related to the agriculture sector in 2009–10 are Rs 288.18 billion including food grains, vegetables, fruits, tobacco, fisheries products, spices & livestock.
The forests are a major source of food, lumber, paper, fuelwood, latex, medicine as well as utilised for purposes of wildlife conservation and ecotourism.
Some reformers have blamed imbalance in land ownership in Pakistan for playing a part in "maintaining poverty and food insecurity".
[23] According to the Pakistan-based NGO, Society For Conservation and Protection of The Environment (SCOPE), about one-half (50.8%) of rural households in Pakistan are landless, while 5% of the country's population owns almost two-thirds (64 percent) of its farmland.
[24] The major effort to redistribute land to peasants and landless—Laws in 1972 and 1977 by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto—were struck down as un-Islamic by Pakistan courts in a number of decisions from 1979 to 1989.
Its rationale was that It issued two major land reform laws, Land Reform Regulation 1972 (Martial Law Regulation - MLR 115) promulgated by Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was designed to place ceilings on the agricultural holding of Pakistan's large landlords.
"[28] The amount of land seized and redistributed to the peasants was modest, and the reforms were not administered equitably, with implementation much more robust in the NWFP and Balochistan, where opposition to Bhutto was centered, than in provinces where his power base resided, (Sindh and Punjab).
[31] A 3-2 decision in 1989 by the Shariat Appellate Bench ruled against setting a ceiling on size of landholdings (as the Bhutto land reform had done) on the grounds that "Islam does not countenance compulsory redistribution of wealth or land for the purpose of alleviating poverty, however laudable the goal of poverty relief may be.
"[25] A book published in 1988 sponsored by Cornell University has opposed the agricultural reforms in Pakistan, arguing it will contribute to the already unsustainable population growth in the country.
[34] The average farm size has steadily declined as following: Future projections for Pakistan are that major crop yields such as of wheat and rice are expected to decrease significantly.
