Daily Times

In the fading light of the evening, the farm was a masterpiece of pastoral serenity. The sun, a molten gold disk descending behind ancient mangroves painted everything in honeyed hues. Lush fields rippled in the breeze -nature’s evening orchestra, the gentle lapping of lake waters against earth-packed shores, the distant calls of water birds returning to roost. Here, I thought, was Pakistan’s agricultural promise incarnate: a perfect tableau of sustainability, prosperity, and hope.

But the dawn is an unforgiving artist, stripping away evening’s gilded illusions with brutal honesty. What had seemed like dew-kissed earth showed sprawling patches of salt-stained soil, white and sterile, spreading like a slow disease, a twin lake stood exposed – a mere memory of water, its bed cracked and barren, the other struggling against the inevitable march of evaporation. In the heart of Pakistan’s agricultural landscape, this paradox unfolds daily. As the sun rises over vast fields that place Pakistan among the world’s top producers of wheat, rice, sugar, and maize, it illuminates not prosperity but struggle. The fields have exhausted farmers whose lives remain trapped in subsistence cycles, despite their critical role in feeding a nation. Pakistan’s agricultural narrative is one of stark contrasts. While the country ranks among the top ten global producers of essential crops, its farmers remain mired in poverty, and its population increasingly relies on imported grains at premium prices. This ‘disconnect’ between agricultural output and farmer welfare represents not just an economic failure, but a profound social crisis.

My farmer’s day exists in a complex web of dependencies, from weather vagaries to seed quality, from water access to input costs. At the end of this challenging production cycle, they face perhaps their greatest vulnerability – dependence on local Arthis (middlemen) for price determination and timely crop collection. The payment system, subject to market volatility and middleman discretion, further compounds their precarity.

As the sun rises over vast fields that place Pakistan among the world’s top producers of wheat, rice, sugar, and maize, it illuminates not prosperity but struggle.

While tractors occasionally break the rural silence, their presence serves more as a token of modernity than true agricultural transformation. The fundamental structures of farming – from financing to market access – remain largely unchanged from centuries past. This technological superficiality masks a deeper systemic stagnation that keeps farmers trapped in cycles of poverty.

Nobel laureate Amartya Sen in ‘Development as Freedom,” says that agricultural development is not merely about increasing productivity-it is about expanding human capabilities and choices. True to that we do see some innovative solutions beginning to emerge. HBL Zarai’s initiative of establishing Deras (advisory/resource centres) amidst farmlands represents a promising shift in agricultural support systems. By providing comprehensive advisory services, knowledge sharing in finance and logistics, and engaging in direct crop procurement at competitive prices, this model has begun to address the structural vulnerabilities facing farmers.

A pertinent example is a local farmer Abdul Ghaffar, who cultivates Rice on 200 acres. Through HZS Mechanization Services, he remains successful in securing his completely lodged crop due to unexpected rains coupled with windstorms. Utilizing free advisory and rented value-added machinery, he has not only saved almost 500 kilograms of produce per acre and timely sowing of the next crop. Dr. Muhammad Iqbal, former Chief Economist at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), emphasized that “the farmer’s poverty paradox lies not in production, but in market access.” His research in South Asian agricultural markets reveals a striking pattern: when farmers gain direct market access, their income can increase by up to 40%. Consider the transformation in Gujarat, India, where the establishment of farmer markets led to a 30% increase in farmer incomes within two years. Professor Madhura Swaminathan of the Indian Statistical Institute has extensively documented how these markets not only improved economic outcomes but also strengthened the social fabric in rural communities.

If we had to place the entire international dynamics of economic potential in one frame it would be the ‘Agricultural’ one in Pakistan. About 70% of Pakistan’s exports are directly or indirectly derived from agriculture. With 30.5 million hectares of agricultural land, approximately 47% of the national territory is dedicated to farming, which is higher than the global average of 38%. Agriculture employs around 37.4% of the national labour force, with 66.56% of female employment. It contributes 24% to the country’s GDP. There you have the cornerstone of economy, employability, and inclusivity, with immense potential for innovation via research and development. Agricultural connectivity to academia will have to become the highlight if we wish to see our educated youth look at our beautiful landscape as its future. My farmer needs a collaborative framework at the private and state levels to gain the much-delayed empowered position, where his/her access to upgrading their lands, improving the yield, and getting competitive earnings becomes a standardized procedure. The farmer is the protagonist, and not dependent on the goodwill of the people involved.

The author is a seasoned writer and corporate anchor.