What's new

Pakistan Agriculture Developments

.,..

Scientists at Islamabad's National Agricultural Research Centre (NARC) have achieved the first buffalo pregnancy using in-vitro embryo production, vitrification, and transfer technology.

The procedure involves creating embryos from superior breed buffalos, and implanting them into other types of buffalo.

Dr Ghulam Muhammad Ali, Chairman of Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC), told the reporter that the success was achieved through the use of protocols developed by China's Royal Group, and the project is a collaborative research project on Pakistan's Nili Ravi buffalo breed. NARC is the agricultural research arm of PARC.

According to Dr. Ali, this was the first time Pakistan conducted research on transferring buffalo embryos. He claims that not only will it help increase the population of high-quality buffalo breeds and milk production in Pakistan, but the embryos produced could also be exported. The Royal Cell created the in-vitro embryos, which were then implanted into the recipient buffalos by Pakistani scientists.

In May this year, Royal Cell established its first buffalo embryo production and research laboratory in Pakistan. According to an earlier report, Royal Cell and JW Group Pakistan are also in the process of forming a joint venture, Royal JW Buffalo Industry Co.
 
,..,.,

‘Pakistan losing $1bn due to supply-chain, storage problems of just three crops’

Bilal Hussain
March 7, 2023

Pakistan Agricultural Coalition (PAC) Strategy Advisor Kazim Saeed has said that the country loses $1 billion on an annual basis on just three crops due to the use of poor seeds and outdated methods.

Speaking at an event in Karachi on Monday, Saeed said Pakistan produced $12 billion worth of corn, wheat and rice annually, of which $1 billion per year is lost due to supply-chain and storage problems.

Pakistan is currently struggling to get just over a billion dollars from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme to escape a default.

“It’s high time to take some concrete action to uplift the sector which will in turn expand the export base of Pakistan,” he said, adding that agriculture is one of the few sectors which can help enhance exports without increasing imports.

“The sector is sick but despite a below par per acre yield, Pakistan is an agricultural superpower,” said Saeed. “Pakistan ranks fourth in cotton production and eighth in wheat production despite the fact that there are 120 countries producing wheat.”

PAC’s sponsors have a cumulative turnover of over $10 billion and they possess technical and business expertise in agriculture-related sectors. Its sponsors include HBL, Fatima Fertilizer, Engro Fertilizer, K&Ns and Nishat Group.

“PAC’s vision of agricultural sector is private, technology-driven, entrepreneurial and globally competitive,” Saeed said.

What’s wrong with Pakistan’s agriculture

Saeed stressed that there is no need for research and development in agriculture because what needs to be done to increase per acre yield has already been established decades ago.

Explaining his firm’s role in lifting the sector’s performance, he said that there were several bottlenecks and hurdles that needed to be removed and addressed.

He said that if access to finance is given directly to farmers, the per acre yield would increase. This is because the middlemen, who normally extend loans to farmers, influence input decisions of growers such as forcing farmers to buy low quality seeds.

Saeed said that using the right kind of seeds and machinery could enhance the per acre yield by up to 50% in some cases.

Some of the projects of PAC include establishment of Pakistan’s first electronic warehouse receipts regime. This regime is bringing financial access to farmers by collateralizing commodities for loans, and also creating strong incentives for crop testing, grading, and standardization, proper storage, reduction in post-harvest losses, and preservation of crop quality for exports.

Saeed said that PAC aimed to connect Pakistan’s agriculture to industry, finance, government, and the world. For that purpose it is also organizing Pakistan’s first ‘Agri-Connections Event 2023’ on March 16 in Karachi.

He said that $2 million has already been invested by leading business groups of Pakistan in Naymat Collateral which accredits agri-warehouses and warehouse receipts of Rs2 billion have already been issued against harvest placed in these accredited warehouses to get loans.

He said that PAC had also convinced USAID to fund a feasibility study on grain storages to attract investment in this important segment of the agri-economy. The study was conducted in August-December 2020 by multiple experts and was led by PAC’s Kazim Saeed. Moreover, its recommendations and financial model are being actively used to support advocacy work for the regime and to convince agri-sector stakeholders to invest in storages.

PAC has also worked with the Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan (REAP) to develop and implement a multi-year program for increasing Pakistan’s rice exports by introducing mechanization in rice cultivation.

The aims of the project include improving farm productivity, cutting post-harvest losses (15-20%) and also significantly increasing rice exports over the next few years.
 
.,.,

Pakistan, China sign agri-cooperation DoU​

Will focus on agricultural industry chain, deep processing of products

App
March 08, 2023

apart from pre existing issues compelling mtl to shut down its plants on fridays the agriculture income induced demand for the auto sector also wavered on account of the devastation caused by the recent flooding photo file


Apart from pre-existing issues compelling MTL to shut down its plants on Fridays, the agriculture income induced demand for the auto sector, also wavered on account of the devastation caused by the recent flooding.

ISLAMABAD:
In a move to promote strategic cooperation between China and Pakistan in industry-university research on modern agriculture, documents of understanding (DoU) were signed by the National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Weifang Engineering Vocational College, Qingzhou Municipal Government and Weifang National Comprehensive Pilot Agriculture Zone at Weifang last week.

The four sides agreed to work together for promoting agricultural technology cooperation under the framework of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), with focus on construction of the entire agricultural industry chain, deep processing of agricultural products and related industrialisation.

“Agriculture sector in the South Asian region is struggling with low productivity, supply shortfalls, low returns to farmers, lack of advanced technology and lack of trained professionals, and thus threatening our food security,” NUST Pro Rector Academics Dr Osman Hassan noted in his speech on the occasion.

“These problems are closely related to people’s livelihood and well-being, particularly in Pakistan, as it is an agro-economic country with immense potential for crop production and research in agricultural sciences.”

“Currently NUST was actively conducting research including precision agriculture, multispectral sensing of crop fields, agricultural 3D printing and scanning applications, early detection of pathogens and plant disease management,” he said.

“Nevertheless, research on sustainable agricultural resource management systems remains a major challenge for us, and I sincerely believe that the agreements will certainly play an indispensable role in filling these gaps,” he stated.

Dr Hussain Ahmad Janjua, Principal Atta-ur-Rahman School of Applied Biosciences, NUST, while highlighting the practical measures, said “food processing and preservation is a key area for both countries.”
 
.,.,.,
China, Pakistan join hands to establish joint wheat lab

March 13, 2023

Under a new initiative, China-Pakistan joint lab will be established on wheat research. The project will be funded by the Science and Technology Partnership Program of Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST).

The newly established lab will be located at Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU), in partnership with Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS). A joint launching ceremony was held recently at QAU and CAAS last week and was also attended by the researchers from both sides and representatives from both embassies.

The joint lab will work on developing new climate resilient wheat varieties using new DNA-based technologies and will provide training to wheat scientists of Pakistan.

On the inauguration ceremony, Dr. Sarwat Jahan, Dean of Biological Sciences welcomed this initiative and emphasized that QAU will facilitate the joint activities of the lab. Dr. Zhouhua Cao, First Secretary from Chinese embassy in Pakistan said that China has always extended cooperation to Pakistan on Science and Technology and this new joint lab will have all the support needed from Chinese embassy.
 
,.,..

The need to increase farmers’ knowledge

Aslam Memon
March 20, 2023

64177ba34a88b.jpg


Climate change is a global challenge and a threat to food security. Agriculture is expected to produce food for the world’s population, estimated to reach 9.1 billion in 2050 and more than 10bn by the end of the century. Weather patterns/climate is one of the main factors influencing the productivity of agriculture.

According to researchers, to improve the productivity and stability of smallholder agricultural production in the wake of climate change, agricultural systems must be transformed. Significant effects of this change have already been seen on water resources, human health, and food security.

Rising temperatures, changes in precipitation, floods and famines affect crop production and negatively affect land and water resources. Fluctuations in climatic factors such as rainfall and temperature and elevated level of carbon dioxide have increased the frequencies of climatic disasters like floods, droughts and cyclones all over the Indian subcontinent.

Improved irrigation facilities, highly genetically modified seeds, and increased usage of fertilisers and pesticides have restricted negative trends. But, the imbalance in the use of fertilisers and pesticides is also responsible for declining soil fertility.

Financial incentives to purchase climate-smart inputs and capacity-building programmes could help increase profitability, productivity and food security
Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) refers to farming methods that tackle both the problems of climate change and global food security. It is becoming an increasingly crucial concept to ensure future food security and sustainability as the global climate becomes more hostile to conventional agricultural practices.

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has encouraged a sustainable agricultural production system due to the social, environmental, and economic issues caused by climate change and traditional agriculture.

According to FAO, CSA practises are viewed as a way to improve resilience while slowing down environmental degradation. Consequently, its adoption will boost yield, enhance resource use efficiency, increase agricultural income, and mitigate the adverse effects of climate change on its production.

CSA includes cutting back on chemical inputs, improving soil fertility, and managing water resources better. Crop diversification, changes in the cropping pattern and planting dates are other farming techniques that can lower the risk of crop loss due to climate change.

The National Agriculture Extension Policy encourages farmers to adopt CSA practices such as water harvesting, efficient irrigation systems, improved crop varieties, and agroforestry. It also promotes the use of climate-smart farm inputs such as organic fertilisers and soil amendments.

Additionally, CSA focuses on enhancing the resistance of crops to extreme weather events. This includes the use of drought-resistant varieties, mulch or cover crops to prevent soil erosion, terracing and other soil conservation techniques. Farmers can also practise conservation agriculture, which reduces the amount of tilling and maintains a biological mulch cover on the soil.

Precision farming and remote sensing are two examples of cutting-edge technologies that climate-smart agriculture encourages farmers to adopt. While remote sensing can be used to monitor crop health and lower the risk of crop losses because of changes in weather patterns, precision farming helps farmers apply inputs like fertiliser and irrigation water more efficiently.

The policy implication is that promoting and scaling up the adoption of CSA practices can help farmers raise their incomes by improving agricultural productivity and profitability. The Pakistan Agricultural Research Council studied farmers’ knowledge and the intensity of their adoption of CSA practices.

According to this research, most farmers were only moderately knowledgeable about the various indicators of climate-smart agriculture. The overall knowledge level showed that the sampled farmers knew more about crop rotation and varieties but less about pesticide application precautionary measures, crops recommended fertiliser application per acre and laser leveller.

The sampled farmers had the lowest knowledge level in early maturity (short duration) crop varieties, integrated pest management techniques, wheat on ridges/seed beds, heat and drought tolerant varieties, and organic farming. These results indicate a significant knowledge gap and low practice of CSA, in spite of the positive outlook to climate-smart practices attributed to the collapse of extension services over the years.

Insufficient understanding of climate-smart practices, limited access to weather and climate information, low financial capacity, and a lacklustre policy framework were the main barriers to adopting these practices.

In general, the government is moving in the right direction to support CSA in the country. Nevertheless, there is still a need to raise knowledge among farmers. Using modern technology to connect with farmers and conduct targeted communication efforts can accomplish this.

The government should also focus on providing technical assistance and access to finance to farmers so they can adopt CSA practices. This could include providing financial incentives to farmers to purchase climate-smart inputs and equipment and providing training and capacity-building programmes.

By promoting CSA in Pakistan, farmers can improve their productivity and profitability while adapting to the effects of climate change. This will be essential for ensuring food security in the country and for building the resilience of its agricultural sector.

The writer is a PSO/Director at the Pakistan Agriculture Research Council-Social Sciences Research Institute, Tandojam

Published in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, March 20th, 2023
 
Climate - Smart Agriculture

Experts highlight importance of Climate-Smart agriculture in CPEC projects for food security​

March 22, 2023



ISLAMABAD, Mar 21 (APP):The experts on Tuesday called for a joint Pak-China socio-economic working group under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) for promoting agricultural development and uplift to improve crop productivity,

farmland health, and prosperity of farmers through climate-smart agriculture.
The Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) organized a capacity-building workshop on Climate-Smart Agricultural Cooperation under CPEC here which was moderated by Research Associate, SDPI, Zainab Naeem, and participated by members of academia, experts from the Chinese Embassy, PARC, students, and media.

Senior Advisor and Research Fellow, SDPI Dr Hassan Daud Butt said the joint working group with demonstration centers should be established across the country under the second phase of the CPEC for demonstrations of advanced techniques to train and acquaint farmers with the latest agricultural methodologies for better production.

Dr Butt said the export of agricultural products from Pakistan to China including rice 15%, and soybean 30% with dry red chilies and cherries were growing at a positive pace. Interestingly, he said, the Pakistani fish of Gwadar was being sold in Shenzhen and Urumqi.

He said the latest tech for Climate Smart Agriculture was available in the market due to China but the cost of tech, human resource capacity to absorb it, and poverty due to poor yield were the bottlenecks in Pakistan that should be resolved.

“Climate Change devastation is spiking up and if not addressed will become a security challenge,” he added.

Dr Butt said the economists of the country needed to create synergies between the rural and urban economies to reduce disparity and enhance harmony in the development process. “The government will have to encourage farmers through incentives by making agricultural products more profitable. Aquamarine potential needs to be tapped in Pakistan as China grows rice and shrimp inside the rice paddies,” he added.

Dr Butt underlined that the government would have to ensure housing for farmers, make tech available at cheaper rates and reduce the cost of products and focus on the rural economy.

Second Secretary, Embassy of China (Economic and Commercial), Dr Gu Wenliang said China also faced similar challenges due to climate change and was working to meet the demands of productivity.

He said the government of China had transformed the farmland by building infrastructure for better resilience, use of irrigation technology, and creating a farmland belt intended to enhance agricultural productivity from a new variety of seeds.

Moreover, the Chinese government also created an association of farmers and a new company to develop the agriculture sector that also provided opportunities for the farmers to render their services to that company.

He informed that China had set an ambitious target to phase out pesticides and fertilizer use from the agriculture sector by 2030 and was using biogas technology. He added that drones were widely and commonly used in China for sprinkling seeds and fertilizers. There were specialized farmer companies that helped farmers to manage all services related to farming and crop cultivation, he added.

Dr Wenliang proposed that the Chinese banks, companies and Pakistani counterparts should join hands to provide free seeds and loans for services like mechanization and pesticides and promote contract farming.

Assistant Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Dr Aamer Irshad underlined that country’s agricultural growth rate had declined over the decades from 1960 to 2000 (4%) to 2% from 2000 to 2021. He said that climate change had contributed to it whereas the research bodies related to the sector also did not perform well. He said the water cycle and economy were changing in Pakistan due to climate change.

Dr. Irshad informed that the FAO had the following four policy components in its initiatives focusing on tech to have mitigation and adaptation aspects, profitability should not decline while making adaptation and mitigation, the biodiversity due to its triple planetary crisis nature should be given importance and social norms with a focus on gender balance should be maintained. It should not be disturbed in any farmland while maintaining its specific biodiversity, he added.

SPDI Executive Director Dr Abid Qaiyum Suleri in his opening remarks said that amid rising environmental degradation if adequate measures were not taken in time then the region would have to face the wrath of climate change. He underscored that the FAO announced 2023 as the year of eliminating hunger.

The BISP socio-economic registry data revealed that 66% of the country’s population earned 0.73 cents per capita income whereas the national expenditure survey noted that an average family in Pakistan was spending 57% of its earning on their food, he added.

Dr. Suleri said that the way out was Climate Smart Agriculture and there was a need to learn from the Great Green Wall of China that helped transform the Gobi Desert into a green area. He said there was great economic potential in tapping export opportunities with China.
 
Editorial
641cbbb9f1f34.jpg


Of all the ideas being tossed around these days, from all quarters, to control deficits and rescue the economy, some of the smartest came out of the Agri Connections 2023 conference in Karachi recently; which ended with a set of policy recommendations aimed at turning Pakistan from a “victim of high global agri-commodity prices to a beneficiary” within a decade.


Former SBP (State Bank of Pakistan) governor and keynote speaker Syed Salim Raza hit the nail on the head when he stressed that development of the agriculture sector was the smartest way to claw out of the current economic crisis, and that its growth rate needed to be enhanced from 2.5 percent to 6 percent.

If the government can enforce necessary reforms and develop the sector on modern lines, “the food trade deficit will be eliminated in three years and a production surplus can be achieved in another three years,” he argued.


This makes a lot of sense. Our natural comparative advantage always lay in agriculture, after all, and it was only because no administration took the trouble of keeping up with the times and modernising it that we dropped from being a net food exporter to a desperate importer.

Even now, as we continue to lose production area and crop yield, there is no serious, binding programme to stop this trend.

Let’s not forget that the agri sector not only employs the largest number of people and has the most households attached to it, and provides the nation with its food, but also feeds the vital export sector.

And while why nothing has been done to expand and add value to the export basket is a question for another time, there’s no denying that poor agri performance drags down production and exports as well.

That explains why one of the points discussed at the conference was the need for standardisation, the starting point in identifying supply chain stakeholders as well as training programmes for farmers.

It was also pointed out, for very good reason, that mechanisation will be important in areas where labour is in excess and also where it is not, stressing that employing modern technology will not cut jobs but create new ones.

Right now, because of lack of automation and mechanisation, it was pointed out by the secretary of the board of investment, “we lose 12-13 percent of wheat yields”, and that it makes for “about $200 million in value and we (also) lose about $500 million in post-harvest losses”.

Then there’s the matter of inadequate infrastructure. There are very few laboratories and hence poor-quality seeds, which knock local farmers out of the competitive international market even before the seasonal cycle starts.

Surely, all this is no longer acceptable. It’s bad enough that we’ve allowed such a precious natural advantage to go waste just because of the limited vision and corrupt practices of successive governments. But it’s much worse to refuse to wake up to reality even now; when the economy has all but collapsed and there is very little elbow room left.

The country clearly needs to go right back to basics and reinvigorate the one sector it has been naturally blessed with.

The first step should no doubt be dragging it into the 21st century and giving it a thorough, countrywide technological makeover. Only then can other pieces of the puzzle be put into their right places one by one.

This is going to be a long process, which will begin to show results after a few years. But that only increases the urgency of starting reforms immediately. The economy is truly in a fight for survival; and in such times, time is one luxury you do not have.
 
,.,.,.,.,.

Punjab approves 56 new varieties of different crops

Recorder
March 25, 2023

LAHORE: The Punjab Seed Council (PSC) on Friday approved 56 new varieties of different crops submitted by the private and public sector organizations.

The approved varieties included paddy, hybrid maize, oats, gram, groundnut, rye, sunflower, sesame, berseem, dates, wheat and cotton. It was the 56th session of the Punjab Seed Council (PSC) which was held with Punjab Minister for Trade, Industries and Energy S M Tanveer in the chair.

The provincial minister gave approval for the general cultivation of 56 new varieties while directing to submit DNA fingerprint reports of seven different crop varieties within 15 days.


Speaking on this occasion, the minister said the government of Punjab was taking all possible steps to ensure the supply of quality agricultural inputs to the farmers to achieve the production targets.

The minister directed to set up of a sub-committee “Green Revolution 2” to review the problems faced in various types of crops. He also congratulated agricultural scientists for developing these varieties and directed to further improve the research trials for the future in the Punjab Seed Council. He also directed for making variety registration and DNA fingerprinting mandatory for the approval of agricultural commodity types.

He further said the government was paying special attention to the production of quality seeds to increase the agricultural production per acre with world-class seeds, which will also increase domestic exports.

Secretary of Agriculture Wasif Khursheed emphasized introducing modern harvesting technology. He urged agricultural scientists to discover varieties that could be profitable for five years or more in the field while keeping production costs low. He said that new varieties of crops with resistance were being prepared so that the attack of diseases on the crops is minimized and the agricultural production per acre can be increased.

He said instead of discovering more types, such types should be discovered which could give better results in the field. Apart from traditional agriculture, there were opportunities to increase the production of dates and fruits in our country.

The agriculture secretary declared the DNA fingerprinting report mandatory to protect the rights of pure seeds and breeders’ rights.
 
,.,.,.,

Rice crop in surplus despite floods, NA told​

Parliamentary secretary says production stands at 5.4MMT against 3.8MMT consumption

APP
April 01, 2023

Parliamentary Secretary for National Food Security and Research Ahmad Raza Maneka on Friday said the rice crop production was in surplus despite flood devastation.

Responding to a query of Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) MNA, Ghous Bux Khan Maher during the Question Hour of the 51st session of the National Assembly, he said the wheat stocks were properly stored and preserved from damages during the 2022 floods.

However, the rice production was 5.4 million metric tonnes (MMT) against the local consumption of 3.8MMT last year, he added.

Maher posed the question that what measures the government had taken to enhance rice crop yield as the production had declined to one-third?

MNA Wajiha Qamar of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) also queried that what measures were being taken to ensure climate-resistant crops adaptable to shifting weather patterns amid prevailing growing environmental degradation and climate change?

Maneka responded that innovative methods of farming, hybrid seeds and farmers' training could only ensure increase in crop yield. He said the latest methods and techniques of crop cultivation were the only remedy that was being imparted to the farmers.
 
,..,.,
The World Bank has proposed some changes in the implementation plan for the Sindh Water and Agriculture Transformation project to adapt mitigation activities to help the provincial government manage climate risks with a focus on the water and agricultural nexus.

In a just-released climate change technical note on the project, the World Bank says the project approved in December last year intends to improve agricultural water productivity to obtain more value from water supplies affected by climate change.

The World Bank is discussing with the government specific adaptation and mitigation activities proposed for the project, which intends to improve agricultural water productivity to obtain more value from water supplies affected by climate change, induced disasters.

By improving the institutional framework for Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM), the project will improve the capacity of Sindh to better cope with floods and droughts. It will also help in the allocation of increasingly scarce water resources among competing uses such as agriculture, urban, and the environment. The promotion of climate-smart agriculture will contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and contribute to mitigation goals.

The $98 million project that also be additionally funded with $194 million non-concessional credit from International Development Association (IDA), having the total commitment of $292 million, will increase agricultural water productivity in Selected Farmers’ Organisation (SFO) command areas, improve integrated water resources management, and contribute to restoring crop production by small- and medium-sized farmers hit by the 2022 floods.
 
.,.,.,

Agricultural sector should be taxed based on presumed income using predetermined proxy

Huge resource transfers caused by implicit taxes have adversely affected farmers’ income.
In Pakistan, many economic circles have continuously been demanding to improve agricultural income tax (AIT) collection, in line with the much-cherished principle of horizontal and vertical equity in taxation.

The sector contributes around 23 per cent to the national GDP (FY21). However, the total AIT collection in Pakistan is around Rs3 billion — a mere 0.02pc of the agricultural GDP of the country. Several studies have estimated that the AIT potential is around Rs10bn to Rs200bn, based on various land-based and income-based tax options.

In Pakistan, AIT is a provincial subject. Undeniably, the tax rate on agricultural income is lower than the federal tax rate applicable to income derived from other sources. The highest slab on agricultural income stands at just 15pc in Sindh and Punjab provinces.

However, farmers are required to pay — whichever is higher — either a fixed amount based on landholding or an amount based on annual agricultural income, with varying limits and rates.

In 1996-1997, Pakistan’s land revenue (land tax) collection stood at Rs1.4bn. Soon after, Agricultural Income Tax Act 1997 was promulgated in Punjab and subsequently in other provinces. Effectively, Rs1.4bn is far greater than the current Rs3bn, in view of the current size of agricultural GDP and Pakistan’s total tax revenues. There are several underlying causes of such abysmal performance.

Agricultural income tax is around Rs3bn, a mere 0.02pc of the agricultural GDP when it has been estimated around Rs10bn to Rs200bn, based on various tax options
First, the agriculture sector has been paying a variety of indirect taxes, explicit as well as implicit taxes (indirect costs that result from government policies. For instance, last year, the government announced the procurement price of the wheat crop at Rs2,200 per 40-kilogram, which was less than the average international price, which hovered around Rs2,750. This price difference alone resulted in a Rs200bn transfer from rural to urban areas.

Many studies point out that such implicit taxation on the agriculture sector has led to large inter-sectoral resource transfers to the tune of $1-2bn per year during the previous decades. Unfortunately, this transfer stands greater than all the subsidies provided to the agriculture sector.

Such huge resource transfers have adversely affected the farmers’ income and, in turn, farm investments, which are deemed crucial for the agricultural development of a country.

Second, a good tax policy always aims at the effective administration of taxes, ensuring minimum tax evasion and rent-seeking, along with an inexpensive tax collection system.

Unfortunately, the current hybrid AIT system, based on land-based tax and income-based tax, empowers tax collectors to direct even a small farmer to file an AIT return if the collector presumes (without having details of personal revenue/expense/investment) that a farmer’s income exceeds the maximum limit of AIT exemption, which is Rs400,000 in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Rs1.2 million in Sindh. Such income-based AIT collection has opened a new floodgate to corruption for farmers, especially who own 12-50 acres of land.

Third, agriculture is an inherently risky business, given its high dependency on weather conditions and volatile prices of crops. On top of all these uncontrolled factors, climate change is a new menace that is further escalating this production risk, leading to variation in production from year to year.

In addition, there are great dissimilarities in the agricultural income generated from the same size of land depending upon crops, soil type, availability of agricultural inputs, farming practices, crop sowing time, cropping intensity, and weather conditions.

Our tax authorities are usually not accustomed to such wide variations in yields, cost of production, commodity prices, and in turn, net agricultural incomes and tax assessment thereof.

Fourth, income-based tax collection is, in many ways, out of sync with the current social readiness level of rural areas, farm management practices, and the educational and social profile of farmers (with the exception of large farmers).

Four options for agricultural tax are prevalent in different countries. These are based on the land area, rental value of land, actual income from land, and presumptive income from land using some proxies.

Land area-based taxation has been by far the most common practice in developing countries. Farm sizes in Pakistan are shrinking due to rapid population growth and land division among family members over successive generations.

Since farms less than 12 acres (irrigated) in Punjab and four acres (irrigated) in Sindh are exempt from agricultural tax, land-based tax collection is doomed to decline in the future unless the tax rate (per acre) is increased, which is possible only up to a certain level.

Furthermore, in Pakistan, there are only two categories of land used for tax purposes: irrigated and non-irrigated. Therefore, under the prevailing criterion, the least productive land has the highest tax burden as a percentage of land value.

The rental value of land is changing rapidly in rural areas. Imposing a tax based on it may require undertaking a full-fledged village survey at regular intervals. Because several other factors influence rent, the rental value of land does not always reflect the true productive capacity of agricultural land.

As already discussed, in practice, there are several challenges in assessing actual farm income. This is because land productivity varies from area to area, year to year, and even from farmer to farmer.

Moreover, an income-based AIT assessment of 0.86m farmers, who own 12 or more acres of land and cumulatively 52pc of Pakistan’s total farm area (Agricultural Census 2010), seems beyond the human and institutional capacity of provincial revenue departments and would also be too expensive a task.

It is pertinent to mention that the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) manages 3.5m active taxpayers (including salaried persons) with a huge institutional setup and budget. Therefore, income-based AIT may have to wait for some time.

Hence, the most viable option is to tax this sector based on presumed income (presumptive taxation), using a predetermined proxy — Produce Index Unit (PIU) of land, which measures the productive capacity of agricultural land considering soil type, mode of irrigation, and agro-climatic zone.

PIU was used for the land revenue (tax) system in the 1970s and 1990s. Banks also used PIU to advance loans to farmers. This option has an inbuilt mechanism to take into account land productivity and the tax-paying ability of each farmer.

Such presumptive tax should be progressive — whereby large farmers are required to pay higher rates. Moreover, the exemption for farmers up to 12 acres is too generous, considering current cropping intensity, crop yields, and crop prices.

This direct tax can be collected in a very cost-effective manner, like the e-Abiana (irrigation tax) system, prevalent in Punjab, with a mechanism in place for sharing information about PIUs and paid taxes with FBR to plug tax evasion and tax sheltering.

However, to implement PIU-based AIT, a revision of the outdated number of PIUs (per acre) is required in line with the current productive capacity of land. For such revision, already necessary resources and information are within the capacity of the Land Revenue Departments and Agriculture Departments.
 
.,.,

Hybrid wheat cooperation to enhance risk resistance in agri sector​

By Wu Siya | China Economic Net
Apr 18, 2023

LAHORE, Apr. 18 (China Economic Net)- “Dreadful. I’ve never seen such violent hailstones in my life,” Majid Rafiq, a wheat farmer from the Mandi Bahauddin district in Punjab province, sighing sadly as he gazed at the lodged wheat ears in his field. “Whole harvest has been destroyed.

The wheat was supposed to be harvested in less than a month, but now the hail has broken stalks, then the broken places will rot downward rapidly. So sad to say, it's worth nothing.”

Hybrid wheat cooperation to enhance risk resistance in agri sector


A Pakistani wheat farmer checking disaster situation in his field [Photo provided to CEN]

Pakistan is embracing wheat harvest season. However, in some areas, unexpected climate disasters wiped out farmers’ toil for a whole year. Not all of Pakistan’s wheat industry has been hit, but for farmers in the affected areas, “the rotting straw can’t even be used as silage.

I have no idea how many other farmers are like me because there is no accurate assessment report yet. But to my knowledge, the southern part of Punjab, Layyah, Kot Addu and other areas have been hit sorely by hailstones. Relevant departments must do something to solve the food shortage. We are in desperate need of help,” Nasar Gondal, District President of local agriculture enterprise Kissan Ittehad, spoke bluntly in an interview with China Economic Net.

Wheat industry in critical juncture

Official projections showed that wheat production in Punjab, main producing area that produces 77 percent of wheat, is set to witness a major blow during the current FY 2022-23, amid negative impacts of climate change as well as crop substitution, sowing other crops than wheat for profitability.

Hybrid wheat cooperation to enhance risk resistance in agri sector


Distribution of wheat producing areas in Pakistan [Source: PBS]

Crop substitution was towards maize and oilseeds mainly due to better prices, Secretary Ministry of National Food Security & Research Zafar Hassan stated. Because of the lack of good varieties and low yields, it is hard for farmers to sell their wheat at a good price.

The wheat production is likely to remain around 26.7 million tonnes as against the envisaged wheat production target of 28.4 million tonnes. According to statistic from PBS, Pakistan’s wheat suffers from chronic low yields. At 3.5 tons per hectare, world average yield is 20 percent higher than Pakistan’s-2.9 tons per hectare.

Worse still, there is a looming shortage of wheat in the next fiscal year as well. The government will have to count on the import of wheat in order to meet the domestic requirements of staple food. “We have no other option but to import 3-3.5 million tonnes of wheat for the next fiscal year, which is more than the import target of 2.6 million tonnes of wheat for the current fiscal year,” emphasized a top official.

Hybrid wheat cooperation to enhance risk resistance in agri sector

Pakistan wheat yields [Source: PBS]

Moreover, another extreme weather, heatwave, is likely to hit Pakistan in the next two months, which had negatively impacted wheat production by at least 10 to 12 percent in the last financial year.

Cooperation as a cure: hybrid varieties

“It is learned that so far, the Chinese team’s hybrid wheat demonstration fields in Pakistan have been maintained at about 3,000-5,000 hectares, extending from Peshawar and Islamabad in the north, Lahore in the center to Karachi in the south,” Prof Zhao Changping, Chief Scientist of Hybrid Wheat Research Institute, Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences (BAAFS) told the reporter, “it is true that we have only taken first step for a country’s wheat industry, but ensuring Pakistan’s food security through variety improvement is our long-term strategic task.”

“Although hailstone is an occasional extreme weather that cannot be effectively resisted from the perspective of breeding, it can at least minimize the impact of disasters by promoting production and increasing yield,” added Prof Zhang Shengquan, Deputy Director of the Hybrid Wheat Research Institute of BAAFS.

“As for our selected hybrid wheat combinations, such as new variety BH1683 (Pakistani name: JM1683), have increased by more than 20 percent in Pakistan for three consecutive years. Even if the sowing amount was reduced by 80-90 percent, it still has the potential to increase yield by 20 percent.”

Hybrid wheat cooperation to enhance risk resistance in agri sector


The hybrid wheat variety JM1683 in the field of Pakistan [Photo provided by Abdul Rasheed]

Declaration of Chinese team has echoed by Pakistani partner. “The single Chinese wheat varieties were not suitable for our hot weather and were also prone to diseases. Nevertheless, using the Pakistani wheat varieties as distant parent to cross with Chinese wheat, the varieties produced are more dominant and we got heterosis of more than 20 percent,” stated Dr. Abdul Rasheed, Chief Research and Development at Guard Agricultural Research and Services Pvt. Ltd., an agricultural enterprise that has established a cooperative relationship with BAAFS since 2013.

When talking about the breeding program, it is learned that four promising hybrids have been selected, out of which two hybrids are being tested in KPK Provincial yield trials, as well as for disease screening at Crop Disease Research Institute (CDRI), Islamabad.

“JM1683 is being grown in all over Punjab and some places of KPK for commercial trials, with an increase in production by more than 20 percent compared with the average yield of common Pakistani wheat, to be precise, is around 2940 kg per hectare,” Dr. Rasheed mentioned, full of hope.

Pakistan, among the “Ten Most Vulnerable Countries” bears the brunt of climate change, except for high seed and fertilizer prices, natural disasters such as floods, high temperatures and hailstones also make its “wheat revolution” more and more imminent.

“So far, we have established test stations in Peshawar, Lahore, and Yuanmou in Yunnan Province, which is very similar to Pakistan’s local climate. In recent years, we have had nearly 50 personnel exchanges with Pakistan, including professors, entrepreneurs and researchers from both sides,” Prof Zhao introduced, “Progress on hybrid wheat is of vital importance to ensure the food security of Pakistan, South Asia, and even the whole world.”
 
,.,..

Seed giant: Pak-China hybrid rice collaboration to safeguard food security​

By Wu Siya | China Economic Net
Apr 19, 2023

HEFEI,- “Up to now, our stable annual supply of fine varieties has exceeded 4,000 tons in Pakistan, accounting for more than 40 percent of local hybrid rice seed market,” Chu Linfeng, Deputy General Manager of the Anhui Winall Hi-Tech Seed Co., Ltd., told China Economic Net in an exclusive interview, burst with pride. The annual early-maturing rice planting season is just a month away in the South Asian country.

Seed giant: Pak-China hybrid rice collaboration to safeguard food security

Hybrid rice breeding and promotion evaluation meeting [Photo/Winall]

Lately, the latest batch of 200 tons of hybrid rice seeds was on its way to Pakistan. Since entering the Pakistani hybrid rice seed market in 2007, the company in Anhui Province has always put high-yielding, high-temperature-resistant and stress-resistant hybrid rice varieties as the top priority for promotion,

Chu told the reporter. “Besides high temperatures, drought, salinity, pests and diseases, none of these obstacles can prevent hybrid rice from thriving here. In general, we always arrange the shipment of seeds in advance. From November last year to April this year, our seeds have been dispatched in time as planned.”

In order to adapt to the local climate as well as keep the yield stable, China and Pakistan practitioners have carried out in-depth cooperation, so as to overcome breeding challenge. “Rainfall in Pakistan is concentrated in July-September, and the country has a very large area receives an annual rainfall of less than 150 mm. Thus, the local demands for high temperature and drought tolerance of rice varieties are urgent.

As the impact of global climate change becomes increasingly severe, pests and diseases caused by unstable climate also pose great challenges to agriculture. We have carried out long-term testing and screening of improved varieties, and provided supporting technology training for partners, causing satisfactory results,” Chu added.

Abdul Rasheed, the Chief Research and Development Officer in Guard Agriculture Research and Services, indicated that rice generally matures between 30 to 40 degree Celsius, but with the hybrid technology it could even bear 40 to 50 degree Celsius. It consumes less water that reduces the overall cost making it cost effective as well.

Moreover, it matures in 95 to 100 days while the ordinary rice takes around 120 days and due to shorter maturity period hybrid rice crop “consumes less irrigation as compared to traditional rice varieties,” Rasheed added.

Seed giant: Pak-China hybrid rice collaboration to safeguard food security

Pakistani hybrid rice farmers in the field [Photo/Winall]

It is learned that the main cultivation area of Winall hybrid rice is located in Sindh province, as well as a small amount in Punjab province. What is nice is the yield per mu is generally 650 to 800 kg (9750 to 12000 kg per hectare). “In 2021, we exported more than 4,500 tons of hybrid rice seeds to Pakistan, and the highest-yielding variety increase the yield by about 30 percent compared with local varieties,” emphasized Jiang Sanqiao, Vice GM of Winall Group.

Teaching one to fish is better than giving him fish. Since 2019, Winall and Huazhong Agricultural University of China have jointly established the International Cooperation Class, training agricultural talents in Pakistan and other countries for three consecutive years, and expanding the blueprint for agricultural cooperation under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative. “In addition, through the collection, identification and application of overseas germplasm resources, we are committed to developing more high-yielding varieties, which means that there is great potential for agricultural cooperation along the BRI.”

Hybrid rice, which has helped Pakistan improve food security, get rid of poverty and even earn foreign exchange, won wide acclaim. According to the Pakistan’s Ministry of Commerce, rice is the largest agro export commodity in the export basket of the country with a total export of over USD 2 bln annually.

“Next, we will carry out more in-depth agricultural cooperation in all aspects. Last August, Anhui Province and Pakistan have jointly established the Agricultural International Cooperation Alliance to promote agricultural enterprises in various fields in Anhui Province to conduct business in Pakistan,” noted Chu.
 
Back
Top Bottom