LAHORE: The production of wheat and cotton crops have decreased during the last four years which has exposed the tall claims of the government in its efforts toward agricultural sector, Pakistan Today has learnt.
The PML-N led Federal and Punjab Government which often speaks of providing relief to farmers to increase the production of Pakistan’s important crops has failed to reverse the declining trends in production in the last four years.
According to the details available with Pakistan Today, a decrease of 229, 00 ton was seen in the production of wheat while 2, 098 ton decrease in cotton production in Pakistan.
Besides wheat, during the fiscal year 2016-17, the production of other important edible crops—rice and corn could not show a prominent increase.
Official figures state that the wheat production was recorded to be 25.979 million tons in the year 2013-14 while it was recorded at 25.750 million tons in 2017 showing a huge decrease of 229000 tons. The cotton production was recorded at 12.769 million tons in the year 2013-14 which decreased to 10.671 million tons in the year 2017.
Also, rice production has only just increased 51, 000 tons which was recorded to be 6, 798, 000 tons in the year 2013-14. It has now reached 6, 849, 000 tons.
However, profit crops like sugarcane and corn have observed a significant increase in the same period. The sugarcane crop which was recorded at 67.46 million tons in the year 2013-14 was now at 73.607 million tons this year. The production of corn crop observed an increase of 1.186 million tons as it was 4.944 in the year 2013-14 and at 6.13 million tons in the current fiscal year.
According to experts, the decrease in edible crops can lead Pakistan towards immense challenges. They believe that Pakistani farmers lack facilitation from the government. However, they also admit that climate change is another significant factor in decreased production for which government should take necessary measures to mitigate the challenges.
