Bank said decline in yield of all major crops (except cotton) during fiscal year 15 was a key concern in the agriculture sector. “This is disappointing given that the yields are already low in Pakistan."
There is a need to make farmers aware of the best agriculture practices in the area of land preparation, sowing, water application, use of fertilisers, plant protection, harvesting and post harvesting to fetch higher yield, it said.
A better performance by the livestock subsector during the year, however, helped the entire agriculture sector to have surpassed the previous year's growth level. "...the overall growth in agriculture fell short of the target for the third consecutive year."
Moreover, minor crops posted a modest growth of 1.1 percent against the expectation of a strong recovery from significant losses last year. "This poor performance of the crop sector was mainly due to low prices received by growers in the last season and adverse weather," the bank said.
Stagnant sugarcane prices in 2013-14 amid rising input costs, discouraged farmers from growing sugarcane during 2015. Similarly, in the case of cotton, growers did not wait for third or fourth picking due to unattractive market prices. As for wheat, the prolonged low temperatures and hailstorm at the time of harvest partly damaged the crop, the SBP report said.
Within minor crops, pulses (gram, mash and moong), vegetables (especially potatoes and onion), and fruits performed better, whereas oilseeds (rapeseed, mustard, sunflower, and canola) recorded a decline as falling international prices translated into lower domestic prices of oilseed crops.
Despite this weak performance from the crop sector, agriculture still managed to outgrow last year’s level, largely due to some recovery in livestock.
The value addition in livestock includes headcount of animals and their products (milk, meat, wool, etc.); poultry and its products (meat and eggs); and animal husbandry practices.