Side-effect

Acute food shortages and price hike in the country somehow makes me remember Comrade Haider Bakhsh Jatoi and Shaheed Mai Bakhtawar who dedicated their lives for the rights and prosperity of landless and small farmers. Whether it be the land tenancy act or the distribution of produce between the tiller and the landlord, they symbolise struggle for justice and freedom. Keeping international market dimensions apart, what has contributed in worsening the present food crisis is our attitude towards reforming the agriculture sector, the backbone of the country's economy. This includes not taking care of our farmers and not investing time, intellect and resources in modernising agriculture and increasing the produce without causing damage to the land. To benefit both, the real grower and the consumer.

The irrigation network laid out in the British times is a marvel of civil engineering but has caused huge environmental, drainage and soil exhaustion problems. Reasons may be that problems were either not pre-empted or quick, tenable solutions were not offered when problems surfaced. Then the Indus Basin Treaty, brokered by the World Bank between India and Pakistan in 1960, radically changed the economies of Indian Punjab and Rajhastan at the expense of almost total elimination of two huge rivers, the Ravi and the Sutlej from the Pakistani Punjab. The absence of water from these two tributaries not only reduced the downstream flow of the Indus but also had an environmental impact that is not fully understood yet.

Water management issues of harvesting and distribution deserves to be addressed urgently. Needed is a consistent and scientifically thought-out plan for rainwater harvesting and flood management, introduction of distribution mechanisms that ensure a sustained and controlled level of sub-soil water, enough water availability downstream in dry years, and flow of fresh water into the sea through the Indus Delta. No big dams should be built because this is not only a matter of inter-provincial discord but a threat of indeterminately large proportions to the natural environment in the medium to long run. The enormous resources such huge projects consume can be redirected to find innovative solutions that respect our ecology and topography. For instance, the lining of water courses is seen as a good idea but it may not be always since it results in a decrease in the availability of sweet water from nearby wells. The recharging of aquifers maintaining a healthy level of sub-soil water and controlling salinity and water logging also need well thought out, demonstrated and affordable solutions.

The issue is not merely the size of land holding but also how productive that land is, and what value system and economic relations are prevalent for those who live on and till that land. As an economic system, feudalism is inevitably withering away, but it is struggling hard to continue its existence as a political system. There is a need for industrializing agriculture by capitalization of the agricultural economy--converting agricultural land into industrial units, transforming farmers into unionized wage labour, and distributing state-owned land among the landless who commit themselves to a criterion of entrepreneurship and experimentation. This would give farmers and people in allied trades a choice between two decent options. One would be to become a salaried professional farmer whose interests are safeguarded, and the second option would be to be a small entrepreneur who is provided with ample opportunities by the state to prosper and grow by expanding his market. There are huge tracts of culturable wastelands available in this country which can be used for fruit orchards, vegetable farming and other crops if distributed among the landless.

A fair taxation regime to ensure financing for research and facilitating regulation would mean serious attention towards promotion of new indigenously developed seed varieties and fertilizer compositions. Revamp Faisalabad and Tandojam Universities so they take lead in providing the intellectual input. The agro-based industry should be developed more expansively, in case of both dairy and agricultural products, going beyond packaging and pasteurization. Only a pro-people government will do all this. Is someone listening?



The writer is an Islamabad-based poet and rights campaigner. Email: harris@spopk.org