| 05 January 2004 | Monday | 12 Ziqa'ad 1424 |
Living with stress
Judging from recent reports coming in from across the country, it appears that the farming sector may be having more than its due share of problems. We fell short of the targeted wheat production of 20 million tons and are in the process of importing around three-quarters of a million tons of the grain.
Sugarcane growers have been protesting against an abnormal delay in the start of the crushing season, and the European Union has reportedly imposed restrictions on our super basmati rice exports. As if this were not enough, we are now certain to fall short of the estimated cotton target by an even bigger margin.
Though official estimates were of the order of 10.55 million bales of cotton, the managers of the country's most vital cash crop were boasting of about 11.50 million bales till mid-August on the basis of the crop's robust health and a 14 per cent increase in the area under cultivation. However, September rains and pest attacks changed the picture altogether. Now the most optimistic official figures do not go beyond 9.5 million bales.
Farmers, nevertheless, put the yield at 8.5 million bales and maintain that the loss of three million bales will cost the national economy a staggering Rs50 billion. There is a consensus among officials and farmers that the pest attack reduced the crop size beyond redemption this year. It should stir the entire official machinery into policy revision about pest management.
For the last few years, the government has erred into withdrawing from pesticide inventory management without creating credible alternatives. At present, the inventory is independently managed by a profit-driven private sector that can manoeuvre it to maximize its earnings. When the rains came in August and September, the required pesticides were either not available or were found to be spurious.
The government itself conceded the problem and tried last-minute damage control but could not succeed as all pesticides had to be imported after a time- and money-consuming process. It should try to evolve a system of in-time updating inventories and storage of the active ingredient of the pesticides, which has a shelf life of 12 years against two years of prepared pesticides.
Secondly, it should evolve a pro-active approach to pest control throughout the year rather than concentrate efforts during a few weeks of active pest attacks. Once cotton is picked and the temperatures drop, all the worms - Heliothis, Army Worm and Pink Bollworm, which took a heavy toll of the crop this year - take refuge underground during December and January. Ploughing up of fields during these months could force them into suicidal emergence; once exposed to low temperatures and birds, they would be eliminated before the next crop.
This integrated pest management plan could control pest population and reduce the chances and severity of their next attack. But for that to happen, officials will have to shed the habit of getting wise after the event.
Experts also agree that most of the sectoral problems stem from the poor managerial skills of our farmers. The government, in partnership with the private sector, can launch national programmes to educate farmers in managing different crops, specially those vulnerable to pests. Fortunately, our farming problems are predictable, and, thus, should not be beyond a solution given good and timely planning.
Living with stress
A study conducted by three Lahore-based researchers has found that 40 per cent of the population in Pakistan suffers from general environmental stress. The two key stress-causing factors they have identified are demographic growth and the lack of appropriate housing and sanitary facilities. It is not clear why this study picks on only housing and family size as the key determinants of the quality of life and as such the cause of stress.
There is no denying that uncomfortable living conditions and the economic repercussions of a high population growth rate affect the quality of life of the people and can cause much stress. But there are many other factors which affect the environment in which people live and that have an equally deleterious impact on their lives. Thus the inadequacy of basic civic amenities such as transport, health care, recreation facilities, employment and pollution (industrial as well as noise) can create conditions which can cause extreme stress and affect the health and productivity of the people.
The fact is that no single factor can be identified as being the main cause of general environmental stress. A number of factors combine to create conditions that have a devastating impact on the people. Hence what is needed is a holistic approach to the issue and a multi-pronged strategy to tackle the many causes which interact with one another and compound the problem. It is indeed unfortunate that the main factors that directly affect the quality of a person's life also happen to be the most neglected areas of national life in Pakistan.
They have been relegated to the backburner in the present scheme of government planning. Since they fall in the purview of the social sector, issues such as housing, health, sanitation, transport, education, etc., are no longer treated as the government's responsibility in the modern-day economics of the marketplace. If the authorities in Pakistan decide in principle to work for an improvement in the quality of life of the people - the key determinant of the level of environmental stress - they must in principle be prepared to subsidize the social sector.
It is generally recognized that poverty is an important factor which has led to poor housing conditions, insanitation and pollution. The study hits the nail on the head when it identifies literacy as the single factor that has significant correlation with other social and demographic parameters. It is true that education can help a person alleviate to a great extent the negative impact of environmental stress. But again education and literacy are areas the government has been gradually disengaging itself from.
It is no coincidence that as the number of illiterates in Pakistan has been increasing, environmental stress has also been growing. What we have in effect is a vicious cycle - poor living conditions, insanitation, pollution, illiteracy, ill-health and poverty feeding into each other and increasing the stress level. This cycle has to be somehow broken and for that the government's intervention is absolutely essential. Once an improvement is effected in some of these areas, the people will be motivated to uplift themselves.
Meanwhile, the government should also seriously work to implement the various laws it has drawn up from time to time pertaining to environmental control, sanitation and public health. Regrettably, these are areas where the law of the jungle has been allowed to operate and this state of affairs needs to be changed.