The federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock (MINFAL) has been mentioned in dispatches that are amusing to pathetic: more than half a century after the creation of Pakistan, it has identified some areas for investment in the farm sector.

This singular piece of inspiration is contained in a news item from the official news agency, APP that has quoted the ministry's sources for information in the report, leaving no doubt that its work was a command performance.

The ministry apparently wishes to publicize itself as an organization on the move, one that is aware of the needs of the country, that it is concerned about them and is endeavouring to improve the farming sector's output.

The simultaneously amusing and pathetic aspects of MINFAL's concerns are areas identified for investment. What does that imply-that they have been neglected in the past and that the ministry is now waking up to what, in some cases, are basic needs of the sector.

The areas belatedly catching the attention of the ministry, or found to merit enhanced focus for investment include, among others, improved research, enhanced storage facilities, quality control laboratories, marketing, integrated pest management and seed, water and livestock sectors.

This is a generalized list that could with specific elaboration but that is a bridge at present too far. The question right now is why has MINFAL been unable to develop them all these years to effectively enhance the performance of Pakistan's agriculture.

The past may be another country but the last four years are not too distant from today. Whatever the view one holds of the elected set up, the present government is a continuation of the authority that took over in October 1999. Four years is a long enough period to determine and pursue directions. Considering MINFAL's recently declared priorities, it becomes clear that the job has not been attempted.

Not just that. No effort has been made to support and sustain existing facilities. Inherited assets have in fact been dissipated if not subjected to downright squandering. Research was not a weak area for agriculture in Pakistan. Notable, indeed brilliant irrefutable evidence is available in some fields. Cotton is a case of pride in point.

Cotton Leaf Curl Virus (CLCV) hit the fields in the wake of Pakistan's best ever crop in 92-93 and it was feared that the country's cotton, a major contributor to the national economy, source of sustenance to the textile sector and the most important shareholder in exports, would be ruined just as had happened in other cotton growing countries visited by this devastating disease.

Sudan, for instance, was forced to abandon cotton for a period of five years after it was struck by CLCV. That country's economy was hit where it hurt and its cotton crop is yet to regain previous vitality. CLCV was a serious blow for Sudan as also for some other countries that had the misfortune to suffer the disease.

In Pakistan also, this cotton devouring disease left its marks on future crops but it was not only not permitted to destroy cotton but it the crop succeeded in winning back its place of prominence in the economic scheme of things after a two year short fall. National scientists carried out remarkable research to produce virus resistant varieties that enhanced yields as well. But cotton research is again in disarray.

What the government hopes to gain from the financial help, in terms of investment and cooperation and support from developed countries, is anybody's guess. We were in a position to export expertise till recently and one believes that expertise is still available. Now we are looking towards developed countries that have admired the work of Pakistan's scientists.

In the last few years, funds for research have been scuttled to the extent that some organizations have been left with resources sufficient only for meeting salaries and other administrative expenditure.

Some research programmes have in fact been scrapped though that is not entirely the result of lack of funds; quality of leadership imposed by MINFAL on these organizations and the managers inability to determine priorities have been instrumental in arresting the growth of research.

Adequate funds are a prerequisite for research; encouragement and rewards for scientists are essential incentives for attaining greater excellence. More importantly, their findings must be taken to the fields for the farmers to benefit from the result of research.

This is not being done at present, certainly not in a positive and planned manner. These ends can be productively tied without private sector investment though private sector should also be persuaded to invest in research in its own interest if not for generally boosting the farming community's output for specific crops.

On going research has not been harnessed for augmenting agriculture and producing more to cut down heavy import bills in some cases. Edible oil crops and tea are examples. The Tea Research Station near Abbotabad was poised for expansion and promoting tea cultivation in the country.

Scientists conducting research and the state of the Research Station made one feel that claims and expectations for reducing the bill for import of tea were not misplaced.

About three year back the then federal Minister for Agriculture had told me that the tea station should lead to Pakistan producing a substantial percentage of its requirements. Such a development is nowhere on the horizon.

The import bill for edible oils keeps rising. In both areas, either the government has surrendered to vested interest elements or MINFAL has failed to exploit research and extend it to the fields.

These are tasks to be pursued and completed in routine, without media fanfare, without specially circulated news reports and without seeking foreign investments.

Minfal has also referred to the seed sector. That is a vital area, its importance not to be over emphasized. The sector has grown considerably over the past few years as farmers have realized that use of quality seed is synonymous with higher produce.

A number of seed companies are active, particularly in cotton, not that other crops have been ignored. But their output is not enough to meet the demands of farmers across the country.

What the ministry should do is offer them incentives to expand their activities and ensure that they cover all major and minor crops and guarantee quality. Government organizations are also present in this business but their role is one of serving well-connected members of the farming community and providing state owned facilities to resourceful feudal elements who have gained further clout in the present quasi democratic dispensation, not that they are shorn of privileges under different political and administrative dispensations.

Official seed agencies should be geared for addressing small farmers. This is easier suggested than accomplished but unless government owned agencies follow a just and fair line, Pakistan's agriculture would remain sluggish and would not produce its potential.

Indeed MINFAL should search its soul and ask itself the question if it is catering mainly for feudal elite or the average farmer is also its client. Ground conditions inform that many of the ministry's resources are at the disposal of rich farmers who have access to high places.

Some of the areas identified by MINFAL, such as fruit and vegetables, water, livestock and integrated pest management merit specific independent discussion and one hopes to take them up in time.

But it should attend to marketing on a priority basis because many of the agriculture sector ills are wages of inefficient, inequitable and exploitative marketing practices. The farmer is deprived of his due share and his motivation to work harder and produce more is undermined because he is the loser and knows that from the start.

Corporate farming is the only new area MINFAL has identified. That is a dangerous track. Trekking it would only strengthen negative forces in the sector by further depriving and repressing farmers, turning them in to slave labour and adding a present day dimension to feudalism, the perennial scourge of Pakistan's society.

It would in fact amount to the privatization of Pakistan's agri-based economy and placing its control in to fewer hands, some of them foreign and as such, interested only in how best they can skin Pakistan and its people, like the IPP's in the energy sector. The policy for corporate farming should be abandoned forthwith in the interest of the nation. Promoting it is akin to selling the future of the Pakistani people.