Judging from announced policies, the government is all out to give productivity of the agricultural sector a big boost. This is what the country needs.
But facts on ground provide scant evidence of intentions turning into facilities and resources vital for the sector's growth, let alone for its routine progress.
One of the most vital inputs for crops is seed, a starting point along with land and water. Farmers and private sector experts are aware of the relationship between the quality of seed and quantity of produce; the importance of seed for enhancing yields is not an unknown factor for government officials either. They certainly emphasize this aspect of agriculture in every season.
According to the report of the sub- working group on crop production targets and inputs for the Tenth Five- Year Plan covering the period 2005-10, use of quality seed increases yield 'from 20 to 40 per cent' over the traditional seed cultivated by farmers. The report proposed the strengthening of 'seed production, multiplication and distribution systems' to achieve the targets.
Doing that is a Herculean task because the gap between availability of quality seed and requirements of the sector is huge and measures for narrowing it in quick time are nowhere in sight.
Growth rate in the seed sector is almost negligible while the cost of quality seed often makes it uneconomical for small farmers who rely on seed from their last crop or obtain it from fellow farmers on exchange basis because it is cheaper.
The situation for cotton and rice-most certainly not ideal, is nevertheless a relief in comparison with most other crops and immensely more satisfying than wheat, maize and potato, to name a few crops. But it does not mean that availability of quality seed for cotton or paddy can be described as providing impetus and germination for higher produce from the fields.
Cotton has attracted the attention of both public sector-Punjab Seed Corporation (PSC) is the only government organization in providing treated quality seed, and private seed companies.
Despite that, only 20 percent of the seed used by growers is certified seed while the rest depend on traditional resources of exchange and last crop, mostly the later. The gap is wider for paddy.
The requirement of quality seed was worked at 981,960 million tons for the year 2003-04 but availability stood at a meagre 143,977, leaving a gap of about 837,983 million tons.
The resources of present seed companies in both public and private sectors do not offer any hope for a significant reduction, let alone elimination of this wide distance.
Prospects for wheat are not promising in this respect because, firstly, it is not being treated as an issue of great importance. It is apparently not an area for high profit for seed producers, for obvious reasons, financially much less rewarding than cotton as majority of wheat growers are farmers of limited means-euphemism for extreme paucity of resources.
Under the circumstances, the governmental campaigns for boosting yield from the crop can only be called misdirected for they do not take one of the basic requirements of the crop into account.
One does not find a reportable reference to graded and certified seed for wheat even in official sermons although there is never any dearth of lip service. Perhaps the very idea is regarded as irrelevant.
Quality seed used by some farmers for some crops, obviously big and resourceful landowners, includes imported seed too. One can understand their interest and initiative.
There, however, is a catch in that arrangement. It has not been ascertained as to precisely what triggered Cotton Leaf Curl Virus visit to Pakistan's fields but sector experts do not rule out the possibility that the disease was caused by privately brought seed that initially raised yield but devastated the fields after a while.
Which means that care must be exercised in encouraging the planting of imported seed both by the government and individual farmers. They would do well to get the potential of imported seed verified besides securing guarantees from exporters on their quality, disease free condition, productivity and other essential requirements.
While seed from countries producing high yield crops can help boost produce in Pakistan, the path should be treaded cautiously. As for the government's support for production of quality seed, the less said about it the better.
Initially, two government companies undertook seed's supply in Sindh and Punjab provinces but the one in Sindh soon ceased functioning. For the record, Sindh has a seed cell but what it contributes other than providing jobs to a few individuals is anybody's guess.
The task of production and distribution of seed lies with the departments of agriculture in NWFP and Balochistan. That, in effect, adds up to leaving farmers of these provinces on their own with regard to quality certified seed.
That is the sum total of how the governments that have the responsibility of guiding, supporting and providing facilities to the agriculture sector, address the issue of quality seed.
PSC remains in business but its contribution is small and it is concentrating on major crops that already have the attention of seed companies instead of trying to develop neglected and small crops. It tries to run itself on commercial lines and lives on government's subsidy.
Furthermore, its experimental fields may not be safe from powerful land grabbers. They were under pressure about two years back but it seems that ugly developments in Okara became instrumental in restraining grabbers from taking over the corporation's property.
One hopes the threat is over, not merely postponed. Fingers should still be kept in a crossed position on this count. So far, there is little evidence of PSC going out of the way to promote smaller crops and vegetables.
The contribution of quality control system envisaged under the Seed Act, 1976 has been negligible and if the Federal Seed Certification and Registration Department had gone about the job of promotion of quality seed in earnest, the quality seed's availability would not have been as limited as it currently is.
The only area in which the department has shown interest is registration of crop varieties, often questionable testing of seed lots and registering seed companies. Its act could do with improvements, indeed with major overhauling. Its role calls for revision.
The growth of seed companies is slow and in any case, they prefer to work in financially lucrative areas, the main cash crops. Their research wings, if any, are wanting in top grade expertise. Public sector research organizations haven't produced varieties that could boost crops.
Most of them just go through the motions of research but their work is yet to reach the fields in a productive manner though it must be admitted that the government has been miserly in funding research work, often limiting its support merely to payment of staff salaries.
The only organization that comes to mind for delivering is the Multan Cotton Research Institute but one federal minister played havoc with it and even withdrew financial allocation for research on BT seed. Cotton actually survived CLCV and is now prospering mainly because of resistant and high yield varieties produced by the Institute.
Most regrettably, an eminent scientist who was given the status of scientist emeritus for remarkable research in cotton and potato has been deprived of the honour by the government and his experience and expertise are not being utilized.
Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission is doing excellent work but it needs to strengthen its links with the farmers and also with provincial departments of agriculture that oversee developments in the sector. But there is a problem: experts of these department resent 'meddling' by outside agencies. They also successfully protect their fiefdoms from accountability
The industrial sector that uses raw materials from fields like textile and sugar mills, rice husking units and other such industries simply refuse to invest in research on seeds for crops they use. There is just one sugar mill in the country that has a research wing.
All that one comes across are ambitious plans and rhetoric from the public sector and fleecing from the private sector. With hounding by parasites and exploitation rampant, no wonder that the agriculture sector presents a picture of stagnation.
