March 6, 2004

CULTIVATION is one of the oldest human activities. It started millenniums ago when early farmers began to raise plants for food. It is evolving ever since. The last century saw the introduction of mechanized tools in the farming practices.

Today, modern agriculture has developed into practices of raising monocultures of crops. The internet is about to bring more far-reaching changes to agriculture sector which, in Pakistan, is the backbone of the national economy.

An online overview of agricultural landscape worldwide reveals that progressive growers are using internet for the latest in farming methods, farm management, market information, weather forecasts, information exchange, buying of machinery, seeds, chemicals, and selling grain, livestock and other products; including financial transactions required for online sale and purchase.

In networked countries of the world, agriculturalists collectively are sowing the seeds of information technology (IT) along with more productive and valuable crops.

A large number of online service companies and computer programs to cater to the specific needs of the farmers has already made appearance on the web. As a result, agriculture in those countries is already an e-business and the internet has become just as important for those involved in the industry as the tractors and favourable weather.

In Pakistan, home to the largest irrigation system in the world, cultivation of rich alluvial soil of the Indus River Basin has been the primary economic activity since time immemorial.

According to the census, 67 per cent of population lives in rural areas mostly engaged in agriculture or agro-based industries. Farmers’ population can be divided into two broad categories: those who have large acreage and are educated, progressive, and innovative. They are always looking for information that can give them an advantage and more economic profit. Wherever, electricity and phone has reached, this category is quick in adopting the latest dynamic technologies.

Some of the progressive farmers are already benefiting from computers and internet. Some are using it from their alternate residences in urban centres. And, the usage shows the difference. Then there is an overwhelming majority of those who have small land holdings; the economic situation of this class is not very sound; stagnant.

Cashless barter system of economy is still functioning at some places in rural areas (while we talk of e-commerce). They have the least risk-bearing capacity and are not ready to experiment with any thing other than wheat, rice, sugar cane and cotton or those traditional crops that have been sustaining them over years.

Small farmers with minimum resources cannot afford fluctuation in income that may be due to variety of natural reasons. This is the class that is needs information most to make the difference.

Agricultural techniques are getting scientific every day. Old methods do not work any more. Moreover, they are not only time consuming but less productive as well. Animal-driven ploughs, farm carts, Persian wells or backyard cattle farming are outdated and have been weeded out in the developed world but are in use in rural Pakistan. In majority of cases, farming is still a family business where every one including children and women works for mere living.

Adaptation to new technologies in Pakistan has historically been uneven. Besides prevalent illiteracy, major impediments which slow down the penetration and usage of internet in the rural areas are lack of connectivity to national electric grid and telephone networks, affordability, awareness and operating skills.

Rural-urban migration is the major cause of brain drain that is adversely affecting the primary agricultural sector as well as routine life in the rural areas. Nawab Khan, a retired bureaucrat who now raises ostriches says, “Agriculture loses young people to other industries that are based in the urban areas because of the common perception that agriculture is a low-skilled and low-profit activity. Provision of the internet access to farmers living in the rural areas and putting agro methods and services online will definitely improve economic return and, in turn, help dispel the myth. This will eventually create employment and investment opportunities in agricultural sector.”

What have been the conventional information sources for farmers in rural Pakistan: radio, television and newspapers (sometime days old), where available, and affordable. Field workers from agricultural and supporting departments, official wall-chalking along the farm-to-market country roads and traditional transfer of knowledge from generation to generation are some other ways for the farmers to obtain required information.

Generally, farmers have come to rely upon each other when they have questions to which they are trying to find answers. To dig deeper into an unusual problem, they often find it difficult to search out someone who is an expert, specially in the hinterland where one can still see farmers throw handfuls of dust in the air to see which way the wind is blowing, tilling the land with bullocks or threshing wheat the ancient way.

Thanks to the visible efforts by some public-sector and some non-profit organizations towards bringing internet in the rural areas, that things seem to be moving forward, though at a snail’s pace. Telephone density is gradually improving. There is a plan to open Cyber Community Centres for farmers at tehsil level to acquaint growers with IT.

Already one centre has been established at Gwadar, Balochistan and another at Mithi in Sindh. The first Pakistani portal to help local farmers has been launched. TeIMedPak and Pakistan Development Gateway are some other Web source extending help and guidance to the growers, which provides useful suggestions by agricultural analysts and experts on issues related to cultivation, harvesting, storage, irrigation and more related fields.

The Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC) has its own website and also has introduced CD-ROM technology for dissemination of research information. There is a lot more available on internet that is considered to be a biggest library in the world.

Much more is needed to educate millions of farmers and prepare them to harness the power of information that is coming as a result of research and development in agricultural methods and practices. There ought to be a number of local websites in Urdu and other native languages offering weather forecasts, product news, product availability, on line loan facilities, and discussion forums for rural population which could also enable farmers to network with other farmers, suppliers and consumers, eliminating the middle men.

There are villages which have no electricity facility and connecting them with national electric grid may take more time and cost, hence, the government should invest in alternative sources of energy, such as power generating wind turbines or “solar system as India has done with the cooperation of the United States in a remote rural area north of Hyderabad.” Another inspiring case of electric generation is in Renala Khurd near Okara.

Sir Ganga Ram, an engineer who is more known as a philanthropist, constructed a hydroelectric power station that is still working perfect and is not connected to national electric grid. It provides electricity to a set of tube wells in the area.

Similarly, community electric generating units in northern Pakistan and Chitral district are some other examples for provision of electricity in backwaters.

Simply provision of internet access is not enough. All stakeholders including agricultural research and educational institutions, cattle and dairy, forestry, fisheries, poultry, farm machine and pesticide industries as well as product processing, packaging, transport and storage concerns should work together in close collaboration with each other to increase the awareness in the use of the internet and in enhancing users’ skills. They should make the case to practically show it to farmers and make them believe what can be achieved with the help of quality information and how.

“Only then our farmers can shift from conventional to modern techniques and get ready to compete locally first and then globally,” says Jafar Raza Gardezi, a cotton grower from Multan. This task cannot be left to either private or public sector alone.

Jafar Raza Gardezi is a typical of Internet savvy farmer. He wishes that provision of the Internet access in rural hinterland of the country should be a political priority, “literacy and skills will follow and quality of life there will improve,” he says, “this cannot happen when non agricultural people set the policies for the farmers. In most cases, I do not think the policy makers completely understand what is involved in trying to make an impact in agricultural sector these days. The information will not only improve the agrarian economy but will also change the face of rural Pakistan that at the moment is marred with poverty, much worst that what is generally reported by development agencies.”

Iftikhar Minhas of Tiba Sultanpur is another futuristic farmer. His achievements include artificial insemination of Cholistani cows in collaboration with Australians. He thinks that Pakistan is not a livestock friendly country. “The full potential of agro based economy can only be realised if we build on our sources of natural advantage and deepen the competencies that are associated with them. That means working with local species of animals (like Red-Sindhi cattle, Nili-Ravi buffalo or cows and bulls from Dhan Kahon Valley) and improving the dairy and meat production in the country to e-market directly in Muslim counties and rest of the world,” Iftikhar says.

Pakistan needs to secure exponentially growing food requirements of increasing population. How can this be done? One of the major breaks through in agriculture science has been Genetic Engineering — transfer of genes from one species to another to change the traits of agricultural crops. Fierce ongoing debate about the pros and cons of scientifically modifying what people eat notwithstanding, countries like the United States, Argentina, and China are already leading growers of the biotech crops. India is actively pursuing research in the field.

At present, more than half of China’s cotton is genetically modified. In Pakistan, Institute of Agriculture Biotech and Genetic Resources of the PARC, is working in this field. It is in this and other similar contexts that one draws an inference that local farmers have to have access to information to survive.

Every one, I had the fortune to meet on the eve of the Horse and Cattle Show at Lahore was unanimous in one of the inferences: agricultural sector in Pakistan can have an advantage by using IT. This can be done when rural folks are provided Internet access at their work places — the farms. Only then they can learn better technical expertise, harvesting skills, managerial experiences, marketing, and quality control. Given the scope and the stakes, one can sincerely wish that, one day, internet could be an ubiquitous tool of local farmers.

The writer contributes regularly to Sci-tech World on diversified science and IT subjects