SINDH’S farm productivity has been on the rise after the devolution of agriculture as a full provincial subject from the beginning of fiscal year 2010-11. But the pace of growth is slower than one could have expected owing to many reasons, particularly the absence of a comprehensive agriculture policy.

Provincial officials, however, say they have at last finalised an agriculture policy and it will come out soon.

In addition to cotton, Sindh also produces a significant amount of three key food crops, ie wheat, rice and sugar cane. Farmers also grow maize in limited quantity in some parts of the province.

Government officials attribute higher productivity of the crop sector to several factors, including the devolution of agriculture to provinces

The province also contributes to the national output of vegetables and some minor crops like gram, barley, soya bean, Brassica plants, linseed, safflower and sunflower.

Since the devolution of agriculture, Sindh has seen a rising trend in the output of most major and minor crops. Per-hectare yields have also gone up in some cases.

Increased production of high-yield non-basmati rice and sugar cane varieties rich in sucrose content has lent additional strength to rice and sugar milling sectors. Similarly, higher output of wheat has minimised the province’s net buying of wheat from Punjab besides limiting imports, officials of the Sindh agriculture department say.

Incremental output of cotton has emboldened rural entrepreneurs to set up new ginning mills on their own and also in collaboration with urban investors.

A rising trend in outputs of minor crops has enhanced the role their growers play in supply-chain of food industries in the province and elsewhere in Pakistan.

“Sindh’s share in the national food exports has also increased on the back of higher agricultural output, but we can’t easily quantify it in the absence of a provincial breakdown of exports data,” says a senior provincial official.

When it comes to making foreign sales, all export houses including those belonging to Sindh make purchases from across Pakistan. And supply-chain dynamics are such that in most cases, exporters rely on multiple interprovincial sources for supplies. “So, it’s really difficult to quantify the impact of better agriculture output of any province on our national exports,” the official said.

Sindh government officials attribute higher productivity of the crop sector to several factors: the devolution of agriculture that gave the province freedom to do things on its own with nominal or no intervention from the federation; increased research on crops both within the province and at federal institutions; continual increase in annual agricultural budget; and some volumetric rise in agricultural credit disbursement to crop growers in the province.

They, however, lament that Sindh gets a smaller share in total farm credit distribution than its contribution. Many believe that crops can do even better in Sindh if farm lending rises.

In the 2016-17 fiscal year, the province got a 10.1pc share in banks’ farm credit. But its share is expected to increase to 13pc to 15pc as banks are offering larger farm loans to smaller provinces.

Sindh’s annual agricultural budget, which was below Rs5bn in 2009-10, crossed Rs14bn this fiscal year, and that too despite deficiencies in effective disbursement. This has helped improve not only in crops production but other areas of agriculture as well.

Some features of the first-ever agriculture policy in Sindh aim at ensuring sustainable growth of all major and minor crops. That should ideally consolidate the gains already made in this area, officials say.

“The policy will incentivise growers by offering them larger and timely loans and subsidised inputs in such a way that they keep glued to crops of their choice,” says an official of the agriculture department. “That will help in checking imprudent and often abrupt crop switching that makes growth pattern of crops erratic.”

The finalised agriculture policy, yet to be announced, also envisages developing new rural enterprises and setting up grain storage and trading centres across Sindh. This will lead to immediate selling of crops at better rates, emboldening farmers to grow more.

Under this policy, the provincial government also intends to remove price caps and support prices, promote competition, enhance transparency and facilitate electronic trading of crops and direct sales to private markets. Besides, some features of the policy will improve legislation, regulation, labelling and quality oversight in markets for seeds, fertilisers, pesticides, animal feed and medicines.

A senior provincial government official says that on recommendations of Sindh Abadgar Board, policymakers have also added new features in the agriculture policy to make it more comprehensive. These features deal with devising a price control mechanism for various crops, rationalising use of irrigation water and addressing the issue of wetlands.

The recently granted extension in the completion period of World Bank-sponsored Sindh Agriculture Growth Project should also help the province revamp its agriculture sector, including crops’ segment. The deadline for the $88.7m project has been extended by 18 months to December 2020.

The project, approved by the World Bank in July 2014, has already helped the crops sector in Sindh via research and training programmes for growers and investment in value-chains of crop-based industries like rice milling and red-chilli processing, officials say.

Under the current phase of this project, authorities are focusing on further improving working capacity of rice and dates growers by providing them grants and encouraging them to establish links with processing industries, they add.

Published in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, March 5th, 2018