The total cropped area of Pakistan was 11.07 million hectares (mha) at the time of its inception in 1947. It increased to 22.11m ha in 2001-02-almost 100 per cent. Its population also went up from 34.4 million to 144.4 million during this period -an increase of 346 per cent.

This necessitates a review of the current crop production scenario and suggest measures to improve the situation. Table-1 shows the area, production and the yield per hectare of major crops in 1947 and the changes in 2003: Table -1:

With the exception of pulses which showed negative growth trend, all major crops showed considerable increase in the percentage of area, production and yield. Although, the percentage increase in the production of rice (paddy) was highest, its increase in yield was much lower than that of wheat and cotton. The increase in yield of cotton was the highest followed by wheat. Again, sugarcane showed highest increase area-wise but its increase in yield was the lowest of all the crops.

These increases in crop production and yields are attributable to increase in the cropped area, evolution of new high yielding varieties, availability of water, use of fertilizers, pesticides, quality seed and availability of credits and the use of new technology by progressive farmers.

For instance, irrigated area increased from 10.4 million hectares in 1960-61 to 18.04 million hectares in 2002-03. Fertilizer off-take increased from 31000 tons to 320000 tons during this period. Similarly, pesticides consumption increased from 665 metric tons in 1980 to 69897 metric tons in 2002 and agricultural credit increased from Rs128 million in 1971-72 to Rs51348 million in 2001-02.

But in spite of all this, the yields remain far below compared to other countries. For example, although Pakistan is fourth largest country in the world in respect of the area under sugar-cane but its yield is the lowest in the world. Likewise, it is the seventh largest country with area under wheat cultivation but ranks 59th in the world for yield per hectare.

Pakistan is the fourth largest country for area under cotton cultivation but ranks 13th in yield per hectare in the world. In rice (paddy) we are seventh largest but rank ninth as per hectare yield and 14th as per hectare of maize.

Needless to say that in spite of the significant increases in the production and yield of major crops, we have still to import wheat, oilseeds, pulses and sugar for our needs. Due to the stagnation of cotton production, Pakistan has to import cotton for the last couple of years.

We are considering to import 0.5 million ton rice from India on the ground of its re-export as the yield of Irri-6 is declining because of its outdated variety. Nevertheless, the existing increased yields as shown in Table -1 are still below the achievable potential at research farms.

Table-2 clearly reflects the deplorable situation of crop yields which is 56 per cent in case of cotton, and varies between 72-86 per cent in cases of other crops. In order to improve the crop production, some measures are suggested below:

According to the 1990 census, 81 per cent of the total number of farms are below subsistence level and small farms covering nearly 62 per cent of the total cultivated area. High cost of agricultural inputs, their adulteration and their non-availability on time, difficulties in getting credits and inequity of water distribution, especially at the tail ends are some of the major constraints which adversely affect crops, especially of the small farmers.

The situation is further complicated by the continued fragmentation of holdings. The land reforms of 1959, 1972 and 1977 fell far below the national expectations. The new land reform should not allow further fragmentation of 20 acres which must be the lowest limit of a farm for effective crop production, In India, 17 acres is the lowest limit and it has revolutionized their agricultural production and crop yields.

Their crop yields are much higher than ours in spite of their nearly 70 per cent of the total cultivated area being rain-fed as compared to 80 per cent of our cultivated area being irrigated .

It is already an established fact that the use of quality seed increases yield by 20 per cent,the use of balanced fertilizer increases yield by 25-75 per cent depending on the soil and the crop and control of pest and diseases further increases yield by over 20 per cent. Therefore, high production technologies for small and large farms farmers be developed separately.

The small farm technology should be based on community participation and small farmers be trained to implement it. Inputs and credit requirements of farms within five-mile radius be calculated and these be provided on time on subsidized rates or on easy terms, especially to small farmers. Small farmers having below subsistent level (less than 5 hactres) farms be provided with interest-free loans recoverable on easy instalments.

Due to sedimentation of major dams and reservoirs, availability of surface water per unit area is declining thus effecting crop yields. For instance, the over-all water availability at the canal heads was 94.7 maf in 1967-68. It reached a maximum of 109.7 maf in 1991-92 with yearly fluctuations. It started declining and reached 74.6 maf in 2001-02. The policy makers should give top priority for construction of new dams or reservoirs. The poorly maintained 140627 watercourses and the poor land levelling results also adversely affect yields.

The government has announced a Rs71 billion programme for improving watercourses and land-levelling which should be monitored and evaluated to remove the constraints in its implementation. If implemented letter and spirit, it is likely to increase water-use efficiency by38.5 per cent.

The existing irrigation system is supported by over 44 maf of ground-water from nearly 700000 tube-wells. About 70 per cent of this water varies from slightly to highly brackish which not only affects the yields but increases soil salinity, The problem be solved by using recently developed technology being used in several other countries.

About five million hectares of the total cultivated area is under rain-fed crops. The rain-water harvesting practices are not only primitive, they hardly collect 25-30 per cent of rain, while the modern methods followed in several other countries enable them to collect up to 90 per cent of the incidental rain.

These methods also increase yields to 500 per cent. Not only this, some of the countries have been able to get their rain-fed crop yields comparable to irrigated crops. Our planners should seriously take cognizance of this technology and develop plan to implement it in our rain-fed areas.

Due to increased food requirements and the declining land and water resources, conservation agriculture has increased on 45 million hectares in the world. For example, bed plantation in China not only saved 40 per cent water but increased yields of different crops by 10-20 per cent.

Similarly, zero tillage technology is fast spreading for sowing wheat in rice-wheat belt around the world. It saves cost of machinery, tillage and energy besides increasing water-use efficiency and yield up to 20 per cent.