ISLAMABAD, Jan 25: The use of pesticides and chemical fertilisers per cropped hectare including some of those banned in other countries is increasing in Pakistan , resulting in serious repercussions for national health, environment and the future of country's export.

This has been stated in a research paper on "Science and technology-based agriculture vision of Pakistan and prospects of growth" by Mohammad Iqbal and Munir Ahmad of the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics.

The paper said the use of chemical fertilisers and biocides per cropped hectare had declined in a number of countries and a few of them were returning to organic farming. However, in Pakistan, the use of such chemicals was increasing.

"The analysis of samples of food and animal feed products produced in high pesticide food zones showed that a number of these commodities contained pesticide residue beyond the maximum limit set for marketing and consumption of agricultural products," it said.

Pakistan is ranked the fifth largest milk-producing country. However, only 2 per cent of its total milk is being processed at the dairy plants. In India, 12 per cent of the milk production is processed.

At present, there are 38 major dairy plants in the commercial sector with a daily capacity of 2.18 million litres. However, only 13 plants are in operation with milk processing capacity of over one million litres per day. In addition, two military dairy plants are in operation on a non-commercial basis.

The paper also presented a very bleak picture of agricultural research. "In Pakistan, there were 44 agricultural scientists per million people during 1988 as compared to 2,360; 1,400 and 300 scientists in the US, UK and Egypt.

The number of agro-ecological zones, types of agricultural production systems and 130 commercial crops that the country's agriculture research deals with demand a much greater number and more qualified staff to be engaged in agricultural research and development," it added.

The researchers said the number and estimate of scientists were not readily available. The research expenditure per agriculture scientist was $8,900 during 1980 as compared to $56,400, $30,200, $21,800 per agricultural scientist in Malaysia, Indonesia and India, respectively.

Research system in Pakistan offered limited career growth opportunities and little financial incentives even to the highly qualified scientists. The average size of farm reduced from 2.28 hectares in 1972 to 3.1 hectares in 2000 and the decline trend was observed in all the provinces.

Citing the agricultural census of 2000, it said farms of size two hectares or less (marginal farms) constituted about 58 per cent of the total farms. About the irrigation water resources, the paper said at present almost 30 per cent of the irrigation water at the farm gate was derived from ground water whose quality was far inferior to canal water.

"Out of the over 562,000 private and 16,000 public tubewells, 70 per cent are pumping brackish water." There are 6.17 million hectares of land affected by salinity, of which about 3.37 million hectares was uncultivated, it said.