THE GLOBALIZATION of economy after January 2005 when the WTO enforcement would be effected, is likely to usher in a new era of competitive marketing of goods and services pushing the marginal economies like that of Pakistan to face enormous challenges.

Under the WTO agreement, to which Pakistan is also a signatory, it is mandatory for member countries to open their markets for other members.

While it would offer ample opportunities to the developing countries to sell their products without any quota restrictions, the question is to what extent the developing countries would be able to sustain the competition with the developed countries given the inadequate state of infrastructure of the developing and poor countries. After the enforcement of the WTO in 2005, the Asian countries would be faced with a difficult situation.

The international projections are that only China’s economy will stand competition with the developed world. Its comparative edge in terms of technology and cheap labour in the manufacturing and production of almost all goods and services holds out the prospect of providing a breathing space. Confident of standing up to the challenges, China had to fight for 15 year to enter the WTO. Developing countries are also cognizant of the fact that China has the potential to face the competition with the developed world. The fact is that only those Asian economies will survive the competition which has an edge over manufacturing and production of goods and services.

Japan and South Korea have technological advantage over China. Malaysia too has an edge not only in technology but also in export of palm oil. The Gulf countries also have abundance of oil reserves. But the other Asian and particularly South Asian countries hardly enjoy any edge except labour to compete with the developed world after the WTO enforcement. India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have shown impressive economic growth over the last decade as compared to Pakistan. India is ranked high in information technology as 40 per cent of the world’s total soft ware export is from India and its software export achieved a rise of 31.4 per cent in year 2000-01 despite global recession.

The cardinal issue is how Pakistan can maximize the benefits as a member of the WTO. The answer is to focus on agriculture and agro-based industries which can alone help sustain the competition. At present, Pakistan has almost a non-existent share i.e. 0.22 per cent in total world trade. If Pakistan wants to stride in global competition after 2005, a paradigm diversification of agriculture sector is imperative.

The history of Pakistan bears testimony to the fact that agriculture as a largest contributing sector and backbone of economy has played a dominant role as a driving force for its growth and development since the country’s creation. At present, agriculture provides employment to about 47 per cent the total work force and contributes 24.7 per cent of the GDP. The contribution of the agriculture sector in export earnings is 65 per cent.

It is distressing to note that being an agricultural country, we have to import agricultural commodities like edible oil, wheat, tea, wood and dairy products which costs billions of dollars every year to the national exchequer. In the past, our policy makers and researchers did not rise to the occasion to focus on increased production of agricultural commodities other than wheat, cotton, sugar-cane and rice. Therefore, farmers did not feel any charm to substitute and diversify their production to other crops as the policy and priority was not favourable.

Here we discuss about those crops that have equally favourable climate to grow as that of wheat, cotton and rice etc. and their cultivation will not only increase agricultural production but can also result in upsurge in the country’s foreign earnings.

Pakistan is among one of the largest mango growing countries. Pakistani mangoes have no match either in terms of quality or in singularity of taste and flavour. The country produces around 500,000 to 700,000 metric tonnes of mango annually. It has exported 53,444 metric tonnes in 2000-01 worth of $17/05 million out of total mango production. It is a pity that we export only a small fraction of 4% to 5 per cent i.e. about 35000 to 40000 metric tonnes and 40 per cent of total production of our mangoes never reach the market due to spoilage, blemish and poor handling.

Pakistan equally produces all types of citrus fruits i.e. sweet oranges, mandarins, grape fruit and lemon etc. Kino represents 80 per cent of all citrus. It is interesting to note that Pakistan is the largest kino grower. Pakistani kino is in demand all over the world because of its taste, unique variety and other attributes like its pulp, juice contents, skin for cosmetics and high vitamin contents. Annual kino production is around 1,584,000 tonnes and Pakistan’s export is around 10 per cent of the total production.

The total annual edible oil consumption of Pakistan is around 1.95 million tons that constitutes 5 per cent of the country’s total import bill. Pakistan has to import two types of oils, i.e. refined, bleached and de-odourised (RBD) palm oil (hard oil) that constitutes approximately 80 per cent of total 1.5 million tonnes of edible oil import mainly from Malaysia. On the other hand, Pakistan has also to import soft oils like soybean oil, sunflower oil and canola oil etc. There is a good potential to produce all types of soft oils.

We have never considered exporting flowers despite of the fact that all types of flowers can be cultivated in the country and this can make a substantial contribution in our export earnings. Netherlands is a small country but its impressive agricultural commodity earnings are far more than our total annual exports. It takes a lion’s share of world flower export. For example, the Dutch tulip export was $1.5 billion in 2000-01. The Netherlands have established such a sophisticated system that its beautifully packed flower reaches anywhere in the world within a few hours of order placement.

Livestock production is an important segment of the country’s agriculture. It constitutes 36 per cent of the agriculture sector and 9 per cent of the GDP. Pakistan is the 5th largest milk producing country in the world with annual production of around 27 million tonnes. This sector also contributes about 1.75 million ton of meat to the local market. The export of milk and dairy products is still a distant dream as we spend millions of rupees on the import of dry milk and other dairy products. Pakistan has a distinction of second biggest tea importer after the UK. It has to import around 120 million kg of tea costing billions of dollars to the national exchequer. It can save bulk of foreign exchange that is being spent on tea import by cultivating tea in Northern Areas, a suitable place for quality tea cultivation.

The climatic conditions in Pakistan are ideal as regards diversification of agriculture. God has endowed this country with vast potential to produce tropical, sub-tropical and temperate fruits, flowers and vegetables but no one has tried seriously to exploit this potential. The production of fruits, flowers and vegetables is not only viable but also of great benefit for Pakistan in terms of economic and financial gains as compared to rice, sugar-cane, maize etc. The 25 per cent of the total production of our fruits and vegetables go waste because of inadequate storage facilities and poor transportation infrastructure. Due attention should be given to resolve the impediments in this regard. The export of fruits and vegetables can be increased by standard packing, grading, proper preservation like waxing, adequate storage facilities, proper transportation and airlifting etc.

To rejuvenate agricultural sector, the hierarchy of agricultural research institutions and extension programme services should be improved on war footings. At present, there are five agricultural universities and the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad has a pivotal position. But how pathetic situation it is that this university has produced about 250 PhD scholars to date since its inception in 1961 while the universities of the developed countries produce this much scholars every year. The government should allocate sufficient resources to the agriculture universities and other research institutes for research purposes.

Agricultural credit has direct relation with agricultural productivity. About 80 per cent of small farmers have 12.5 acre or less of land holding. They cannot use modern inputs and technology due to lack of credit facilities. They have to face many problems for getting loans. They often fail to meet the criteria set by lending institutions for loan disbursement.