The recent failure of the WTO talks at Cancun highlights the importance of agriculture as the dominant factor to decide the fate of the world to unite as one global market place in the year 2005.
Trade ministers from 146 countries negotiated the actions to be taken on the subsidies that rich nations grant their farming sectors, an activity that provides a livelihood for three billion people worldwide, with some 600 million suffering hunger and malnutrition. The collapse of the talks in Cancun may ultimately turn out to be a boon for Pakistan and other developing countries as level-playing fields for the farmers are indispensable for safeguarding the interest of developing countries. But to reach that point a lot of homework needs to be done.
According to agriculture experts, the quality agriculture produce would be the hallmark of post-WTO scenario. Pakistan should focus on producing organic crops without using fertilizers and pesticides. For sowing organic crops including wheat, gram and cotton and the gram, which is popular in South East Asia and Middle East, could easily be grown in the barani (arid) areas of the country.
Likewise, wheat being produced in the arid zone of Punjab was also an example of organic farming. Though fertilizer was being used by wheat growers in these areas, it can be replaced with manures with a view to producing organic wheat, which has great demand in western countries.
The cotton being produced in Balochistan could easily be turned to organic cotton as this crop is relatively less prone to the pest attack due to conducive weather conditions. The government could take steps for prohibiting use of pesticides and other inputs for producing quality cotton in these areas, which could fetch greater price in the world market. But the multi-billion fertilizer and pesticide producers and importers in this country will always ensure a dichotomy between the need of the poor and the greed of the rich.
Agriculture has been a major focus of debate but a minor focus of development in the history of the country. Despite having ideally geographical location and topographical features,Pakistan has not been able to convert its land fertility into a highly productive asset.
Pesticide/fertilizer curse: To improve crop production, massive use of pesticides and fertilizers is propagated in the country. In the last few years Pakistan has imported on the average 1,247,000 nutrient tons of fertilizer valuing $195.507 million. Couple that with the big names in fertilizer production and pesticide manufacturing within the country, and you come up with a figure which is difficult to enumerate. Despite all these so-called productivity enhancing chemicals, the figures show that the agri sector registered a meagre growth of less than 1 per cent in the last decade.
The reason is that excessive use of chemicals has contaminated ground and surface water. Excess nutrient loading as a result of fertilizer run-offs can lead to uncontrolled algae growth. The widespread use of dangerous pesticides on the cotton crop is associated with several potential health hazards including contamination of workers who apply it, poisoning of soil and ground water used for drinking, and infecting consumers of agricultural products. Many of the pesticides used have been banned in the rest of the world, due to their fatal impact on the worker and the environment. Thus at the end of the last century the country witnessed a hopelessly dismal scenario of slow growth, low productivity and increasingly harmful methodology of plant protection and fertility.
EM technology: Late in the 90’s, a new technology transfer deal was signed between Pakistan and Dr. Teuro Higa of Japan, to increase the agricultural productivity. This was called the ‘EM Technology’.It met the same fate as many other technologies have met in the last five decades-it became a victim of bureaucracy and administrative neglect.
EM is an abbreviation for “effective microorganisms”. It has the ability to generate antioxidants. If, for example, antioxidant levels in the soil can be raised, the toxins produced by harmful microorganisms can be eradicated. A further property of EM is that it demonstrates the ability of aerobic and anaerobic bacteria to coexist; something previously considered an impossible concept in terms of microbiology. Dr. Teuro Higa of Japan discovered that this unique combination offers a solution to the problems of food, environment, and medical issues.
Used in agriculture, EM technology makes it possible to increase crop yields multiple times, and that too without the use of pesticides and fertilizers. EM technology has played a big role in increasing agri productivity in more than 50 countries of Asia, America, Africa and Europe.
Dr. Higa assisted by his Pakistani employee had a mission of spreading this technology as an earth-saving device, all over the world especially in the underdeveloped world. His contribution to the South East Asian agri productivity has been openly acknowledged by the Philippines, Indonesian, Taiwanese and Thai governments.
In Pakistan due to lack of awareness, poor infrastructure facilities and lack of resource allocation this technology has been confined to the labs of agricultural universities of Pakistan.
It was only after the takeover by the military government that the government started giving this importance. Mr. Higa came to Pakistan and met the then Chief Executive, who promised to extend full support to this project. Dr. Higa took part in a seminar organized by EM Pakistan Foundation, where farmers who had used EM gave factual evidence of the increase in productivity. Also authenticating its effectiveness was Dr. Khalida Usmani, the cancer specialist, who has been using EM to cure her patients.
The beauty of this technology is that it is simple and low cost. Normally technology transfer signifies requirement of high skill levels and huge resources. The widespread use of this technology gives substance to the claim that it can be produced at a cost as low as Rs. 4 per litre. Therefore, the ordinary farmer will be able to buy it and use it to achieve transformational productivity levels. However, before that happens, the government needs to carry out the surveys in countries like Thailand and Korea on how they created the network of production facilities required bringing the most inaccessible of land under production.
Poverty alleviation: The World Bank has been giving a lot of funds for poverty alleviation in Pakistan. The World Bank,in its reports, has been recommending enforcement of genuine land reforms as an essential measure to ensure sustainable exploitation of national resources including land and water. Giving farmers ownership of land has been recommended but never implemented by the ruling feudal-dominated assemblies of our country. As a result poverty and population growth have contributed to the degradation of the environment in Pakistan causing soil erosion, deforestation, marine and coastal zone damage and many forms of urban and industrial pollution.
Poor farmers face very high production and financial risks. They do not have the ability for storing crops, extending credit, obtaining crop insurance, and have only limited access to market information.
Promoters: EM technology has the potential to alleviate the poverty existing at the farmers’ level. The biggest hurdle to the popularization of this technology comes, not from it’s cost, but from it’s major opponents; the multinational and local firms engaged in the manufacture, sale, and import of the massive amount of fertilizers and pesticides used by the poor and ignorant farmers.These companies have firmly opposed this new technology and dissuaded the administration from adopting it.
Thus the initial interest shown by the new government has effectively been suppressed by these rich and highly influential corporations. Dr. Higa disgusted by repeated failures in Pakistan is probably going to turn to some other needy nation, where the authorities in charge have a greater concern for poor farmers and for wider national interest.
The 21st century is going to be the era of the green products. To restore the fertility and productivity of soil, it is essential to get rid of the chemical farming methods and switch to organic farming methods.
Unfortunately, as far as Pakistan is concerned, a total lack of interest, both at the state level and at the landowners level, has retarded all efforts of progress in this direction. Meantime the multinationals have considered this country as an environmental junkyard, where they can sell all drugs and chemicals banned at home, at premium prices. According to a report prepared by the task force on poverty alleviation, led by Dr. Akmal Hussain, USA has exported 25 banned and unregistered pesticides to Pakistan and other developing countries during the past one decade. Although the developing countries account for only one sixth of the pesticide users, the rate of poisoning in these countries is 13 times as great as in USA. Statistics show that Pakistan is importing Rs4.60 billion worth of insecticides from the USA, Japan, Germany, and Singapore. At this average, in one decade these multinationals have sold Rs 66 billion worth of pesticides.
Conclusion: The post-WTO era is all about efficiency and innovativeness in all major economic sectors. With the west heavily subsidizing their agriculture sector it is imperative for Pakistan to shift to organic farming to compete in the world of the future if it has to save the livelihoods of millions of the poor of this country. Moreover the new century has heralded the world into the environmentally friendly millennium. It is strange that while our country is very quick in emulating the vices of the west, they are so slow in adopting their virtues. Being environmentally conscious is not only fashionable, but highly beneficial, as far as the agricultural sector productivity is concerned.
Let the government discourage chemical fertilizers and pesticide by supporting and facilitating the organic farming technology spread in the country. To bring awareness to the farmer and the ordinary public about the multiple benefits of this technology the government must do the following: * create a programme of spreading the use of organic farming in the country; * study the benchmark countries like South Korea, Indonesia, Thailand etc; * appoint an executive committee to prepare a feasible plan for the organic farming technology acquisition and production; * work with the NGO’s to promote and educate the farmer on its use and * make plans to thwart all attempts by the multinationals to sabotage this project.