LAHORE, Aug 30: The mechanization of the farming sector has witnessed an effective change in the country during the last decade with the number of tractors rising to 401,663 and the tubewells and lift pumps by 91 per cent from 1984 to 1994 and by 105 per cent from 1994 to 2004.
According to an Agricultural Machinery Census report 2004, the country has made a significant progress and consequently a meaningful turn has come in the crop production sector during 1994 to 2004.
Released by the Statistics Division of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs, the report depicts an overall growth of 58.8 per cent in the number of tractors.
The increase achieved during 1994-2004 in the number of tubewells and lift pumps can be termed an all time record increase since independence and a salient as well as silent causal factor for increased crop production in Pakistan.
Another interesting aspect of the report is that the count of electric tubewells or lift pumps had observed growth of only 1.1 per cent (from 96,039 in 1994 to 97,095 in 2004) as compared to 132.8 per cent (from 358,218 in 1994 to 833,953 in 2004) of diesel tubewells or lift pumps.
The scenario of private tubewells in Pakistan had been dominated by centrifugal type tubewells as compared to all other types.
Following are details of the report.
TRACTORS: The number of tractors rose to 401,663 in the country in 2004. The number was 157,310 and 252,861 according to the agricultural machinery censuses of 1984 and 1994, respectively.
The decennial increase in the number of tractors from 1984 to 1994 was 61 per cent, while it was 59 per cent from 1994 to 2004. The decennial growth in the number of tractors from 1984 to 1994 compares with that from 1994 to 2004 for NWFP, Punjab and Sindh.
However, there has been relatively steep growth of 106 per cent in the number of tractors for Balochistan during the inter-censual period from 1994 to 2004.
Out of a total of 401,663 tractors, the relative share remained six per cent (24,269) for NWFP, 83 per cent (331,905) for Punjab, nine per cent (36,245) for Sindh and two per cent (9,244) for Balochistan. The percentage ratio was almost the same as assessed previously through the 1994 census, while it was also very close to that enumerated during the 1984 census.
The makes of Fiat, Massey Ferguson and Belarus emerged as most popular makes. The number of Fiat had increased from 92,720 to 164,941 (77.9 per cent), Massey Ferguson from 109,597 to 171,943 (56.9 per cent) and Belarus from 20,992 to 31,768 (51.3 per cent), during the last 10 years (i.e. from 1994 to 2004).
OWNERSHIP OF TRACTORS: The privately-owned tractors were 400,446 (99.7 per cent) at the country level in the 2004 report, while the remaining 1,217 (0.3 per cent) were owned by the government agencies engaged wholly or partially in agricultural activities.
The relative proportion of privately-owned tractors was very high in all provinces, although it varied marginally among provinces.
FARM IMPLEMENTS: The number of tractor-drawn implements, owned by tractor owners, like cultivator counts to 369,866, mould board plough to 40,050, bar or disk harrow to 23,764, disk plough to 29,218, seed drill or planter to 70,810 and ridger to 71,338.
Similarly, the count for trolley and thresher increased to 242,655 and 137,270, respectively.
The growth also remained promising during the inter-censual period, although at varying degrees. The number of cultivators increased by 56.6 per cent from 236,272 to 369,866, mould board ploughs by 41.0 per cent from 28,413 to 40,050 while the disk ploughs by 43.4 per cent from 20,372 to 29,218. The rotavators and ridgers gained much popularity among the farming community during the last decade.
The most prominent growth observed during the period was for rotavators (756.6 per cent) and ridgers (549.5 per cent) which increased from 5,594 in 1994 to 47,919 in 2004 and from 10,984 in 1994 to 71,338 in 2004, respectively.
The threshers showed an increase of 21.8 per cent from 112,707 to 137,270 while trolleys count went up by 37.6 per cent from 176,412 to 242,655 during the last 10 years.
TUBEWELLS, LIFT PUMPS: The number of tubewells and lift pumps meant for irrigation purposes rose to 931,048 in 2004. The number was 237,990 in 1984 which increased to 454,257 in 1994.
The decennial count of tubewells and lift pumps increased by 91 per cent from 1984 to 1994 and by 105 per cent from 1994 to 2004.
OWNERSHIP OF TUBEWELLS, LIFT PUMPS: The relative share of private owners in all types of tubewells and lift pumps at the country level worked out to be 99 per cent and 95 per cent, respectively, while the remaining marginal share is of tubewells and lift pumps owned by government agencies.
POWER SOURCE OF TUBEWELLS, LIFT PUMPS: The 2004 census reveals that 90 per cent of the government and private tubewells as well as lift pumps are operated by diesel, while only 10 per cent of them use electricity as power source.
In the case of government tubewells and lift pumps, electricity is the dominant (93 per cent) source of power, whereas for privately-owned tubewells and lift pumps, the share of diesel operated tubewells and lift pumps is 90 per cent.
The centrifugal tubewells increased from 422,852 in 1994 to 850,05 in 2004 thus recording an appreciation of 101.0 per cent during this period.
Conducting of mauza census is one of the major responsibilities of the Agriculture Census Organization besides agriculture, agricultural machinery and livestock censuses.
Established in 1957, the ACO conducts a mauza census after every five years, the agriculture census in the year ending on the digit 0, the agricultural machinery census in the year ending on 4 and the livestock in the year ending on 6.
The agriculture census was carried out in 1960, 1972, 1980, 1990 and 2000; the agricultural machinery census in 1968, 1975, 1984, 1994 and 2004; the livestock in 1976, 1986 and 1996, and the mauza in 1971, 1979, 1983, 1988, 1993, 1998 and 2003.—Staff Reporter