When small-scale farmers begin to explore the needs of various consumers-and how they can meet those needs-they begin to harness the power of the marketplace. This requires new ways of thinking and planning, the results of which can be dramatic.
The basic strategy is to provide farmers with the technical assistance they need to identify what is appropriate. Moving from subsistence to market-driven farming often requires changes in crop selection, cultivation, harvesting, marketing, transportation, and adoption of new technologies. Frequently, the financial resources to make these changes exceed what poor farmers can afford.
Subsistence farming is a mode of agriculture in which a plot of land produces only enough food to feed the family working on it. Depending on climate, soil conditions, agricultural practices and the crop grown this condition can be improved and finely replaced by business oriented agriculture farming.
Small farms devote a larger share of their cropped area to food grains than do large farms. Though Pakistan produces a sizeable market surplus, but there are many farmers who have only enough food to sustain them through their normal daily activities.
Good weather may occasionally allow them to produce a surplus for sale or barter, but surpluses are still in a very small quantity. Because surpluses are meagre, farming does not allow for growth, the accumulation of capital or even for much specialization of labour.
The farming family is left almost entirely without implements or goods that it cannot produce by itself. Usually expending effort to produce surpluses generates very little benefit, so the extra effort is usually wasted.
Not all farmers have access to as much land as they can cultivate. Socio-economic conditions of the farmers may prevent an expansion of farming plots. Economists argue that one obstacle to agricultural development is that subsistence farmers can not convert their work into capital which can be used to adopt new technology and trigger marketable surplus.
They argue that these obstacles exist often because subsistence farmers do not have clear title to the land which they work and to the crops which they produce. The land tenure system is snag in modernising farming.
Some comprehensive practices need to be adopted to help subsistence farmers to produce surpluses. Traditional irrigation methods can be extremely labour-intensive, wasteful of water and may require community-wide infrastructure which is difficult to implement.
There are new types of irrigation equipment available which are very water-efficient. Many subsistence farmers, however, remain unaware of the new technologies and which they cannot afford. Micro-loans can enable farmers to purchase implements and adopt new technologies.
There is increasing evidence that market-oriented reforms have not led to the anticipated broad-based, sustained growth in farm productivity and incomes, particularly among the smallholder farmers.
Disillusionment with market-based agricultural growth strategies is setting in, not only among policy-makers, but also among scholars and policy analysts. Equally, fundamental changes in perspective are implied for agricultural policy research.
Most of Pakistan's smallholders are competent practitioners of subsistence-oriented agricultural production but incompetent executors of the specialized, commercialized agriculture.
We need to co-ordinate efforts of local farmers, regional and national policymakers, extension agents, funding organizations, and the scientific community to identify and develop innovative approaches for environmentally responsible agriculture.
This interaction leads to greater understanding of agriculture issues, informed decision-making, and better adoption of new practices. Partnerships are critical to long-term progress.
Literacy gives rural farmers the skills they need to make the best use of information on the farm and participate more fully in the marketplace. Attention to meeting the information and training needs of farmers results in benefits on the farm, in the home and across communities and improve marketing strategies for traditional produce. New farm and post-harvest practices improve product quality and profitability.
For the benefits of small farmers, there is a need of taking livestock farming as a business with special emphasis on the promotion of commercial dairy farming. Focus should be on increased productivity of our livestock population, bull production and breeding farm.