Threats and Challenges in Agriculture and Rural Development:

The agricultural sector and rural areas are faced by many threats and challenges.

High pressures and strains on the country’s economy have resulted in poor or weak infrastructure and have pushed rural people deeper into poverty.

In the situation, the majority of the people is forced to live in poor living conditions and is deprived of basic facilities of life.

A detailed account of threats and challenges prevailing in the country is presented below.

Small and Fragmented Landholdings:

Farmers have small landholdings and fragmented land ownership. Some of the landowners own agricultural lands less than or equal to 5 acres. An imbalance between the cultivation of high value crops and strategic crops (cotton-wheat-rice-maize) prevails in the country. About 80% of the crops are not rated high enough quality to qualify to be shipped to the export markets. Exporters do not buy crops and commodities with poor quality. Therefore, they are supplied to the local markets.

Old and traditional cultivation methods

Old and traditional cultivation methods are still in practice, resulting lower yields than can be realized on new lands by employingadvanced modernscientific principles, new cultivation techniques and better farming practices.

Natural Resources and Environmental Problems

Natural resources, including land, water and the environment, are deteriorating in the country due to natural processes and anthropogenic activities. The prominent constraints include a fragile land-base, declining soil fertility, increasing salinity content of the soil and water, limited water resources, and frequent climatic shocks. The natural resources base is also deteriorating due to burgeoning population pressure, inappropriate agricultural practices, overstocking, deforestation and consequent upon the soil erosion, and destruction of habitats for wild fauna. The environment is under severe stress, biodiversity is vanishing. Irrigation waters have been contaminated at several points with pollutants which will in turn adversely affect the land qualities.

Land Issues

Civil construction and sprawling are consuming fertile lands. Farmland urbanization poses a serious threat to agriculture.

Land degradation, particularly in the rainfed and irrigated areas,can be noticed.

Land productivity is also on decline due to land degradation issues and processes like: salinization of irrigated areas; water logging and wind and water erosion. Farmers have inadequate access to productive resources, particularly agricultural lands. They face difficulties in expanding the cultivated areas. About 80 percent of the land affected by salinity and waterlogging has been successfully reclaimed and made productive. In the country, drainage systems have been installed within saline areas. This has led to a reduction in saline areas.

Water Shortage and Drought

Water shortages are aggravated by the way water is utilized. Water is often used wastefully, unwisely and inefficiently in agriculture, as well as by the municipal, industrial and commercial users. Water losses in irrigation are enormous. In the country, there are areas that receive enough water to practice modern agriculture while other areas suffer from drought and water shortage. Present farming systems are unable to cope with drought and water shortage and the country lacks enough suitable farming technologies that could adjust the cropping systems/patterns in various zones according to the availability and supply of water. Therefore, farmers needto shift to crops that require less water, such as wheat and cotton.

Water in the Rural Areas

Water for Agriculture 

Efforts are being made to focus in the future on the development of irrigation systems, the introduction of real irrigation technologies that could be successfully employed to irrigate the newly reclaimed agricultural areas. Modern irrigation methods such as sprinkler and drip irrigation need to be applied to overcome the water shortage and scarcity. The irrigation technologies would lead to the production of crops of high quality for export.

Size and inadequate off-farm income opportunities

Size and inadequate off-farm income opportunities are among the major causes of rural poverty.

Education: Certain social and cultural customs allow men to seek education whereas women are deprived. Generally, educational facilities for general public, particularly for rural areas, are not sufficient. Therefore, inadequate access to education results in an illiteracy rate in rural areas. Additionally, high illiteracy rate and poor skill levels are observed, particularly in rural women. Rural dwellers do not have enough awareness of concepts and principles of sustainable agriculture. They lack knowledge on exportable markets. Due to the shrinking job opportunities in the rural areas and farming sector, farmers not only experience difficulties finding qualified and skilled agricultural laborers but they also have to pay them more.

Sanitation: Improved and safe drinking water facilities are basic human needs however, these facilities in the rural areas are poor. Today the sanitation facilities in the country seem un-satisfactory .

Health and Nutrition: Poor health, malnutrition, and high family growth-rates are quite common in rural areas. Similarly, maternal and child health are a continuing challenge.  Maternal and child malnutrition and rates of infant, child and maternal mortality cases are reported as relatively high. In addition, healthcare facilities are not equally accessible to all particularly in rural areas. The rural areas have inadequate health information systems for monitoring communicable diseases and major health risks. Lack of nurses, paramedics, skilled birth attendants and health system managers indicates an imbalance health workforce with excess doctors and specialists prevails in the rural areas.

Labor Force:  A productive labor-force is vital for agriculture and it is not available because the sector can no longer gainfully employ more youth. Due to increased migration from rural areas, there is a shortage of trained, skilled and qualified labor in the country and unfortunately the food producers/farmers themselves have become net consumers. Increased migration from rural areas to urban satellites, consequently social disruption and increased urban violence are being witnessed.  Women, as an active labor force in the rural areas, suffer the most because of illiteracy, poor nutrition, poor health, high birth-rates and unacknowledged labor. Women own fewer assets, have limited economic options and less access to social services. Children, because of economic pressure, are compelled to leave their homes to seek employment and as such fall victim to child labor. Youth do not find ample facilities to be involved in healthy activities at leisure. They may get attracted by unhealthy activities and hobbies to during any free time.

Inadequate Support Services: Farmers find ineffective support services regarding the availability of farm inputs like seeds, fertilizers, and credit. They usually have inadequate access to basic farm services such as the Extension Services and technology transfer. Farmers are provided low-level technology. However, Extension in the country has poor organization and Extension service does not enjoy empowerment.

Poor Policy Framework and Institutional Constraints: In the country, agriculture and rural development policies are not considered farmer-friendly. For example, unequal land distribution and insecurity of land tenure exists. At the same time, low public sector investment in physical and social infrastructure in rural areas is made. Private sector participation in developmental aspects also seems quite low. There are few civil society organizations working at the grass-root level for the betterment of rural people. Factors like lack of organizational and institutional coordination make the Extension work weak and prevent realizing sustainable initiatives in rural development. In addition, institutional and organizational conflicts concerning developmental aspects, like gender imbalance and poverty, further enlarge the issues. The country has poor marketing and buying policies and market prices for some strategic crops are low. Information about the needs of exportable markets is not available to the farmers either through the government or Extension Service. An adjustment in agricultural, rural development, environmental and economic policy can improve the working of farming sectors and the livelihood of all farmers.