GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT AND AGRICULTURE 

Asif Maqbool
Muhammad Rasheed

The world continues to suffer from many problems, emerged mainly during the last half of the past century under the guise of development. Impoverishment of resources has ultimately induced poverty among the masses in the developing countries. According to the population estimates of the United Nations (1998), world population is growing at 1.33 percent, adding an average of 78 million persons each year. World population is expected to reach 7 billion in 2013 and 8 billion in 2028, an increase of more than 2 billion in the next 30 years. Much of the increase will occur in developing countries where urban population will nearly triple due to high birth rates and migration from the rural areas.

Food needs in developing countries will almost double, but land and water are becoming increasingly scarce. Mostly new lands which are brought under cultivation are marginal and ecologically fragile and cannot make up for the land being removed from cultivation each year due to urbanization and land degradation.

The planet is suffering from a multitude of problems such as global warming, prolonged droughts, degradation of natural resources and associated loss of biodiversity, rampant increase in pollution levels and deteriorating water quality. Food insecurity and rural poverty are also associated with environmental problems of global magnitude. So in this rapidly changing environment, both economic and physical, the global technological and political challenge is enormous.

In case of Pakistan, agriculture is the mainstay of the economy. Nearly one-fourth of total output (GDP) and 42 percent of total employment of the country is generated in agriculture. Agriculture contributes substantially to Pakistan's exports. Agriculture contributes to growth as a supplier of raw materials to industry as well as market for industrial products. Not only 42 percent of country's work force is employed in agriculture but 67.5 percent of country's population living in rural areas is directly or indirectly linked with agriculture for their livelihood.

Global environmental complexities are creating problems for Pakistan. Pakistan is threatened with desertification and degradation of land due to rapid increase in population and growing pressure on the natural resource base to meet the needs of its people and for earning foreign exchange by export of surplus commodities and agro-based industrial products.

Main Issues

Eighty percent of Pakistan's cultivated area, (17.13 million hectares) is irrigated, and irrigated agriculture accounts for more than 90 percent of agricultural output and 22 percent of national GDP. Pakistan has the largest contiguous canal irrigation system in the world, with over 1.6 million kilometers of canals, branches, distributaries, field channels, and watercourses. Forty percent of the total water supply is lost in the canals and watercourses before reaching the farm gate. Total availability of irrigation water at the farm gate is estimated at 134.77 million acre feet, out of which 62.5 percent is supplied by canals and 30 percent by 5,23,080 private tube wells, while the remaining (7.5 percent) is shared by 22489 public tube wells. Most of our irrigation system (canals and water courses) is not properly lined. In many regions of central Punjab, as much as 70 percent of irrigation is supplied by tube wells, particularly in the Rabi season.

The problem of salinity has become acute in recent years as a result of increased tapping of brackish groundwater for irrigation, and salinity is posing the greatest danger to Pakistan's most important natural resource. Salinity is partly the result of naturally occurring geological processes and depends on the soil material, land form, relief, climate, and land use. The most neglected problem is that of tertiary salinity from the low-quality groundwater provided by tube wells. In Pakistan, it has increased as a result of the canal irrigation system as water containing dissolved salts from the lower parts of the soil profile seep from the canal system, and evaporate from the surface of adjoining soils. Experts have estimated that crop yields are reduced by about one-third for crops grown on slightly saline areas and that yields on moderately affected areas are reduced by about two-thirds. Crop production of any kind is difficult on highly saline soils. 

The indiscriminate use of agricultural chemicals, such as fertilizers and pesticides, has contaminated ground- and surface water. Agricultural chemical use in Pakistan's irrigated areas has expanded rapidly over the past twenty years. The most serious agricultural chemical problem stems from the rapid increase in pesticide use that has reached 47592 metric tons in Pakistan. The widespread use of often-dangerous pesticides on cotton crop is associated with several potential health hazards, mainly to workers who apply it. 

The major problem in rain fed areas is soil erosion, which has worsened over the years as population pressure, poverty, and stagnant yields have forced more people on to marginal areas to meet food, fodder, and fuel wood needs. Water erosion is the major cause of soil erosion in rain fed areas. About 11 million hectares of land is slightly or severely affected by water erosion, particularly in NWFP where one-third of the rain fed area is seriously affected by water erosion.

Water erosion has serious environmental consequences in both the short and long terms. This includes a continued decrease in the depth, fertility, and extent of productive soils; a decrease in agricultural production; continued deterioration of range lands and forests reserves; increased rates of sedimentation in water reservoirs and channels, affecting their maintenance cost and life span and leaving adverse affects on the transportation infrastructure (roads, railways, bridges).

Pakistan is also facing serious ecological crisis, which has profound implications for the economy as well as for the human well-being. The impact of deteriorating environmental conditions are felt more by the poor who are vulnerable because of their livelihood dependence on land, water and other natural resources that are being badly affected by environmental degradation. Whether it is water, forests or croplands, we have badly damaged our natural asset base of the country. The annual cost of environmental damage to Pakistan's economy is estimated to be $ 1.8 billion. This damage is the outcome of urban air pollution ($ 369 million), municipal solid liquid waste ($ 883 million), soil loss because of cropland degradation ($ 357 million), rangeland degradation ($ 125 million), deforestation ($ 28 million) and destruction of mangrove forests ($ 15.7 million).

There is a co-relationship between environment and poverty. The poor largely depend for their survival on natural resources such as soil, rivers, forests and rangelands. Their degradation takes away from the poor the very means of subsistence and pushes them into poverty and deprivation. Similarly, poor communities surviving on marginal lands are highly vulnerable to natural calamities such as drought, floods, pollution in water bodies, etc. 

Suggestions 

• An effective transition must be made to more environment-friendly ways of growing food, producing goods and services, managing watersheds and accommodating urban growth and mitigating the impact of activities that endanger the environment. The solution to face the challenges lie in sustainable agriculture i.e., in adopting nature-friendly farming practices.
• Institutional bridges between farmers, research and extension services should be strengthened. Farmers should be provided with the improved farming skills and technical know-how to meet the challenges. Connecting rural people to knowledge networks, particularly to allow them to learn from each other, is essential for developing sustainable farming systems.
• Water logging and salinity standardized assessment criteria may be applied to find out their accurate estimates.
• Integrated pest management (1PM) is widely advocated as a means of reducing pesticides use and developing more sustainable production. IPM is a knowledge-intensive practice that requires good extension service and is facilitated by literate farmers. Both are deficient in Pakistan and unless major emphasis is placed on promoting IPM, it will be decades before pesticide use is reduced significantly.
• The role of local communities in managing forest resources should be expanded. Local communities are generally not consulted in forest management decisions nor is forest revenues shared with local residents. Research undertaken in NWFP has demonstrated that communities can effectively protect forests and manage communal lands if consulted by the nation building departments and involved in the decision making process.
• Research on technical, social and institutional aspects of Range management should be promoted. It will help in devising appropriate solutions of rangeland degradation.