Agriculture failures fuel rural decline, unemployment

Developing urban infrastructure alone would not resolve the employment issues faced by Pakistan, where 65 percent of the population still lives in rural areas which lack not only infrastructure, but basic civic amenities as well.Failure of one crop devastates the rural economy and farming families cannot fall back on non-rural jobs to supplement farm income. The planners need to focus on speedy development in the rural regions and facilitate creation of non-farm jobs to ensure equitable and sustained growth.This needs a paradigm shift in development priorities of both the federation and the provinces. They have to give more importance to rural development where majority of the Pakistanis live. The rural road programme in Punjab should be emulated by other provinces.Pakistan is currently facing 6-7 percent unemployment, and of its 180 million, around 65 percent or 117 million live in ruralareas. Around four million people enter the market for jobs every year of which 2.6 million live in rural regions. Up till now the rural youth were absorbed by the agricultural economy.With farm sizes shrinking rapidly due to inheritance laws, most of the small farms can no more absorb this constantly increasing labour force.Though Pakistan is still far from full mechanisation in agriculture, the availability of tractors and harvesters has further reduced the need for labour force in rural regions. If jobs are not created in the rural areas, unemployment rate will skyrocket and migration to urban areas will make the cities unmanageable.This also reflects an overdue realisation that Pakistan’s labour market is going through five transitions; that from farm to non-farm, rural to urban, unorganised to organised, subsistence self-employment to decent wage employment, and school to work. It is a huge opportunity for job creation and growth.The state can create opportunities through incentives for setting up industrial zones particularly for agro-based industries in rural areas. The only long-term solution is to make rural areas a better habitat for job creation.The only sustainable, long-term solutions lie in an integrated approach to education, employability and employment - that will arise from the reform of current regimes in infrastructure,education, skill development and labour laws.If the government succeeds in eradicating rural poverty by creating on-farm jobs, 65 percent Pakistanis who reside in small towns and villages will have more money to spend more on consuming value-added products. Increased consumption in rural Pakistan will create new jobs required for providing value-added products and services.The planners must take study how rural spending by the government can be productively used by rural consumers to enhance their quality of life.Bangladesh has successfully reigned in its poverty and brought prosperity in the rural region through prudent micro loans to the women. The NGOs in Bangladesh trusted the fair gender by providing them small loans along with a viable business model.In Pakistan the NGOs are mostly confined to cities where a relatively more affluent population lives. Small loans in urban centres are nonviable to start a sustainable business. In rural areas where most of the artisans reside small loans can do wonders.News SourceNews Collated byPAKISSAN.comCourtesy Business Recorder