PAKISTAN is one of the 10 countries most affected by the changing climate. The impact of the latter is showing up in different forms — erratic weather patterns, reduction in the availability of water per capita, melting glaciers, rapid desertification of fertile cultivable land, floods, and so on. The slow policy response to the climate challenge by successive governments means the changes are taking a heavy toll on agriculture and threatening food security. Take the example of the cotton crop. The overall cotton output has dropped by more than a quarter in the last one decade at the cost of the farmers’ well-being, textile exports, and farm and factory jobs. This year again, the unusual heavy rains caused a lot of damage to the cotton plants just as they were fruiting. Naturally, the crop output fell far short of the targeted 15m bales. This will have significant consequences for the government’s efforts to reduce the trade deficit as the industry will be forced to double its cotton exports this year to meet its consumption requirements for exports. According to some estimates, the imports could cost the economy anywhere in the range of $2bn and $3bn during the present fiscal year, depending on the quantity of fibre to be imported.
The erratic weather patterns mean that the country’s food security will also be hit as changing climate poses serious challenges. Immediate policy intervention is required for dealing with the emerging conditions. Experts believe the new climatic patterns are likely to shorten harvest periods, increase the risk of pest attacks and disease, and reduce overall productivity. The situation calls for heavy public and private investments in new seed varieties that can cope with the changing weather patterns, especially frequent heatwaves and dry spells. Moreover, training farmers to conserve water and providing them with access to timely weather information as well as encouraging the use of laser levelling is required. The promotion of the use of digital technology can be an effective way of combating weather changes and protecting agriculture. Countries across the world are inventing new technologies, and encouraging innovation and adoption of efficient practices to make agriculture efficient in order to overcome the challenges being posed to productivity by erratic weather conditions. With the country’s population estimated to grow by around 50pc in the next 30 years, it is high time we started using smart technologies to enable our farms to keep feeding us and to grow raw material for our industry.
Published in Dawn, December 23rd, 2019
