STAFF REPORT IBD: The production of major crops including paddy, wheat, gram and cotton lint is on decline chiefly due to the skyrocketing cost of agriculture inputs.
“In 2011-12 and 2012-13 Pakistan missed production targets of important crops like wheat, rice, cotton and gram, while during the same period the cost of crop production increased by 25 to 30 per cent,” said an official of the Ministry of Food Security and Research.
According to statistics, 23.45 million tons of wheat was produced in 2012 against the target of 25 million tons and this time the wheat production would be around 24 million tons against the set target of 25 million tons, while the agriculture sector is witnessing increased rates of inputs.
Similarly, cotton also missed the target by around 1.5 million bales and output was 13.58 million bales against a target of 15 million bales in 2011-12 and about 13 million bales in 2012-13, which cost the farm community around Rs 120 billion.
The rice crop has dropped to 6.2 million tons against seven million tons target and this loss of over half a million tons in the paddy crop has cost the farmers Rs 34 billion in the past two years.
Gram production came down to 250,000 tons from 550,000 tons. These 300,000 tons translate into a loss of Rs 28 billion a year.