Land reforms behind time.

Byline: AKRAM KHATOON

Among the developing countries, Pakistan is bracketed with countries having a large rural impoverished population. According to a World Bank report, this group of countries on the globe is distinguished for having almost 90 percent of their rural population falling in the categories of either landless labour or those having uneconomic farm holdings, thus placing almost 80 percent of their rural population at the threshold of poverty.

Pakistan ranks 8th globally with regard to farm output according to the list of countries GDP wise but unfortunately, according to the Asian Development Bank report despite poverty reduction strategies in force continue to increase in rural areas. During the period from 1991 to 2001, the percentage of poor on a country basis sharply increased from 25 to 39 percent. After various economic upheavals and onslaught of the Covid-19 pandemic percentage of rural poor has gone above 48 percent lately.

Cultivators who form the bulk of rural poor are directly engaged in cultivation and managing the crops till these are marketed. Quite a number of them are involved in farming sub-sectors like livestock, poultry farming, fisheries and forestry etc for earning their livelihood. But due to intermittent economic crisis caused by the frequency of natural calamities like drought, floods and unusual extreme weather conditions owners of small farms and landless labours/tenants are found worst affected. Almost every year major portion of their assets is eliminated due to natural disasters.

Women who are equal participants in managing farming and non-farming activities are victims of domestic violence, undernourishment and lack of access to education and health facilities, hence their overall working efficiency is affected. Resultantly entire family continues to entangle in a whirlpool of poverty and resultantly both small land owners and landless cultivators are always under increasing pressure to get out of the agriculture sector altogether and move to urban areas where they mostly earn their livelihood from the informal sector, thus adding to urban poverty also.

According to UNO reports relating to Pakistan almost every year around 180,000 people migrate from rural areas to big cities making these cities more crowded. Industrialisation has also led to the migration of landless labour and educated rural youth to urban parts of the country for employment both in the formal and informal sectors. The use of new...