Fri May 27, 2011 5:33 am (PDT)
Pakistan's Economy - agriculture
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>Agriculture is
the largest sector of Pakistan's economy and accounts for 22 per cent of GDP.
It provides employment to over 40 per cent of total employed workforce.
Agricultural sector of Pakistan is usually divided into crops, livestock and
fisheries. The crop sector accounts for about 65 per cent of agriculture share
in the GDP. Blessed with abundantly available national resources and favorable
climate, Pakistan stands as an ideal place for crop, animal, forestry and fish
production. Crop sector banks on cotton, rice, fruits, vegetables etc. while
livestock accounts for 30 per cent of agriculture GDP. Forestry and fisheries
make up less than 2 per cent of the total. Pakistan agriculture and its related
products comprise of major and minor crops, vegetables and spices, fruits,
edible oils, livestock, milk, poultry, fisheries etc. Pakistan's major and
minor food crops are wheat, rice, maize, jowar, bajra, barley; cash crops are
sugarcane, cotton, sugar beet and guar seed; pulses are gram, mung, and masoor;
edible oilseeds are sesamum, groundnut, soybean, sunflower, canola, safflower,
and cotton seed.
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>The average
production of some important crops are (in 000 tons): wheat (22,109), rice
(4,991), bajra (193), jawar (186), maize (2,275), barley (96), gram (582),
sugarcane (45,316), cotton (2,486), tobacco (84), rapeseed and mustard (227),
and sesamum (30).
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>Pakistan is
ranked fourth in worldwide sugarcane production and 12th in sugarcane production.
The production of sugar is about 4.35 million tons from 77 mills. Fruits,
vegetables and floriculture have important impact on agricultural economy. The
yearly production of fruits, vegetables and spices is 12 million tons. The
production of important fruits include (in 000 tons): citrus (1,948), mango
(1,074), dates (622), apples (380), banana (158), apricot (206), almonds (23),
grapes (49), guava (571), peach (70), pears (31), plums (61), and pomegranate
(50).
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>The
horticulture product holds huge market for exports. The relative importance of
this sector can be gauged with high growth rate of exports of fruits and
vegetables from Pakistan due to ever increasing demand in the existing and
international markets. Some of fruits grown have great potential for exports,
which are available in volumes, varieties and are of rich flavor. These are
mangoes, citrus, grapes, dates, apples, peaches, and cherries. Other prominent
fruits having enormous export potential are plums, pears, guava, etc. Among
vegetables, potatoes, garlic, ginger, and onions are vastly grown in Pakistan
and hold a large global market share because of competitive advantage due to
superior variety, volume and price.
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>The edible oil
production stands at 740,000 tons, which is 35 per cent of local demand. The
imported quantity of the oil is 1,360,000 (about 65 per cent) and consumption
is 2,100. Pakistan spends a huge amount on oil import bill.
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>The production
of vegetables (in 000 tons) are: tomato (426), potato (2025), onion (1,817),
garlic (56), chilies (91), turmeric ( 38), and ginger( 41).
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>Livestock is an
important sector of agriculture in Pakistan, which accounts for 51 per cent of
agricultural value addition and about 11.3 per cent of the GDP. The livestock
population is (in million): Buffalo (27.3), cattle (24.2), goat (66.7), sheep
(36), poultry (366), camels (0.8), asses (4.2), and horses (0.3). mules (0.3).
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>In the similar
manner the livestock products are (in 000 tons): milk (43,562), beef (1,115),
mutton (740) and fat (136.3). The livestock and poultry sectors generate employment
for over 1.5 million people.
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>Leather goods
play an important role in the economy of Pakistan. Pakistan enjoys an excellent
position in the quality of the skins and hides because of its natural
qualities. The skins and hides of the cattle are thicker and shinning in
character and processed in tannery factory. The factories have been established
in Karachi, Lahore, Faisalabad, Peshawar, Multan, Hyderabad, Gujranwala,
Rawalpindi, Quetta, Kasur and even in many small towns and villages. These
factories have facilities to tan the raw hides and skins using different
chemicals. In this way, leather is obtained and through these leather, many
different items are made from the leather. Kasur a small city in the province
of the Punjab has the largest numbers of tannery factory. Similarly, the city
of Karachi in Sindh has also large number of tannery factories and these are
located in SITE and Korangi areas, Hyderabad, Sukkur etc.
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>The finished
leather goods obtained in the tannery factory are used in the preparation of
leather goods such as leather jacket, sport shoes (boots, shoes, joggers),
wallet, purse, leather gloves, sports goods, leather football, boxes, small and
big ladies hand bags, lady belts, brief case, leather garments, buttons, zips,
rivets, fashion gloves etc.
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>Fishery plays
an important role in the national economy and towards the food security of the
country. This sector reduces the existing pressure on demand for mutton, beef
and poultry. Seafood includes tuna, shrimp, prawn, mollisca, lobsters, crabs,
barnacles and mackerel.
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>Forestry is
also an important sector of agriculture, which provides timber and different
types of wood to the people. It also provides millions of jobs to the
population.
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