Socio-Economic Indicators in Rural Pakistan: Some Evidence

This study attempts to quantify the inter-provincial and interdistrict differences among villages with respect to the availability of and access to certain crucial inputs and services which affect the level of living and even quality of life in rural areas.. Using the taxonomic method for rank ordering and clustering of regions, this comparative analysis should help in identifying the areas (provinces or districts) and activities (or services) in each area which may require immediate or special attention of policy makers and planners.

Classes and Agrarian Transition in Pakistan

This is a study of class formation and agrarian transition in Pakistan. The process of class differentiation under way is a manifestation of capitalist development. The agrarian transition in Pakistan is reflected by the disintegration of the peasant and feudal systems. The approach adopted in this paper demystifies the process of agricultural development in an underdeveloped country where, with the expansion of forces of production, the precapitalist relations of production are slowly dissolving. It should also help in discovering the mechanism by which agricultural surplus is extracted from direct producers and rural poverty is perpetuated

Agricultural Policy Issues in Pakistan

Agriculture, in many ways, remains the most dominant activity in Pakistan. It provides a way of life to almost three-quarters of the country's population: over 55 percent of the labour force works directly in agriculture and about 30 percent of the Gross Domestic Product and over 35 percent of the export earnings were contributed by agriculture in 1984. That three-quarters of the population engaged in agriculture cannot produce adequate supply of food and fibre at reasonable prices for the one quarter working in other sectors indicates a low level of productivity in crop and livestock production. Agricultural growth in the past 35 years or so has been uneven in terms of both rates and commodity balances. Also, the benefits from growth have varied significantly across regions and between farm groups. Markets and public policy have not always provided the right economic incentives and environment for sustained and equitable growth

The Political Economy of Agricultural Research in Pakistan

This study is premised on the propo1ition that economic research on agriculture in Pakistan has concentrated on narrow and technocratic aspects without reference to the structure of production relations among various and contending classes of farmers. The paper identifies three major and so far largely unexplored areas of agricultural research, viz. set of relationships among farm groups and their impact on agricultural production and income distribution, measurement and interpretation of participation by these groups in production activities in the private and public sectors, and the land tax system and its effect on issues of growth and equity

Farm Size and Land Productivity Relationships in Pakistan

The study focuses on productivity differences due to farm size. Using farm size data, it suggests that in Pakistan large farms are relatively more productive because of their greater use of .. non-traditional" inputs. The input intensity of large farms derives from market distortion induced by public policy. Agricultural policy should therefore concentrate on eliminating market distortions, by measures like ceiling on land holdings and a wider diffusion of farm extension services and credit

Agriculture in Pakistan: A Revisit

I started studying the structure and performance of Pakistan’s agriculture in the early 1960s. Sadly this sector of the economy is still in a precarious state. I think the blame rests with the state, its policies and agents, more than the vagaries of nature. But the good news is that we can influence public policy far more than the moods of nature. The basic challenges for the agriculture sector in Pakistan are to

"Green Revolution and Redistribution of Rural Incomes: Pakistan's Experience" A Comment

"Green Revolution would indeed have exacerbated rural income inequalities if all that has been said so far accorded with the actual conditions prevailing in Pakistan. It will be shown in this paper that the majority of the above arguments are 'not correct, and that part of the evidence which has been used to demonstrate the adverse consequences of Green Revolution on income distribution is particularly untrustworthy. The paper also demonstrates that Green Revolution has been the most viable rural development strategy ever pursued in Pakistan." [4, pp.174-175

S. M. Naseem. Underdevelopment, Poverty and Inequality ill Pakistan. lahore: Vanguard Publications Ltd. 1981. 323 pp.

This should be counted among the better books published on Pakistan's economy in that it is analytical and not merely descriptive. That the book's contents may not match the expectations created by its title reflects not the author's failing alone, but also the fragmented state of information about the economy itself. I think Professor Naseem has made good use of the available data, although in places his argument is tedious and merely rhetorica1. The book covers a large number of issues, and brings together the author's published and unpublished research in these areas. While it does not have a definite focus, it articulates a point of view, which is critical of the dominant ideology of growthmanship through private enterprise and the consequent foreign-sector orientation of the economy, neglecting the real issues of structural change and equity. He even castigates the short-lived experiment of "socialism" in the early Seventies as whimsical and ad hoc

Traditional Sustainability Accounting Principles and Practices in Rural Bangladesh

This thesis by publication includes five articles which discuss the principles and practices of traditional sustainability accounting in Bangladesh. Modern accounting only recently started to embrace environmental and social values. The research however makes the argument that the traditional practices, local knowledge, inter-generational wisdom and eco-spirituality of rural Bangladesh are the real basis for sustainability accounting. Without formal quantification, this traditional sustainability accounting guides people in their activities and lifestyle promoting a culture of sustainability

Bangladesh and Pakistan: The Great Divergence

There was a time when Bangladesh lagged behind Pakistan in the quality of life measured by any of its major indicators, except for adult literacy and schooling of children. But it is a different story today. Bangladesh is ahead of Pakistan in almost every respect. I intend to present the facts (data) to support this proposition first and then explore the reasons for the great divergence. I am far more certain about the evidence than I am of my explanation since some of it is guesswork, though hopefully not too off the mark