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Urbanization and Loss of Agricultural Land and Productivity

(A case study of selected villages)
By, Dr. Rukhsana Javed, Associate Professor, Jinnah College for Women, University of Peshawar. Miss Iffat Jabeen Lecturer in Economics, Jinnah College for Women, University of Peshawar.

Abstract:
Objective of the study: the objective of the present study was to analyze the impact of urban expansion on the agricultural lands and productivity of these lands. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted from 1st to 31st July, 2009 in six villages located along the G.T road as we travel from Peshawar to Pabbi. 42 individuals were interviewed selected through random sampling. A mixed type of questionnaire was used to collect the relevant data. Results were interpreted in percentage form to interpret the results at a glance. Results: The studied showed that the decreased productivity of agricultural lands was due to various housing schemes (30.95%), industrial build up in the area (33.33%) and because of the land pollution caused by these industries (35.71%). Conclusion and Recommendations: Although urbanization is important and is need of the day but it should not be at the expense of our fertile agricultural land and precious agricultural income should not be sacrificed for unplanned and unauthorized urban expansion.

Introduction:
Agriculture is considered a vital sector of any economy and in case of Pakistan it is the back bone of our economy as Pakistan is basically an agrarian economy. There is a need to boost our economic development through integrated efforts in all sectors of our economy. Pakistans agriculture sector although showing some growth is still far behind its potential. Our agricultural productivity can be increased manifolds. Pakistan government is also paying special attention to increase our farm productivity not only to be self sufficient but to earn significant amount of foreign exchange.

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The basic purpose of this research paper is to analyze the impact of rapid urbanization on agricultural lands and productivity.

Materials and Methods:

In order to conduct our study and to analyze the impact of urbanization on agricultural lands and productivity we selected the area ranging from Peshawar to Pabbi, our focus was on the villages located alongside the G.T road in the study area. These include Jhagra, Chamkani, Taru jabba, Sokay, Akber pura and Pabbi. Although the sample size is quite smaller to implement the study results on the country level, but it may provide an insight of the issue and authorities can conduct detailed study on provincial or country wide basis. The purpose of this research is just to highlight the problem of reduced agricultural lands and productivity due to rapid urbanization trends. The study was conducted from July 1st to 31st, 2009. The procedure was kept simple due to financial and time constraints. To conduct the study we used very simple techniques of research. We personally interviewed the individuals who are/were the owners/peasants of the agricultural lands in the study area. A mixed type of questionnaire was used for this purpose. 42 individuals from various villages of the target area were interviewed selected through random sampling. The information collected from our respondents through questionnaire and general conversation is presented in the tabulated form to show the situation at a glance.

Hypothesis to Be Tested:
Rapid urbanization, along with its positive impacts on our living standards, is badly affecting our agricultural lands. The hypothesis we are going to test is; Increased Urbanization Reduces Agricultural Productivity

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Before moving to our study results justifying the above hypothesis, here is a brief introduction of Agriculture sector of the Pak economy.

Role of Agriculture Sector in Pakistan Economy:

Agriculture accounts for about 23% of GDP and employs about 44% of the labor force. Pakistan ranks fifth in the Muslim world and twentieth worldwide in farm output.The most important crops are wheat, sugarcane, cotton, and rice. Major crops accounting for 33.4% of agricultural value added registered an impressive growth of 7.7% during fiscal year 2008.09.1 Pakistan's largest food crop is wheat. In 2005, Pakistan produced 21,591,400 metric tons of wheat, more than all of Africa (20,304,585 metric tons) and nearly as much as all of South America (24,557,784 metric tons), according to the FAO.2 Pakistan is a net food exporter, except in occasional years when its harvest is adversely affected by droughts. Pakistan exports rice, cotton, fish, fruits (especially Oranges and Mangoes), and vegetables and imports vegetable oil, wheat, cotton, pulses and consumer foods. The economic importance of agriculture has declined since independence, when its share of GDP was around 53%. Following the poor harvest of 1993, the government introduced agriculture assistance policies, including increased support prices for many agricultural commodities and expanded availability of agricultural credit. From 1993 to 1997, real growth in the agricultural sector averaged 5.7% but has since declined to about 4%. Agricultural reforms, including increased wheat and oilseed production, play a central role in the government's economic reform package.3 Now here is a brief description of urbanization, here we see what urbanization is and what are the causes behind rapid urbanization.

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Rapid Urbanization Trends and Its Causes:

What is urbanization? Urbanization refers to a process in which an increasing proportion of an entire population lives in cities and the suburbs of cities. Historically, it has been closely connected with industrialization. When more and more inanimate sources of energy were used to enhance human productivity (industrialization), surpluses increased in both agriculture and industry. Larger and larger proportions of a population could live in cities. Economic forces were such that cities became the ideal places to locate factories and their workers.4 Urbanization affects food production in two ways - by removing agricultural land from cultivation, as cities expand, and by reducing the number of family farms, as more farmers move to cities. The spread of cities alone consumes enormous tracts of farmland in much of the world. Between 1987 and 1992, for example, China lost close to one million hectares of farmland each year to urbanization and the expansion of roads and industries. In the US, urban sprawl takes over nearly 400,000 hectares of farmland each year.5 Causes of Increased Urbanization: Here are some factors that are held responsible for the rapid expansion of cities6. Rapid increase in population Over population. Lack of earning opportunities in the rural areas. Defective land tenure system of third world agrarian countries. Better living standards in urban areas. Better job opportunities in urban areas. Concentration of industry near big cities.

Now we move on to our focus point that how increased urbanization in our study area has affected the agricultural lands and their productivity.

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Results:
Table 1: Reason for Reduced Productivity of Lands and Lands Being Not Used For Cultivation
S.No Frequency of Respondents Reason Identified % age

1 2 3 4
Total

13 15 05 09 42

Housing Schemes Land Pollution (because of factory materials) Construction Industry Marble Factories

30.95 35.71 11.90 21.43 100.00

Table 2: Impact of Reduced Agricultural Productivity and Land Take Off

S.No Frequency of Respondents Identified Effects % age

1 2 3 4
Total

04 18 08 12 42

Food Shortage Increasing Prices Unemployment Reduced Incomes

09.52 42.85 19.04 28.57 100.00

Table 3: Recommendations for the Preservation of Agricultural Lands

S.No Frequency of Respondents Recommendations % age

1 2 3
Total

15 06 21 42

Urban facilities at village level Check on housing schemes Building of industrial estates

35.71 14.28 50.00 100.00

Impact of Urbanization on Agricultural Land and Productivity:

Here we present some reasons, identified, for increased urbanization on agricultural lands and reduced agricultural productivity of the area under study.

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Installation of Marble Industries: It was observed that many lands that were once agricultural are now being used for installation of various industries. Thus reducing the over all agricultural productivity of the lands in the study area. There is a built up of Marble industry. The industry is affecting the agricultural land in 2 ways. First, it simply takes the agricultural land out of production where the industry has been installed. Second, the negative externality caused by these industries. Marble factories create a kind of dust which penetrates in the fertile lands and make them infertile or not suitable for the cultivation of certain crops and fruits. Construction Industry: There is an increasing trend of construction industry producing various construction materials. These include ready made roofs factories and crush producing units. These industries when transporting their production materials to factories and markets pollute the nearby fertile agricultural lands. This in turn reduces the productivity of the land. Fertile lands turn Barren: Many fertile lands turned barren, 35.71 % of respondents told that they used to cultivate wheat in their fields and it helped them to keep their food bill much lower than now. They now have to purchase wheat flour from the market because their agricultural land has turned barren due to near by factories. The land is no more suitable to cultivate wheat. Reduced Productivity of Fruits Orchards: The area under study was famous for Pear and Plum Orchards. As we drove along the GT road, most of us remember the fruit orchards along side the road, but these are now vanished. The reason being polluted land not suitable for their production. Reduced productivity is also the result of sale of such orchards for factories and other uses. Housing Schemes: Unplanned housing and a rapid expansion of private and public sector housing schemes along side the GT road is another factor identified for the reduced productivity of lands and agricultural land take off. The most striking example of housing schemes is WAPDA housing scheme, which took much of the fertile land and orchards out of production. Construction of Roads: Another factor which takes agricultural land out of production is the construction of roads and motorways. Many fertile agricultural

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lands come under the plans of road expansion or construction of a new road. This on the one hand is beneficial for the nation but on the other hand have some negative impact on agricultural production. Now we look into the effects of reduced agricultural productivity on the local population.

Effects of Reduced Productivity:

These are the effects of reduced agricultural productivity, Food Shortage: it was observed that agricultural lands take off creates food shortages. Its true that rapid increase in population requires cities to expand but its also a fact that as cities expand and agricultural land is taken out of production it will cause food shortages. As we need to produce more and more to meet the food requirements of rapidly growing population. Reliance on Imports: As urbanization takes lands out of production and rapid increase in population requires more and more food, so the country has to import food items from abroad. This is against our national goal of self sufficiency in food. Loss of Precious Foreign Exchange: Reliance on imports not only weakens our position with our trading partners but it also causes loss of our precious foreign exchange that could otherwise be used for hi-tech industrial imports to put our country on the path of development. Increasing Prices: it is also proved that increase in urbanization has contributed towards rising prices of food items. On the one hand urbanization takes off agricultural land and causes reduced production and on the other supply shortages create excessive demand for those items and cause the prices to rise sharply. Reduced Exports: Decreased production reduces our export capacity of food items, and we are deprived of the precious foreign exchange that we could have earned otherwise. The area under study was a good source of Pear and Plum that could be exported but now as a result of rapid urbanization and reduced production of these fruit we are loosing our potential foreign exchange earnings.

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Rising Unemployment: with increasing urbanization a number of labor force is being unemployed. These unemployed workers are not being absorbed in the other sectors of the economy, reason being the global recession. There is an international trend of slowing down of the businesses, very limited new job opportunities are being created and thus the labor force displaced from agriculture sector remains unemployed.

After having an idea of the impact of urbanization on our agricultural productivity, here we present some useful and implement able suggestion to preserve our agricultural lands and still meeting the demand of increased urbanization.

Recommendations to Preserve Agricultural Lands:

Model villages: During the study it was observed that a large proportion of agricultural land was lost due to increasing housing schemes in the area. The problem could be addressed if we focus on to making our villages Model villages. If we provide all the urban facilities of life in these villages we can reduce the flow of people from villages to cities, thus the demand for housing schemes would automatically be decreased. Industrial Estates: Another factor responsible for taking off of the agricultural land is the installation of industry on agricultural land. It should also be checked. Authorities should authorize installation of industries only in the industrial areas. For this purpose new industrial areas can be built away from fertile lands. Check on unplanned housing scheme: There should be a check on unplanned and unapproved housing schemes. The housing scheme is a profitable business nowadays and many schemes are started even without taking N.O.C. from the concerned authorities. Villagers sell their agricultural lands to such private housing scheme owners for a little profit. Thus losing a permanent source of their income. Motivation to farmers: It was observed during the study that many farmers of the area didnt have any idea to export their production. These farmers should be taught about the modern farming ways and they should be provided a channel to

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export their produce and not only to increase their living standards but to earn foreign exchange for the country.

Conclusion:
Urbanization not only causes an expansion of built-up areas for housing, but also has farreaching effects on agricultural lands. Urban populations need a much broader supply and service infrastructure than rural populations - from shopping centers to water reservoirs. They usually cannot build their houses with local products, such as clay or wood; instead, steel mills and cement factories are necessary for urban construction. They cannot collect firewood for cooking and heating, but depend instead on the production and distribution of commercial energy. Cities also need special areas for sewage treatment and waste disposal; in villages, this is often taken care of at the household level. The process of urbanization usually triggers the growth of a specific supply infrastructure and cityspecific land-use forms, such as parks, recreation areas, and sport stadiums, which further diminish cropland areas around the cities.7 Thus there is a need on the part of the government as well as its our social responsibility to preserve the precious natural gift of Agricultural lands. Urbanization and urban expansion is must for development but we can not ignore the importance of agriculture for a country like Pakistan. With population increase our food requirement is also increasing day by day. In order to meet our food demand we should not rely on import rather we have to be self sufficient in food production and it can only be achieved if we prevent agricultural lands going out of production.

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Economic Survey of Pakistan, 2008.09, Ministry of Finance, Government of Pakistan. FAOSTAT Database Results", http://faostat.fao.org/faostat/servlet/XteServlet3?

Areas=359&Areas=165&Areas=318&Items=15&Elements=51&Years=2005&Format=Table&Xaxis=Years&Yaxis=Count ries&Aggregate=&Calculate=&Domain=SUA&ItemTypes=Production.Crops.Primary&language=EN. Retrieved on 200606-03.

3

Lal, R. (August 2001), "Thematic evolution of ISTRO: transition in scientific issues and research focus from 1955 to

2000", Soil and Tillage Research 61 (1-2): 312 [3],

4

The Urbanization of the World, 2003, The National Center for Agricultural Law Research & Information. USA.

Population Report, 1997, the Population Information Program, Center for Communication Programs, The Johns Hopkins

School of Public Health, Baltimore, , USA Volume XXV.

6

Ahmad, Qazi S (1965) Urban population in Pakistan. Geographical Review, vol. X No.1

Heilig, G.K. (1999): China Food. Can China Feed Itself? IIASA, Luxemburg (CD-ROM Vers. 1.1) Copyright 1999 by

IIASA. Revision 1.11