Y






 

Mahreen Mahmud
Lecture: 4
  

°
hp: 3 - The Green Revolution & Land Reforms,

³Issues in Pakistan Economy´, S Akbar Zaidi

2
hp: °° - Green Revolution, ³
ontemporary

Economic Issues in Pakistan´, Muhammad Aslam
!   

Ä Refers to the phenomenon of the spectacular

rise in agricultural production (particularly the
production of wheat and rice in the late 60¶s and
early 70¶s) as a result of the introduction of
HYV¶s
!   

International Wheat and Maize Improvement
enter

established in Mexico in °43

Developed the dwarf high yielding variety of wheat,

which tripled Mexican wheat production between
°44 and °67

Provided impetus for adoption of HYV¶s in food

deficit countries (e g India, Pakistan, Turkey etc )

Wheat acreage under HYV¶s, in UD
¶s, increased

from °0,000 hectares in °65 to over °7 million in
°73
!   

Ä International Rice Research Institute (IRRI)

founded in Philippines in °62

Ä Lester Brown discovered the high yielding

miracle dwarf variety of rice, known as IRRI-6

Ä Rice acreage under the HYV, in UD
¶s,

increased from 4,000 hectares in °65 to °6
million in °73
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Agriculture predominantly remained subsistent in

nature in the first decade after independence
èLow use of chemical fertilizers
èIrrigation water facilities not expanded
èNo research undertaken for improvement of the quality
of seeds

The First Plan: accorded low priority to agriculture

onsequences?
Ä 0 6% gr rate p a in food grains
Ä Modest increases in production due to increase in acreage
rather than higher yields
Ä Stagnating agricultural sector
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Ä 2nd Plan: agricultural development accorded a
higher priority

Ä °60 65: all important food and cash crops

(wheat, rice, cotton, sugarcane) recorded
meaningful productivity gains

Ä °65 70 shows phenomenal growth rates:

Ł food grains: °% p a
Ł
otton: 6%
Ł Sugarcane: %
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Ä The idea of capitalist farming gains popularity:

farmers become receptive to price changes and to
the improved seed-fertilizer-water technology
package

Ä Rural activity increased, resulting in an

unprecedented surge of prosperity
·  

Prime vehicles of change:

the massive switch over to HYV¶s

onsumption of fertilizers: three fold increase from °°° 

thousand tonnes to 3°  thousand tonnes (°67 72)

Area covered by plant protection: ° 7 million spray acres

to 4 °4 million (°67 72)

Tubewells: 5% increase in the area irrigated over the

same time span

Tractors: °3,764 in °6 to 27,32 in °75

·  

Ä Agricultural Price Policy:

Ł Heavy subsidies given on tractors, tube wells,
pesticides and fertilizers: low input policy
Ł High output price policy for food and cash crops to
correct the balance in favor of the agricultural sector:
support prices raised substantially

Ä Increased credit availability

Ł Five fold increase in credit disbursement by ADBP
Ł
ommercial banks also start lending more
 Y  

° Increase in productivity and avoidance of

economic stagnation
2 An alternative to Land Reforms
3 Direct and Indirect Employment Benefits
4 Impact on Income distribution
5 Impact on Regional Disparities
6 Employment displacing impact
7 Effect on people¶s diet and nutrition
 Effect on nature
  

Ä Increases in productivity in various food crops,

which helped overcome food crisis in many
developing countries

Ä Averted possible famines and large-scale starvation

in Asia and Africa

Ä Increased marketable surplus, which was used to

meet the increasing demands of urban consumers
=> avoided economic stagnation
w    

Ä Apart from the revolution, land reforms was the

only other way to increase production and
reduce rural poverty

Ä Western interests: increased profits of multi-

national¶s who were doing business in
agricultural inputs
[  
  ! 
Ä
reated more jobs for agricultural laborers
Ł Real wages of permanent and casual agricultural labor
increased by 2 6% and 2 % p a respectively from °66
73

Ä Reduced underemployment by providing more

employment to village artisans such as carpenters,
blacksmiths, potters etc

Ä Indirect benefits extended to non-rural groups:

increased demand of consumption and investment
goods by farmers, which are produced in the urban
industrial sector
   

Ä Negative influence on income distribution

Ł The success of HYV¶s depended on optimal and
simultaneous use of fertilizers, water and pesticides
Ł Small farmers did not have resources to purchase
these inputs
Ł Large farmers had easier access to credit, canal water
supplies and other extension services
°6: only about 4% of the total tube wells were
installed by small farmers (°3 acres of land), while
70% were owned by farmers possessing more than 25
acres
    [

The areas selected for experimentation were the

most fertile, most optimally irrigated and most
prosperous

Since new technologies were concentrated in

affluent areas, regional disparities were aggravated

Pakistan: Baluchistan and NWFP failed to reap the

benefits of modern inputs

Burki: µit was the farmers who owned b/w 50 and

°00 acres of land, almost all of them in the Punjab,
who produced µPakistan¶s¶ Green Revolution

  [ 


Ä Greater mechanization of the agricultural process

=> employment displacing

Ä Partly neutralized the employment generating

effect

Ä WB-ADBP report: the introduction of a new

tractor on average displaced °0 manual workers
=> 60,000 job lost during °6 72
 "

Ä Most important ingredient in the technology

package was water since the HYV seeds and
fertilizer package were critically dependant on it

Ä Tubewells increased from few hundred in °60 to

75,000 in °6 and °56,000 in °75
 "

Issues:
Ä High concentration in rich districts with °% in
°6 in Punjab
Ł
aused interregional disparities to grow

Ä Given size and cost, mainly installed by

landowners with over 25 acrs of land

Ä Depended on ability to borrow money

 #

Encouraged by:
Ä The provision of cheap credit (though ADBP)
Ä
vervalued exchange rate made tractors cheap
Ä Increased productivity

Ä As a result tractors increased from 2,000 in °5

to °,0 in °6
Ä 5% in Lahore, Multan and Bhawalpur districts
Ä
lose link between tubewell and tractor
ownership 75%
   $ %&'&

Ä Put ceilings on landholdings

Ä Small amount of land handed over; Moreover
most was uncultivated land
Ä Important feature: resumed land to be —
 to
landless tenants
Ä Loopholes: intra-family and intra-households
transfers allowed
Ä Effects:
Ł Burki: precursor to the dynamic middle-class farmer
Ł Alavi: maintained hold of the landlord
  $ %&()

Ä
eilings further lowered

Ä Small amount of land handed over; Moreover
most was uncultivated land
Ä Important feature: land resumed would not
receive any compensation and land to be given
free to landless tenants
Ä
nly °% of landless benefited from the reforms
   

Ä Highly skewed land ownership is the single most retarding factor

in agriculture

Ä Land ownership structure has not changed despite land reforms

of ¶5 and ¶72

Ä Land reforms largely neutralized due to transfer of land in favor

of relatives, b/c ceilings were fixed per person rather than per
family

Ä Land surrendered was largely fallow and barren

Ä Additional land reforms do not seem politically possible at the

moment
%&(*+ ((,Y   -

Ä
auses:

Ł Deterioration in the quality of seed due to non-rotation

of the seed over different regions

Ł Defective pattern of adoption: farmers were

handicapped due to financial and management
constraints

Ł Water requirement of the new technology not fully met

Ł Water-logging and salinity in the Punjab