Why Pakistan Needs to Develop its Rural Areas

 
 
 
Posted by: IIPS Category: Daily Insights Tags: , , Comments: 0

Pakistan being an agrarian country, mainly depends on its agricultural productivity. It is the largest sector of the economy, contributing 25 per cent to the GDP and 70% of the total value of exports.

Moreover, the sector employs 17 million workers and represents 44 per cent of the country’s labour force. Approximately 67 per cent of the population lives in rural areas, mainly engaging in agriculture as their source of earning.

Apart from agriculture, there is another wider rural economy, including nonfarm economic activities such as small enterprises, transport services, village retail shops, local schools, and clinics, which constitute about 40 to 57 per cent of total rural household income. 

Despite so much importance, most rural people live in areas where farmable land is scarce, agriculture potential is low, and drought and environmental degradation are common features. Furthermore, access to basic human needs like potable drinking water and sanitation, education, shelter for poor strata, and healthcare are far less available in rural areas.

The problems of malnutrition, low life expectancy, and high infant mortality are more dominant in rural areas. However, with poor health, inadequate food resources, and illiteracy, the employment capacity of the rural population has been reduced, coupled with a degrading natural resource base due to the declining productivity of the agriculture sector.

Currently, the growth of rural development is substantially low. It needs to be improved for the well-being of the poor by adopting measures to promote rural and agri-based industries.

Increased agricultural productivity will have a significant effect on reducing poverty in rural areas. There is a need to create and promote public health, food hygiene, and integrated family planning through communication and advocacy initiatives in rural areas. We are developing a human resource community for both on-farm/nonfarm employment opportunities.

Furthermore, the government should mobilise social capital for creating and utilising community resources such as physical, capital, and social by adopting a community-based participatory approach to encourage rural development.

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IMARAT Institute of Policy Studies

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