Importance of agriculture to economy of mianwali free essay sample

Mianwali is the district situated in the north of Punjab. It is located at the border of province KPK AND PUNJAB. This district was formed in the year 1906 . it has three tehsil’s Mianwali Easa khel Piplan The majority of peoples of mianwali belong to the field of agriculture . Mianwali consists of wonder full irrigation system. It consists of canals, river, and tube well, INDUS RIVER is one important source which provides water to many areas in mianwali. this river covers the areas of esakhel,mianwali,kundian,chashma,doaaba, etc.  due to this river most of the irrigation system in mianwali is easily approachable to all farmers. There are two major canals in mianwali too Thal canal Upper-Jhelum canal These two canal canals cover the major portion of mianwali. Apart from these canals there are many tube wells which fill the agricultural needs of mianwali people. From a long time the economy of mianwali was revolving around the crops which were more cultural in nature . These crops consist of wheat mungi and some vegetables. These crops were produced in mianwali for a long time but due to some problems these crops cannot give economical benefits to mianwali neither they can full fill the food needs of mianwali. But now in last ? years the type of crops being produced in mianwali is changed now mianwali people are producing crops like cotton, tobacco, etc. These crops are providing large profits to the people of mianwali and it is also providing people with employment . these crops are also giving industrialization in mianwali. In this article we will discuss about the effect of agriculture to mianwali. In Pakistan agricultural sector is of prime importance. It is the major source of income for the country during last 65 years. According to the latest survey it is contributing 1. 20. 9 % to the GDP. 2. Its growth rate is as low as 1. 5%. 3. It gives employment to 45% labor force So this scenario shows that agriculture is of prime importance to the economy of PAKISTAN. As mianwali is located in Punjab province so it also possesses a very fertile land. Due to this reason agriculture is also very important to the people of mianwali and its economy. Everyone knows that mianwali is traditionally producing those goods which are used as food, like wheat but in this article we will study about a few crops which are new in mianwali and which are making mianwali economically strong. EXPANSION OF COTTON INDUSTRY. The production of cotton in mianwali is increasing in last couple of years. MIANWALI was not known for the production of crops like cotton in the history but now mianwali is producing cotton at a high rate. Cotton is helping the economy of mianwali in many ways we will study those ways but firstly we will show the stats which show Amount of cotton in 2011 /acre Amount of cotton in 2012/acre 91000 96500 This increase in the production of cotton is providing mianwali with many benefits these benefits are explained shortly. Direct benefits. Employment Industrialization Increase in per capita Income Increase In the Production Tobacco Increase in the production of other crops Now these direct benefits are discussed in brief: Direct benefits Like every crop cotton has a direct benefit because cotton is a premium crop and it has a high market value so it gives farmer a very large amount of profit. This large amount of profit gives two benefits to the farmer .  1st is large revenue and 2nd is increase in per capita income. Also if a farmer gets large amount of benefit it proves incentive to work hard which helps to increase in income of the farmer directly and city and country indirectly. Employment: This increase in production of cotton is leading to many advantages to our district. The biggest of all these advantages is providing employment . f irstly when the people work on wages in the fields they get jobs. 2nd reason is that with the increase in production many GINNING FACTORIES have started working in the premises of mianwali. There are 33 ginning factories working in mianwali. Due to these factories many people in mianwali have started to get jobs in these factories. Almost 100 people are working in these factories. So at least 3000 people have got their jobs. This leads to increase in per capita income and ultimately to the stability of economy of mianwali. Industrialization: Industrialization is the thing which gives development to a country and a city every developed city in the world is developed due to its industry. Manchester is one of the most developed countries in the world it is just developed due its industry. In Pakistan Faisalabad Gujarat Gujranwala is one on of the developed cities just because of their industry. Cotton industry is providing mianwali with a chance to be industrially strong now in mianwali 33 ginning factories are working this is not a very big no but for a city like mianwali it is very healthy thing to have a start in the field of industry and this start is just because of crop of cotton . Increase in per capita income: Cotton factory is also increase leading to per capita income because if a farmer earns a direct revenue ,or a person gets a job in a factory or a person installs a industry it leads to the increase in earnings of mianwali and also it is leading to the increase in per capita income and development of economy of mianwali. INCREASE IN PRODUCTION OF TOBACCO: In the last few years the production of tobacco has increased in mianwali especially in last two years its production has increased at a very rapid rate, which can be seen from the following data. Amount in 2011 per acreage Amount in 2012 per acreage 1000 1500 According to this data the amount of production of tobacco has increased almost half of the amount since last year. This increase in the production of tobacco is giving mianwali many economic benefits. Firstly if the production of any crop increases it can increase the revenue, secondly it increases the rate of employment but the major benefit which mianwali has got from the production of tobacco is the INDUSTRIALIZATION because the increase in the rate of production has got the attention of PAKISTAN TOBBACCO COMPANY (PTC). due to the increase in the rate of production of tobacco PTC has started a plant in the mianwali. In the past few years the production of other crops is increasing in mianwali at a constant rate . for example the production of wheat is increasing at a rapid rate, wheat is an important ingredient of human food . it is a premium crop and increase in its production has lead to the increase in the rate of revenue earning for the people of mianwali. The increase in the production of all other crops is increasing the living standards of the people of mianwali . this increase in the production rate is increasing the per capita income. It is providing people of mianwali jobs and also giving mianwali a chance to be industrially strong. But there are some indirect benefits which people of mianwali are getting from agriculture now we will study about those benefits. BENEFITS OF AGRICULTURE FOR ECONOMY OF MIANWALI (INDIRECT): There are many benefits of agriculture in a country. Many people know about these advantages but there are some other advantages about which not enough people know but these advantages are as important as other advantages and they are also helping the economy in a descent way. FOCUS OF NATIONAL MULTINATIONAL AGRO COMPANIES: This increase in the rate of agricultural products has lead to the focus of many national and multinational companies in mianwali. This focus is giving people of mianwali a chance to get employment. Their are around 20 agro companies working in the mianwali presently . around 50 men are working in each company as a salesmen, accountant, managers, . So almost around 1000 people have got the jobs in these companies . so in a small city like mianwali it is proving to be very beneficial . this is increasing the per capita income and helping our economy in a great way. The volume of grain market has increased in mianwali at a rapid rate in mianwali(complete info about grain market is provided on a separate page). due to this increase in grain market it is easier for the farmers to get their grain into other areas and earn important revenue. (All the data was provided by ALI AKBAR GROUP) PROBLEMS FOR FARMERS IN MIANWALI As we have already discussed that mianwali is a remote area it is not much developed so our district is facing many problems in its agricultural process. The irrigation system of mianwali need to be improved and the farmers need to have some support from government. There are many problems faced by the farmers of mianwali a few of them are as follows: SHORTAGE OF WATER: Water is the necessity for agriculture easy access to water and better irrigation system makes it easier for farmers to produce good crops. Unfortunately many areas of mianwali are facing problems of water farmers don’t have easier access to water. Low level farmers cannot use tube wells .  most of the agriculture system of mianwali depends upon rain water so if there are no sufficient amount of rains farmers of mianwali suffer losses. Transportation of agricultural commodities: In many areas of mianwali like kacha there are serious transportation problems . farmers are not able to take their commodities to the other cities easily . as the farmers are not able to take their commodities to the other cities so, there is less amount of production because the farm ers know that they cannot sale their products in other cities so they produce in less amount. Cold stores Another serious which people of mianwali are facing is the problem of cold stores. Because there is no cold store in mianwali due to this reason the production of citrus is affected in mianwali because farmers know that if they produce in large amount then their fruits can be ruined due to the absence of cold store. So due to this reason production of goods is affected at a high rate. Inputs should be cost effective The inputs like fertilizers, seeds pesticides are really important for the production of crops. If the inputs are cost effective then it directly influences the rate of production. In mianwali these inputs are not easily available and also not very much cost effective. So to improve the economy of mianwali inputs should be cost effective. So to improve the economy of mianwali we need to find some solution of these problems because without solving these problems we cannot improve the economy of mianwali. STEPS TAKEN BY INDIAN GOVERNMENT FOR THEIR FARMERS AS COMPARED TO GOVERNMENT OF PAKISTAN PAKISTAN AND INDIA are two neighboring countries .  these two countries resemble with one another in many ways. The weather, economic conditions type of soil and many other traditions are same between these two countries but due to certain reasons India is much more economically strong than Pakistan. These reasons are as follows. Here is a short comparison between the steps taken by Indian government and Pakistan government is as follows: PAKISTAN Inputs are not cost effective Tube wells a re not easy for small farmers to install. Ways of transportation are not good. The middlemen’s in Pakistan reduce the benefit of farmers Transportation system is better in india. There is no middle man in india that is why farmers gets more profits. At the end we will like to end our article by suggesting that government of Pakistan should also take steps to improve the life style of our farmers as Indian government did. And there should be new methods in agriculture to improve the production and the farmers should be given skills so that they can enhance their production.