MORE THAN two-thirds of Pakistanis live in rural areas, of which about 68 per cent are employed in agriculture (40 per cent of total labor force). Agriculture has remained one of the major sectors of the economic. No doubt, industry remained one of the major sectors of the country continues to depend largely on agricultural production. Pakistan is basically an agricultural country its development is mainly dependent on this sector. However the agriculture production is much smaller in Pakistan than the other countries of the world. It is the fact the farmer adopt the latest techniques, they increase their agricultural production. Some factors exercise influence on the adoption of agricultural technology.
1. Obtaining access to the technologies requires knowledge of the existence of the technology, the ability to assess its suitability for the farming system as well as potential risk, and the ability to obtain and finance the technologies.
2. To be able to use technologies, farmers need to have the necessary knowledge of how to use them, the ability to use them (e.g. sufficient labour or other resources) and the ability to manage any associated risk.
3. Finally, farmers can generate income if they are able to profitably sell surplus produce and save and reinvest the resulting returns.
In general, factors that will influence a farmers ability and willingness to adopt agricultural technologies involve both farm-specific aspects (i.e. the characteristics of the farmers and the resources at their disposal) and circumstances related to the biophysical and socio-economic context of the farming operation. Technologies may at times be rejected not because of their intrinsic qualities, but rather because they are not compatible with these factors. So, the basic need is that to adopt the science and technology in the field of agriculture. Present status of the agriculture is very poor because rural poverty is increasing very rapidly. This ratio of rural poverty was at 20 per cent in 1990. Earlier, this ration was very less, but in 2002, this ratio increased at the rate of 40 per cent. This was much unexpected because at that time very favorable policies were launched regarding prices and open environment. Another reason that may cause increase in poverty and decline in agriculture was the constant drought. This hindrance and constraint was very big that had tremendous influence both on agriculture sector as well as rural poverty increase. However, agricultural technologies can be viewed as means by which farmers seek to achieve their production objectives. Farmers have many objectives, including risk management, quality of life, and environmental stewardship. But for the majority of farmers, who rely on agricultural income, expected profitability is the sine qua non – they must earn enough to stay in business. In attempting to produce profitably, farmers are constrained by limited access to essential productive resources such as land, labor, equipment, buildings, and management knowledge. Profitable farming calls for using these resources up to the point where the cost of additional resource use is no longer compensated by the value of the resultant gain in output. The profitability appeal of VRA input control has been the potential to tailor input use site specifically, increasing it where justified by expected yield gains or reducing inputs where the costs exceed the expected benefits.
Some problems that due to which agriculture is in confusion are following:
• Lack of proper technology and improved economy mica practice
• Crops management techniques
• Availability if water on time and modern inputs
• Marketing and supportive infrastructure
• Cost
• Supply of credit
• Lack of high quality seeds
• Insufficient fertilizer
• Availability of fiancé
In Pakistan, due to lack of technology usage in agriculture sector, we face the problem of the above-mentioned gaps. The average yields production in the agriculture sector of Pakistan is far below the level of those countries who use the technology in their agriculture sector. The level of yields of different crops are 50 – 83 per cent lower than the average of other countries of the world. The use of technology in the agriculture sector and realization of this unachieved potential could provide excellent opportunity in Pakistan in agriculture sector. About 31 per cent labour is engaged in the agricultural field and its contributes 15 per cent towards the GDP. There are so many hindrances in the way of mechanized farming that each one demands a separate article to be discussed. But lack of proper technology, improved agronomic practice, crops management techniques, timely availability of water and lack of modern machines are those main factors about that we cannot help discussing.
Moreover the agricultural development in Pakistan has been in fluctuation since the foundation Pakistan. But the most encouraging thing regarding this is the realization of the problem by the policy makers and government of Pakistan. Many radical steps have been taken to facilitate the farmers by providing them with agric loans, green tractors, seeds, fertilizers and agric education and proper agric training to the illiterate farmers. So, we should be hopeful and have optimistically expectation that the day is not far beyond when Pakistan will be agriculturally developed country and will be enjoying all the modern equipments used in agriculture field.