Future of organic farming in Sindh .Pakistan

Future of organic farming in Sindh .Pakistan
By
Farzana Panhwar
General Secretary
M.H.Panhwar Trust.
157-C.Unit.No.2.Latifabad.
Hyderabad.Sindh.Pakistan.
Tele. 9222-3862570 & 9222-3860410
Cell. 0300-2477-243.
Email. farzanapanhwar@yahoo.com
Farzanapanhwar8@gmail.com
farzanapanhwar@hotmail.com

Abstract.

If we will see the area under organic management by the country , (according to FiBL survey 2005/2006) the Australia contains 12,126,633 hectares, the second largest area is found in China which is 3,466,570 hectares and third largest area under organic land is Argentina, which have 2,800,000 hectares land, while the World total area under organic farming was 31,502,786 hectares. Our neighbour country India have 114,037 hectares .Pakistan have only 20,310 hectares under organic farming .If we look the land under organic management in percent of the total agricultural area by country than Pakistan have only 0.07% of total agricultural area. The number of organic farms was only 28 in Pakistan .If we will see the land area under organic management we will find that Europe is a head of every country .Area under organic management-share per continent in which highest shares are for Australia/Oceania which is 39% while the Asia share is only 13%

The GDP per capita of the country was US$ 580 in 2003.The Pakistan Poverty Assessment Survey (2000–2001) estimates that 32% of the Pakistani population lives below the poverty line, of whom two-thirds are transitory poor In Pakistan the rate of synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, veterinary, drugs, hormones, Genetically Modified Seeds(GMS) and breeds, additives and preservatives rate and prices increase tremendously high, so the farmer are not able to use them and they have to replace with site specific management system that maintain and increase long term soil fertility and prevent pest and diseases. Organic farming is used on less than 1% of the world’s crop land and it is expected that in future it will grow at faster speed. The inputs used in this farming comprise of livestock manure, green manure crops, composted municipal garbage, industrial scale, cultivation of high quality humus in earthwork farms, worms compost and oxen and mules.

Organic farming involve large scale un-skilled/semi-skilled labor requiring capacity buildings for specialized handling of organic products from the start of growing to marketing .Such muti tasking will spontaneously generate large scale employment opportunities. It would lead to earn huge income benefits in return for strict discipline in adopting natural growing system. Adopting organic farming will help in improving nutritional status, creating environmental friendly atmosphere, enhancing the capacity building, and providing a friendly atmosphere for biodiversity. Hence, the economy will be on the growing path with a potential to alleviate poverty.