GREEN REVOLUTION

Introduction to agriculture of Pakistan:

Crop Rank
Chickpea 3rd
Apricot 6th
Cotton 4th
Milk 5th
Sugarcane 5th
Onion 7th
Oranges 6th
Mango 4th
Wheat 7th
Rice 4th

The most important era, of economic and agricultural development of Pakistan is recognized
as The Golden Sixties. When Ayub Khan gained power, he realized the crucial role of
agriculture as base for the rapid industrial development. Thus, he enacted far reaching
reforms in the agricultural sector. The sector was given a boost by carrying out requisite land
reforms, institutional strengthening and applications of science and technology. These
reforms and collective up rise of agricultural sector was given the name of GREEN
REVOLUTION. State introduced science and technology to almost all activities of
agriculture in order to accelerate the scope and strength of Green Revolution. The agricultural
innovation and invention is concerned with the following factors:
 High yielding seeds: good and modified quality of seeds. These seeds act as
enzymes in the agricultural body i.e. they boost growth rates of crop and are
capable of yielding far better crops as compared to ordinary seeds.
 Fertilizers: fertilizers help in increasing the fertility of soil chemically and thus
generation of better and healthy crops.
  Pesticides: pests are a common problem of agriculture industry. Pesticides
don’t only kill pests but rather they control their further birth and attacks on
crops.
 Sprays: sprays aid in protecting crops from both the pesticides and weather
affects too.
 Intensive use of water resources: the most important raw material for a good
crop to grow is water. Both rain water and irrigational water coming from
canals etc. are necessary for plants. Some crops like rice need a lot of water to
grow. And if by chance shortage of rain occurs and irrigation systems are
uncompetitive rice crops get totally destroyed. Others like wheat need water in
the beginning but when harvesting period is near their water consumption
minimizes to almost zero.
 Use of tractors, harvesters, threshers: mechanical advancements like these lead
to time saving, and also it minimizes the cost of manual labor.
 Change in outlook of farm: land reforms were introduced that changed outlook
of farms. It increased productivity of land and hence cultivated yields rose to a
higher mark.
Between 1959 and 1964, agriculture grew at an overall rate of 3.7%, but this rate was
overshadowed by an even greater rate of 6.3% between 1965 and 1970. Between 1966/7 and
1967/8, the years when the Green Revolution was at its peak, agricultural output grew by
11.7%, and it maintained a high growth rate of 9.6% in 1968/9 to 1969/70. In this period,
Wheat production increased by 91% and rice production increased by 141%.
The phenomenal increase in growth took place in two phases.

1. 1960-1965
During this phase, the main cause of the growth was the increase in irrigation facilities,
mainly tube wells.
 Between1960-65, about 25,000 tube wells were installed, each costing Rs.
5000-12000 and the farm area serviced by tube wells doubled.

2. 1966-1970
During this second phase, the growth took place mainly the expanded irrigation facilities
were supplemented by the technology package of high yielding varieties (HYV) seeds,
chemical fertilizers and pesticides.
 Two HYV seeds, one for wheat and the other for rice were introduced in
Pakistan. Since the HYV seeds required large sources of water, those areas
that had better irrigation facilities and those that had installed tube wells were
the first to adopt these seeds. Moreover, farmers who wanted to use the new
seeds were also seen sinking tube wells and the number of tube wells in the
 country increased from 34,000 to 79,000 between 1965 and 1970. More than
half of the irrigated area of the country (6 million acres) was cultivated with
the improved seeds in 1969/70.
 Fertilizer consumption also saw a dramatic increase of 150% between1965-
1970 and a rise of 235% between1965-1971.
 Tractor imports were systematically encouraged by the provision of cheap
credit through institutions such as ADBP. At the same time, the overvalued
exchange rate made tractors available in Pakistan at prices considerably below
world market prices. The number of tractors therefore increased from 2000 in
1959 to 18,909 in 1968.
Other agricultural reforms made in this era were as follows:
Land reforms:
1. A person could not own more than either 500 acres of canal irrigated land or
1000 acres of unrelated land or 36000 produce index units whichever is more.
In addition, an owner was allowed to have 150 acres of land for gardens and
pastures. Over and above the limit, the land was to be taken by the
Government after the payment of suitable compensation to the owners.
2. Utilization of resumed area.
The excess land acquired by the Government was sold on reasonable
conditions to the tenants. Afterwards, the remaining land was sold to the
deserving persons.
3. Creation of pool.
The sale-proceeds of the acquired land were pooled in a separate fund. This
fund was utilized for payment of compensation to the landlords to meet the
administrative expenses in implementing the development projects in the
acquired land and clearing of the bad debts.
4. jagirs.
Every kind of jagir, religious, charitable or educational institutions, was
abolished; however, the institutions were given grants-in-aid.
5. Protection to tenants.
Illegal ejectment of the tenants was prohibited. In case a tenant was legally
ejected, he was to be provided alternative land. He was also to be properly
compensated for the improvements made in the land.
6. Proprietary rights for the occupancy tenants.
The existing law with regard to giving proprietary rights to the occupancy
tenants was made operative as usual.
7. Prohibition of illegal exactions.
Illegal exactions by the landlords were prohibited.
Supply of irrigational water: Three major dams were built to help irrigation namely Warsak
Dam, Mangla Dam and Tarbela Dam.
Agricultural development bank of Pakistan: The Agricultural Development Bank of
Pakistan (ADBP) was set up. Farmers were also loaned money to build wells to reduce the
need for canal irrigation.

Indus-Water Treaty
Other than ideology and Kashmir, the main source of friction between Pakistan and India was
the distribution of the waters of the Indus River system. As the upper riparian power, India
controlled the head works of the pre-partition irrigation canals. After independence, India
had, in addition, constructed several multipurpose projects on the eastern tributaries of the
Indus. Pakistan feared that India might repeat a 1948 incident that curtailed the water supply
as a means of coercion. A compromise that appeared to meet the needs of both countries was
reached during the 1950s; it was not until 1960 that a solution finally found favor with Ayub
Khan and Jawaharlal Nehru.
The Indus Waters Treaty of 1960 was backed by the World Bank and the United States.
Broadly speaking, the agreement allocated use of the three western Indus Rivers (the Indus
itself and its tributaries, the Jhelum and the Chenab) to Pakistan, and the three eastern Indus
tributaries (the Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej) to India. The agreement also detailed transitional
arrangements, new irrigation and hydroelectric power works, and the waterlogging and
salinity problems in Pakistan's Punjab. The Indus Basin Development Fund was established
and financed by the World Bank, the major contributors to the Aid-to-Pakistan Consortium,
and India.
Criticism of reforms made to agriculture: Though the agricultural reforms introduced
increased agricultural growth and output and led to the Green Revolution, it also caused
various problems.
Issues of Tube wells
o They were highly regionalized, mainly in the rich, old districts, e.g. 91% of the
76,000 tube wells in 1968 were in Punjab.
o Given the size and cost of tube wells, they were mainly installed by
landowners with over 25 acres of land (70%) while only 4% were installed by
farmers owning fewer than 13 acres.
o Poor and illiterate farmers could not take benefit of the credit policies offered
by the ADBP to purchase and install tube wells.
Therefore, the apparently ‘neutral’ effect of increasing irrigation through tube wells seems to
have serious repercussions on interregional concerns, economic status and the ability to
borrow money.
Issues of Tractor introduction:
o In the early 1970s, 38% of all the tractors in the country were located in the
Multan Division in Central Punjab, while 58% were located in the three
divisions of Lahore, Multan and Bahawalpur.
 o There was also a very close link with tube well ownership; 75% of privately
owned tractors were on farms that had sunk tube wells.
Thus, tractorization was also carried out by resourceful farmers and was associated with a
proximity to urban markets and services.
Regional and Income Disparities
o Since the installation of tube wells, purchase of tractors and access to credit
were inaccessible to poorer farmers, they did not share fruits of the Green
Revolution.
o Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and south-eastern parts of Sindh had inadequate access
to water and the HYV technology. Thus, regional disparities increased.
Thus, the Green Revolution of Pakistan was produced by the farmers who owned between 50
and 100 acres, almost all of them in Punjab. The Green Revolution has therefore been called
and ‘Elite Farmer Strategy’.
Land Reforms
o The land reforms allowed farmers to have their lands valued in PIUs, up to a
maximum of 36,000 PIUs (The PIU is ‘estimated as a measure of the gross
value per acre of land by type of soil and was, therefore seen as a measure of
productivity’.) However, the measurement of the PIUs was based on pre-
partition revenue settlements, which substantially under-reported the true
value of the land.
o Almost three-quarters of resumed land, at least in the Punjab, were
uncultivated and untenanted. This meant that the amount of land available for
redistribution was even more limited.
o Landlord-tenant relations were left unchanged, to be governed by the tenancy
acts passed in the early fifties and to be supervised by the revenue service.
Conclusion: Even with issues as mentioned above the Green Revolution is regarded as an
era of peak development of Pakistan. During this period, economy of Pakistan grew
immensely and Pakistan was supposedly considered a future super-power from Asia.