Angela Davis writes:

“Who am I

I think above all

I am an individual”

In 2012, my area was under floods. I was a student in Grade 3. It took my mother so much time to take me to school since we had to cross a river Basantar. I observed the devastated crops around me and wanted solutions desperately. After twelve years, it was the 14th of August, 2024. It had been four months since I ended my program at The Aspire Institute, led by the faculty from Harvard Business School. Finally, after the hustle of four more months, I founded my organization, “Dahqaan Pakistan”, aiming at agricultural development as I’m the biggest follower of Angela's philosophy of individualism.. Within eighteen hours, I observed the professional dashboard, saying, “2.1K accounts reached in the last 30 days.” And only 150 people followed our official account. This little example exhibits our negligence towards the problems related to the agricultural sector. We are not interested even in advocating and talking about the issues of local farmers. Agriculture is considered the backbone of Pakistan’s economy and not only the ordinary but even intellectuals aren’t aware of the key issues. We all ignore our role as an individual in addressing the problems in our communities. Therefore, in order to raise awareness, at Dahqaan Pakistan, we started our flagship project, “Zindagi Taleem Sey” and this educational blog is part of it.

I will dive into the common key issues local farmers are facing in rural areas. Some of the  major problems that we have identified while doing our data-collection projects are related to transport, and fair prices for the crops. In our upcoming blogs, we will discuss the impact of agricultural issues on every sector, including but not limited to business and innovation, construction, politics, and economy. We will discuss the loopholes in Pakistan’s agricultural policies, food crisis, climatic issues as well as the importance of growing various crops.

Very firstly, lack of transport facilities and infrastructure is the key issue farmers in rural areas are facing. In the rainy season this year, I and my team observed the fact that while reaching out to farmers in villages, we had to postpone our sessions due to ruined and muddy roads. They told us that due to the lack of metalled roads, we are unable to grow any other crop other than wheat and rice. They argued when we asked why they don't grow vegetables that they don’t have enough resources to deliver fresh vegetables to the market. So they just rely on growing long-term crops. When it comes to wheat and rice, they just sell it to the middle men because of the fact that there are no roads so they cannot afford to access markets in other big cities. So they prefer to have a contract with them that after the production, they are bound to sell all the produce to them and in return, they give farmers loans on hard terms and conditions. Secondly, the problem associated with it is the lack of fair prices. The middlemen don’t give fair prices of the crops to the producers leading to the social and economic problems for the farmers especially for small land-holders. But now, the middleman is also facing problems because mills owners aren’t giving them the just price. All the profits go to the lobbies from the business sector who pressurize the government and legislative representatives to keep policis in their favor.

The government along with potential stakeholders are not fulfilling their responsibility and treating farmers worse than orphans. They have neither an insurance card nor facility for loans. The funds allocated for the agricultural sector goes straight to the pockets of corrupt people, leaving farmers helpless behind. The lack of accountability mechanisms are worsening the situations and directly affecting the economic situation of Pakistan.

The threat of a severe food crisis is larger than ever in this era of technology. Only the combined efforts of government and community can make a significant difference in the agricultural realm. The government should have representatives of farmers on board for key discussions. The legislature must enact accountability acts to ensure that the allocated funds for agricultural development are used in an effective manner. The law-enforcement agencies need to take actions against mill-owners, who exploit farmers. On the community front, the individuals and intellectuals can lead the projects to amplify the voices of local farmers. In this struggling system, farmers are orphans and only the collective efforts of the community can save them.

Fatima Bibi is student of BS Political Science at GC University Lahore and Founder of Dahqaan Pakistan