Agriculture

Balochistan, the country’s largest province with extremely low-density population and high incidence of poverty, is undeniably the country’s worst neglected region. The province, with the geographical area of 347,000 sq/km (35 million hectares) is the largest province of Pakistan. It is located between 600-700 longitude and 250-300 latitude in the northern hemisphere. It has got a varied climate from the sea coast in the south to plateaus 8000 feet above the sea level in the north east.

Five distinct ecological zones have traditionally been described in the province, based on varying agro ecological factors. Under diversified agro climatic conditions prevailing in the different agro ecological zones of the province, about 65 different crops are successfully grown in both Rabi and Kharif seasons which contributes to the diversity of agriculture in the province.

The province of Balochistan falls completely under arid /semiarid zone. The average annual precipitation ranges from 300-400 mm in the north western region s to 75-100 mm in the south western section. The limited rainfall and scarce water availability drastically restrict the amount of land under cultivation. The relative importance of commodity production value is calculated as livestock 37%, fruit 25%, field crops26%, fisheries 9% and vegetable crops 3%.

BRSP in Agriculture Sector

BRSP has initiated Crop Maximization Project (CMP) titled "Special program for food security and productivity enhancement of small farmers in 1012 Villages" funded by MINFAL in four districts i.e. Pishin, Khuzdar, Jafarabad and Killa Saifullah in July 2008. The project aims at food security and crop productivity enhancement of small farmers. BRSP will be leading the social mobilization component in Balochistan where the major activities include: organizing and empowering farmers’ community by forming their Village Organizations (VOs), Capacity Building for Crop Productivity & Income Enhancement of VO members and establishment of small enterprises i.e. rural poultry farming, fish farming, off-season vegetable production, aqua culture, bee farming, fruit and forest plant nurseries and market linkage development.

Project Rationale

One third of the population of Pakistan lives below poverty line. The Mid Term Development Framework (2005-2010) target for poverty reduction on the basis of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) is to reduce the proportion of population below the calorie based food plus non-food poverty line to 20% by 2010. A principle strategy adopted in the Mid Term Development Framework (MTDF) is to achieve self-reliance in critical agricultural commodities, ensure food security and improve productivity of crops through such measures as improvement in water use efficiency through precision land leveling and seepage control, use of improved seed and balanced fertilizer, emphasis on high value crops and institutional agricultural credit. It also emphasizes a knowledge based market growth with the support and involvement of the private sector for poverty reduction and human resource development in line with Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Objectives:

1. Broad Objectives of the project are to: a) supplement the country's on-going efforts to increase food production through productivity enhancement of small farmers and aiding the production and distribution of agricultural products with appropriate value addition and marketing; (b) ensure food security and alleviate poverty through improving income of small farmers and (c) build a sustainable mechanism to ensure continuity for the productivity enhancement and food security program in the post project.
2. The Development Objective is to ensure adequate food supply through increased production of food and cash crops, creation of employment, sustainable livelihood and income generation for increased access to food particularly of the food insecure population.

Specific tasks are:

1. Mobilization of farming communities and establishment of village organizations for collective participatory development;
2. Training of Village Organization (VO) groups and project staff in participative management;
3. Training of farming groups and supporting institutions in the use of enhanced agricultural technology;
4. Financing of VO and their service operations in support of the project;
5. Providing specific knowledge for integrating production and marketing and value adding activities of small rural entrepreneurs;

The social mobilization component of the project has been awarded to BRSP in Balochistan. Under this component 120 villages are targeted. In each target village Farmer Associations (FAs) are formed at different geographical locations of the village. These Farmer Associations (FAs) are then trained on CMST which enable them to federate into on Village Organization (VO). The office bearers of the VO are then trained on CMST and Revolving Fund management Training (RFMT).

After acquiring the skills Government would help the VOs in establishing a Revolving Fund mechanism in either Cash or Kind.