KEY IDEA 2.

1
Pakistan’s economy: the primary sector and the need for food security
Pakistan’s primary industries include:
● Mining
● Forestry
● Agriculture

Factors Affecting Agriculture:

1. PHYSICAL
a. Climate
● Includes Rainfall and Temperature
● Kharif Crops - Planted in Summer, Harvested in Winter (Sugarcane,
cotton, rice)
● Rabi Crops - Planted in Winter, Harvested in Summer (Wheat, Maize,
Barley)
● The Indus Plain is the most suitable for agriculture due to rainfall &
temperatures.
b. Soil/Dynamic Floodplains
● Alluvium - minerals that are deposited into soil through water flow
● Floodplains/Doab - an area of low-lying ground adjacent to a river, formed
mainly of river sediments and subject to flooding.
● Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas and Sutlej in Punjab.
○ Indus Sagar Doab:, one of the five major doabs of the Punjab
province of Pakistan. Doab, a Persian term, signifies an area
between two rivers. The Sindh Sagar Doab is the area between
the Indus River and the Jhelum River.
○ Chaj Doabs.
○ Rachna Doabs.
○ Bari Doabs.
○ Bist Doab.
● Floodplains filter out sediment from entering streams and control stream
bank erosion. During floods sediment is deposited onto floodplains.
c. Deltaic Coastline
● Can be used for the transportation of agricultural materials to other
countries in terms of exports
2. HUMAN
a. Income
● If the income of a farmer is high, they can afford machinery like tractors
and planters and increase outputs as well as chemical sprays, fertilisers,
hyv seeds.
b. Population Density
● Avg number of people living in a unit of area
● If the density of population is high, the supply of labour willing to work in
fields of agriculture is likely to be high as well.
 ● With adequate job opportunities in agricultural sectors, the higher
population density will be employed into this sector.
● High population density also means demand for agricultural products is
high.
Strategies to increase agricultural output:
1. land rights reforms
2. plant breeding programmes
3. fertilisers/pesticides
4. Education
5. water management
6. appropriate/intermediate technology

APPROACHES TO MANAGE FOOD INSECURITY IN PAKISTAN

Food security is when all people of all times have access to safe, sufficient and nutritious food to
maintain a healthy and active life. Especially in developing countries, such as Pakistan, food
security is becoming an issue as more developed areas receive all materials needed while rural
areas are often left to suffer. On the FIES measure, more than half of the households of
Pakistan (63.1%) are food secure. However, over a third (36.9%) remains food insecure, of
which 18.3% are facing severe food insecurity. In a nation-wide survey, it was proven that
Balochistan is the most ‘food insecure’ region of Pakistan with over 35.3% of its households
facing severe insecurity. In correlation with Pakistan’s unemployment rates, this makes sense.
Balochistan has one of the highest unemployment rates and is therefore considered a low-
income population with the inability to access basic household needs including food. Apart from
quantitative aspects, qualitative aspects of diet such as consumption habits and nutritional
needs also affect food security. In the absence of adequate attention to qualitative aspects of
food, the inability of the individual to sustain the benefits of development gets affected. Due to
this, a number of more novel matters are faced by individuals.

In the short term, the volatile prices can be decreased by price regulation and creation of larger
cereal stocks to buffer the tight markers of food commodities and the subsequent crisis of
speculation. Safety nests need to be provided to alleviate impacts of rising prices and food
shortage. Subsidies on agricultural commodities and inputs that are aggravating the food crisis
need to be reduced/removed and investments made to shift to sustainable food systems and
food energy efficiency.

In the middle term, efforts should be made to develop alternatives for feeds for animals and fish.
Our ability to change the feed destined for livestock and aquaculture is probably greater than
that of changing people’s food choice habits, which are not as easily controlled. Finding
alternative feed sources provides a huge potential for increasing the availability of cereal for
human consumption.

For other feed sources to become a sustainable alternative to the current use of foods, their
exploitation must not be resource-demanding. This poses a big challenge, since most of the
easily available feed sources have already been fully exploited, although some alternatives still
exist. By using discards, waste and other post-harvest losses, the supply of animal and fish feed
can be increased and be sustained without expanding current production, simply by increasing
energy efficiency and conservation in the food supply chain.

Recovering energy from agricultural wastes is becoming increasingly feasible at the industrial
production level. Investments in technology enhancement of existing systems and innovation in
new waste management systems is called for to support this expanding green economy.

Farmers need to be supported in developing diversified and resilient eco-agricultural systems.

This includes management of extreme rainfall and use of inter-cropping to minimise
dependency on external inputs, artificial fertilisers, pesticides, and over irrigation.

Increased trade and improved market access can be achieved by improving infrastructure and
reducing barriers for trade.

In the long term, awareness needs to be created about the pressures of increasing population
growth and consumption patterns on sustainable functioning of the ecosystem. Alternatives to
food supplies have to be explored and developed.

KEY IDEA 2.2

Pakistan economy: secondary, tertiary/quaternary sectors and transport systems
● Secondary Industry: processing things such as food or minerals (for example, iron
ore), making things by manufacturing, assembling or building.
● Tertiary Industry: providing services. These include services that are commercial (for
example, retailing and banking), professional (for example, solicitors and accountants),
social (for example, schools and doctors), entertainment (for example, restaurants and
cinemas) and personal (for example, hairdressers and fitness trainers). Public and
private transport is also included in this sector.
● Quaternary Industry: concerned with information and communications (ICT) and
research and development (R & D). Universities are an important part of this sector.

The relative importance of the sectors in a country's economy is a good indicator of the level of
economic development. Generally, the economy of a developing country relies heavily on the
primary sector, while the economy of a developed country depends most on the tertiary sector.
How do we measure the relative strength of the sectors? We need to use the same measure so
that countries may be reliably compared. There are two different measures.

The first measure is employment. The sectors are compared in terms of the percentage of the
total workforce that they employ. The second measure is based on how much each sector
contributes to the overall economic output of a country - their percentage of either gross
domestic product (GDP) or gross national income (GNI).
● Raw materials Industries are set up close to or in the regions where raw materials are
available.
● Power Resources: Power is essential for running the machinery of industries and
influences much on the industrial location.
● Water supply: Large quantities of water essential for the processing of raw materials or
for cooling purposes. Therefore industries are usually localised near rivers or lakes.
● Climate: Industries are influenced by climate. For example Cotton textile industry
requires a humid climate.
● Labour: Cheap and efficient labour is required to work in the industries.
● Market Nearness to market is essential for quick marketing of manufactured goods.
Transportation It is necessary to carry raw materials to the factories and to carry finished
products to the markets as well.
● Capital Development of Industries requires large capital investment.
● Government must have favourable policies such as tax exemptions for electricity and
sites at concessional rates, subsidies, rail-link, improved roads etc.

● Informal sector: this comprises types of work that are not officially recognised; informal
work is done by people working for themselves on the streets of cities, mainly in
developing countries.
○ Causes: It is important to understand why the informal sector develops. This will
help us to understand its characteristics. In many developing countries today
large numbers of people are migrating from rural to urban areas. An important
driving force behind that migration is the search for work and a regular wage,
together with the belief that the quality of life is better in towns and cities. While it
is true that there are more job opportunities and higher wages, there are often
more people of working age moving into urban areas than there are jobs
available. Surplus labour means that there is underemployment and
unemployment. In this situation, employers can only pay their workers very low
wages. Wages are so low that they are not enough for a worker and their family
to live on. So. to avoid poverty, many people must find other ways of making a
living outside the normal job market.
 CHALLENGES OF THE TRANSPORT SYSTEM OF PAKISTAN
Introduction
The rapid growth and modernization of urban economies and the subsequent stress on urban
transport has created a plethora of issues for the urban transportation sector of Pakistan. The
existing road network does not have the structural capacity to accommodate the growing
number of vehicles. Most of the population cannot afford personal vehicles and have to rely on
public transport. However, the public transportation system is fragmented, making inter-city
travel a huge hassle. The non-uniformity of transportation services in urban areas has led to
increased travelling uncertainty and delays. Moreover, increased fossil fuel consumption has led
to growing air pollution and environmental degradation in the surrounding areas. The challenges
posed by the current urban transport system reflects its unsustainability and forces the
government to adopt alternative, more sustainable means.

Traffic Congestion
Traffic congestion is one of the biggest challenges the transportation sector faces today. An
increasing vehicle density in Pakistan has led to severe traffic congestion on poorly planned and
built roads. The current road infrastructure is not capable enough to accommodate the growing
number of vehicles. According to estimates, 250,000 cars are being registered every year in
Pakistan. Most of these cars are assembled by Japanese car making companies. Besides cars,
motorbikes have the majority share (74%) of the total vehicle share in Pakistan’s transportation
sector, followed by cars at 13%.

On the other hand, Pakistan’s road network is 263,000 km with 12,500 km of national highways
and 93,000 km of provincial highways, with the remainder classified as either district or urban
roads. The national highway network is less than 5% of the total road network and caters to
about 80% of the commercial traffic. This shows the lack of infrastructure in Pakistan’s urban
transport sector for the proper accommodation of all vehicles utilising the transport network.

Travelling Uncertainty
A broken urban transportation system leads to travelling uncertainty. People travel from one part
of the city to another or even between cities for education, employment, health, or other reasons
daily. Traffic congestion and the unavailability of affordable and accessible vehicles can limit
transportation options for millions of people. This reduces the ability of individuals to approach
opportunities, thus, marginalizing certain income demographics. As a result, these factors
snowball to create travelling uncertainty for a large demographic. This has a particular impact on
the tourism sector of Pakistan. Pakistan experienced an increase in its local tourism after the
COVID-19 restrictions were removed last year. However, travel uncertainty in the northern
regions has also restricted many tourists from planning their visits, ultimately leading to a
decline in tourism revenue.

Unsustainable Oil and Gas Consumption

Most vehicles in Pakistan consume fossil fuels as their primary source of energy. This has a
significant impact on the environment and is a major cause of rising air pollution levels in all
metropolises in Pakistan. The consumption of petroleum products stands at 19.68 million tons
per year. A considerable amount of fossil fuel such as petroleum and LNG has to be imported to
meet this demand. Globally, developed countries have shifted to renewable energy sources like
solar and wind-based electricity. The availability of fossil fuels is finite, and their unsustainable
consumption also harms the environment.

Pollution and Environmental Degradation

Increasing urban traffic and congestion leads to air pollution and environmental degradation.
According to research conducted on air pollution from traffic in the United States, roughly
17,000 to 20,000 people die yearly from traffic air pollution. A similar situation is observed in
Pakistan, where thousands of people die from breathing polluted air due to dense and
unregulated traffic emissions. With the growing population and increasing number of vehicles,
environmental degradation and air pollution pose a serious threat to people’s health. Pakistan’s
urban transportation system needs to adopt environmentally sustainable forms of transportation
like hybrid and electric vehicles to reduce emissions and prevent air pollution.

Lack of Parking Infrastructure in Pakistan

Another problem facing Pakistan’s urban transportation system is the lack of an adequate
parking infrastructure to accommodate its vehicles. Due to increased car ownership, lack of
sufficient parking space, and availability of public transport options, parking has become a
source of contention for many people. In public places like airports, bus stops, retail malls, and
bazaars, parking spaces are not planned according to the traffic they are expected to receive.
This results in a menace for drivers and severe traffic congestion daily.

Affordability and Accessibility of Urban Transportation

The current urban transportation services provided in Pakistan are unaffordable and
inaccessible. Owning a vehicle to commute is an expensive pursuit for lower- and middle-
income classes and thus a financially unsustainable option. The cost of a used car below 800 cc
starts from 5 lac up to 10 lac, excluding maintenance and fuel costs. Public transportation in
metropolitan cities has been hitherto scarce, with lower-income individuals relying on local
wagons for their commute. Since 2013, the government has introduced Bus Rapid Transit
(BRTs) in major metropolitan cities of Pakistan. Although these megaprojects quickly became
popular with the public, the mode of transportation is still inaccessible for a large majority of the
people in the metropolises.

International Best Practices

Globally, urban transportation can be improved by increasing accessibility and connectivity for
better traffic flow and mobility. While transport plays a critical role in the economy, it cannot
improve its processes without other sectors’ help. The local government needs to revisit urban
development goals and adopt a transformational approach for compact and connected urban
growth. This can be achieved by increasing mix-use land development where people can live,
work, study, and shop without excessive travel along with city-wide public transport. Cities like
Singapore, Hong Kong, Abu Dhabi, and Cairo use this model to customize their public transport
based on urban development goals.
Cities can benefit from an integrated and efficient use of existing resources for developing
countries like Pakistan that allows social inclusion and greater prosperity. For instance, cities
like Ahmedabad, Addis Ababa, and Dar es Salaam, with large lower-income populations, have
established compact transit systems to ensure the social inclusion of their lower-income
demographic.

Conclusion
Pakistan’s urban transportation sector faces several issues that impede its ability to provide
transport and commute to citizens. A lack of inadequate infrastructure that can accommodate
the growing number of vehicles is a need of the hour. The existing urban infrastructure is
inaccessible and unaffordable for the lower-income demographics. Urban planners need to
reorient the goals to reduce long commuting hours for employment, education, or daily life
activities. Moreover, Pakistan’s urban transportation landscape needs to learn from developed
countries and design its framework for sustainable urban transportation.

KEY IDEA 2.4

Impacts of primary/secondary sector on:
1. Air
Pakistan is a country of 188 million people with average population density of 236 persons per
sq. km, which is higher as compared to many other developing countries. The country has very
high migration rate to urban centers which has made the cities very congested and has made
the civic infrastructure inadequate. Air quality data recorded in cities confirmed presence of high
concentration of suspended particulate matter in air (2-3.5 times higher than the safe limit).
Oxides of Nitrogen (NOx) is continuously increasing in major cities mainly due to increased
number of CNG operated vehicles. Formation of photo-chemical smog and haze is a common
phenomenon in our cities. Most urban citizens rely either on their private motor vehicles or two
wheelers or the informal transport sector for urban transport. This has led to a sharp increase in
private vehicle ownership. The surge in the demand for private vehicles originated from the
increasing affordability on the one hand and availability of vehicle financing from the banking
system on the other. Amongst these, diesel vehicles using crude diesel oil and motorcycles and
rickshaws are of most serious concern. Due to overloading, faulty injection nozzles and weak
engines, diesel vehicles emit excessive carbon (visible smoke) while motorcycles and
rickshaws, due to their two-stroke engines, are the most inefficient in burning fuel and thus
contribute most to emissions. The number of motorcycles/scooters is growing fastly in Pakistan
and has increased by 133.8 percent in 2012-13 when compared with the year 2001-02.
Rickshaws have grown by 24.4 percent in 2012-13 (Table 16.2).

The main causes of air pollution are the abrupt increase in the number of vehicles, inefficient
automotive technology , use of unclean fuels, uncontrolled emissions of industrial units,
emissions of brick kilns, the burning of garbage and the presence of dust. Vehicular emissions
in all the major cities of Pakistan are the primary source of air pollution. The transport sector is
the largest user of petroleum products. The use of adulterated fuel and poorly maintained
vehicles are some of the reasons for excessive and highly toxic emissions from vehicles.
Vehicle emissions represent the greatest source of air pollution in the country reflecting their
rapid growth. In terms of numbers, two-wheeled motor vehicles dominate. Vehicular emissions
are treated as one of the important sources for total emissions in Pakistan.

Brick kilns are another source of pollution in many areas. The use of low-grade coal and old
tires in brick kilns generates dense black smoke and other kinds of emissions. The main
pollutants from these industries are particulate matter, and sulphur- and nitrogen oxides, which
are emitted by burning fuels. The use of coal has increased by 34.3 percent for brick klins in
2012-13.

Like other forms of air pollution, the magnitude of industrial air pollution has not been fully
assessed but sporadic surveys have been carried out in the country by some governmental
institutions and scientists in a few major cities. The industrial sector in Pakistan is likely to
expand further in future due to a liberal government policy. Almost all metropolitan cities have
industrial estates, where a cluster of industries of different types exist. Cement, fertilizer, sugar
units, and power plants are considered to be the most air polluting industries of Pakistan. Many
of these are located either in the rural areas or are in the vicinity of secondary towns. Those
located in the vicinity of towns cause urban air pollution. A wide range of small- to mediumscale
industries (including steel re-rolling, steel recycling, tobacco curing and plastic molding) cause a
disproportionate share of pollution through their use of dirty “waste” fuels, such as paper, wood
and textile waste .

2. Water
In 1947, the water availability in Pakistan was 5,650 cubic meter per person, which kept on
decreasing, first due to Indus Water Treaty,1960.Secondly, gradual decline in trans-boundary
flows into Pakistan which has been alarmingly up to the tune of 10.25 MAF, and, thirdly,
exceptional growth in population of the country, all making per capita water availability in
Pakistan to as low as 964 cubic meters per year which is creating water deficit and hampering
well-being and, at the same time, severely affecting future economic development. The situation
is aggravating due to excessive reliance on underground water which is meeting more than 60%
of agriculture needs. It is not only resulting in salinity but also contamination of aquifers with
heavy traces of fluoride and arsenic. Climate change is also expected to have extreme effects
on the glaciers which contribute over 70% of our water resources and may reduce the water
availability by 30% to 40%. Furthermore, our productivity per unit of water and land is one of the
lowest in the world. In USA and Australia per capita storage is 6,150 cubic meters and 5,000
cubic meters, respectively, whereas Pakistan’s storage capacity is only 132 cubic meters per
person. Our neighbors, India and China, have reduced the substantial amount of water usage in
agriculture sector and have enhanced productivity manifold. Pakistan’s productivity per unit of
water is 0.13kg/m3 only, one-thirds of India’s and one-sixths of China’s. Similarly, Pakistan’s
productivity per unit of land is one-thirds of Egypt’s, half of Saudi Arabia’s and half of India’s.
Increasing productivity in water use is critical for our future development. Pakistan’s Vision 2025
assigns the highest priority to water resources and seeks a nexus of energy, water and food to
ensure that we follow an integrated and holistic approach in development planning. The present
government is actively working to minimize the gap by focusing on implementation and delivery.
Water is a fundamental right of every citizen and it is the responsibility of the state to ensure
supply of clean drinking water to citizens.

3. Land degradation / forestry

Land degradation and deforestation is a serious problem globally is the same in case of
Pakistan. One of the main factors is population pressure causing land degradation and
deforestation. Other major immediate physical causes of ecological degradation include:-

● Excessive falling of trees

● Uncontrolled and excessive livestock grazing and browsing in forest and rangeland
thereby damaging the vegetative cover and preventing natural and/or managed
regeneration of grasses, shrubs and trees
● Inappropriate cultivation practices in hilly and rain fed farming areas contributing to wind
and water erosion.
● Inadequate drainage in heavily irrigated area causing water logging and salinity.
● Inadequate efforts with regard to watershed protection and management in the
catchment areas of reservoirs.

The forests cover about 5.2 percent of the land area of Pakistan but it is still short of the 6
percent MDG target. The low share of the forest area taken in combination with the large
population of Pakistan gives only 0.033 hectares of forest per capita compared with the world
average of one hectare. Because of the scarcity of wood and its high price, the per capita
consumption of wood is estimated at 0.026 cubic meters .Since the supply from domestic
resources is less, the gap between supply and demand is met by imports. Rising costs and
decreased supply is the most likely future scenario in the wake of increasing population,
growing income and demands for forest products. It is estimated that the annual timber
requirement of 2 million cubic meters in early 1980s has doubled to about 4 million cubic meters
now, while the firewood consumption has also almost doubled from 16.6 million cubic meters to
30 million cubic meters* .