Ahmed Khan Malik

With the assistance of international institutions, the Sindh government has launched a programme to uplift the province’s rural economy. 

“Under the project, the provincial government will ensure the sustainable development of the poor people, particularly farmers,” said Zulifqar Korai, Programme Consultant in the Sindh Planning Board. He told WealthPK that the programme had been initiated with the support of different partners/agencies. He said that the initiative would cover wider areas of the rural economy, especially addressing the problem of water shortage and water logging in various parts of the province.  Korai pointed out that the plan aimed to uplift the economic status of people by ensuring their participation in development activities.

He said that the Sindh government had also acquired the assistance of the federal government as well as the international partners to promote broad-based rural growth. “It emphasises the importance of policy and institutional reforms to attain inclusive growth through getting greater private sector investment, along with ensuring efficient public finances and systems -- for growth and rural development,” he said.  Korai listed three core policy areas, which have been identified under this programme. “These include expanding the private sector participation in Sindh’s economic activities and service delivery, improving value for money in public expenditure and revitalising the rural economy.”

Sindh has a population of over 50 million, of which 52% live in urban areas, and 48% in rural areas, with around 38% deriving their livelihoods from agriculture, livestock, forestry and fishing. Ali Nawaz, an agriculture expert, told WealthPK that the economy of rural Sindh depended upon the agriculture sector. “About 65% people reside in villages and their main occupation is agriculture. About 80% growers possess small size of land.” They plough their farms when they get timely irrigation water, and any disturbance in the flow of water adversely affects the rural economy,” he said. Nawaz said the rising trend of poverty was observed over the years due to a shortage of irrigation water. “The decreasing share of water is affecting the output of the agriculture sector,” he said. 

“Besides, there has been continuous seawater intrusion towards fertile land, affecting 1.5 million acres in Thatta and Badin districts. In addition, there are other factors such as water logging and salinity, deforestation, soil erosion, uneconomic landholdings and droughts, hitting the agriculture sector output,” he said.  The agriculture expert said that the most affected districts were Tharparkar and Dadu, as they were entirely dependent on rains.  He said the provincial government’s initiative would go a long way in uplifting the rural economy as the poor segments were unable to sustain their economy without government support.  Nawaz said that Sindh’s rural economy was particularly devastated by the 2022 floods.

Credit: INP-WealthPk