On Nov 3, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations released its report, ‘The State of Food and Agriculture 2025’, which warns that human-induced land degradation is driving down crop yields in many countries. The report calls it a “silent crisis”, one that directly threatens the rural livelihoods and food security of nearly 1.7 billion people.
According to the report, the issue is widespread. However, in developed countries, yield losses caused by land degradation are often masked or temporarily offset by an intensive use of inputs, while in low-income countries where farmers have limited access to inputs, the losses are far more severe.
Although the report does not specifically mention Pakistan, our faulty agricultural practices are steadily pushing us in the same direction.
Since its independence, Pakistan’s agricultural output has increased significantly thanks to
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