Economics of Barani (Rainfed) Farming and Farm Household Production Behaviour in Pakistan

Agriculture research and development efforts in Pakistan havetraditionally been focused on raising the farm productivity of irrigatedareas. Among other factors, the underlying causes for this irrigatedbias could be attributed to: the importance given to the irrigated areasin the overall planning framework; the dominance of the irrigated farmlobby at all levels of research, politics, and government; the relativeprogressiveness of irrigated farmers in terms of adoption of newtechnologies; and the presence of risk-reducing natural conditionsprevailing on irrigated farms, e.g., certainty of subsidised watersupply when it is most needed. Further, like other parts of Asia, theGreen Revolution has helped the irrigated farmers in Pakistan to raisethe productivity of their major crops, such as wheat, cotton, and rice.On the other hand, the rainfed I areas of Pakistan have drawn littlebenefit from the Green Revolution. The average yields achieved on therainfed areas remain significantly lower than the yields derived by thetraditional irrigated farmers. The rainfed farmers are also subject tosubsistence farming conditions with per capita incomes well below thenational average.2 Given the size of the area under rainfed conditionsand the problems faced by the rainfed farmers, there have been attemptsby the government, international donor agencies, and nongovernmentorganisations to come up with strategies to raise the productivity aswell as income of the rainfed farmers. Such efforts, however, must takeinto account the production behaviour of the farm-households underrainfed conditions.