Open AccessRethinking Development Strategy –The Importance of the Rural Non Farm Economy in Growth and Poverty Reduction in Pakistan
Author(s) -
Sohail J. Malik
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
the lahore journal of economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1811-5446
pISSN - 1811-5438
DOI - 10.35536/lje.2008.v13.isp.a11
Subject(s) - agriculture , food security , rural poverty , productivity , poverty , economics , rural area , investment (military) , economic growth , primary sector of the economy , development economics , economic sector , economy , geography , political science , archaeology , politics , law
The structural transformation of Pakistan’s economy has not beenaccompanied by a concomitant decline in the proportion of labor employedin agriculture. While this transformation has resulted in a non-farm sectorthat is large and growing it has not lead to the rapid absorption of thepool of relatively low productivity labor away from the agriculture sector,as predicted by conventional development theory embodied in the models ofthe 1960s. Despite the obvious importance of the role of a vibrant ruralnon-farm economy (RNFE), and in particular, a vibrant non-farm servicessector to address the challenges of poverty, food security, agriculturalgrowth and rural development, this sector has received inadequateattention in the debate in Pakistan. Based on a review of literature anddata from two large surveys – the Rural Investment Climate Survey ofPakistan 2005 and the Surveys of Domestic Commerce 2007 – this paperattempts to analyze the factors underlying the low level of development ofthe rural non farm economy and the potential role it can play in Pakistan’seconomic development.