Agrochemical and Agricultural Sustainability: A case study of Pakistan

Sustainability in food and fiber production is worth important for the increasing population all over the world. Since the start of Green Revolution era, agrochemicals such as fertilizers, weedicides and pesticides have been used in abundance. Initially, the use of pesticides was such a beneficial that its use increased year by year throughout the last 20 years. Although, this development contributed a lot in boosting agricultural production by intensive cropping and cultivation of high yielding varieties of agriculture crops production but it has caused hazards for the flora and fauna around the Globe. Such factors caused a stress over the natural resources along with the increase in water and air pollution. In the prevailing situation of environmental degradation and depleting value of natural resources, there is big need that the researchers and scientist should develop and follow technologies for sustainable use of natural resources. This research has focused the methods, use of agrochemicals and productivity of agricultural crops based on increased inputs of agrochemicals. Primary data was collected with the help of structured questionnaire and secondary data was collected from Food and Agriculture Organization and Federal Bureau of Statistics, Pakistan. The results revealed the empirical evidences that there is enormous increase in the use of agrochemical but resultantly there is negligible increase in the productivity of crops. Most of the farmers are not using the sustainable methods of weed and pest control, instead, using much of the chemicals, which adversely affected the productivity and quality of the product. The study suggests and recommends policy makers for efficient management and sustainable use of farm-inputs to maximize the productivity in this era of comparative advantage in the world.

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