In Pakistan’s rural areas, rising mechanisation in the agriculture sector has become a major driver of growing unemployment. Traditionally, in the country, mechanisation was synonymous with tractorisation — simply increasing the number of tractors. However, the current phase of agricultural mechanisation is powered by a much wider array of machines, including combine harvesters, half-feed rice harvesters, rice transplanters, corn pickers, corn planters, and vegetable harvesters.

With declining commodity prices and soaring input costs, farmers’ purchasing power has significantly weakened, as reflected in the sharp decline in tractor sales in the past two years. Given that these machines are priced in millions of rupees, they are now predominantly purchased by businessmen who offer rental services to farmers at their doorstep.

Though mechanisation appears to be a natural progression for Pakistan’s agriculture sector, the recent phase has drastically reduced the demand for seasonal agricultural labour — traditionally supplied by entire rural families, including women and children. Farmers are increasingly turning to machines to save time, avoid labour-related issues, and, most importantly, reduce costs, as rental charges are often lower than those of manual labour.

One of the less-discussed drivers of mechanisation is the recent trend to increase cropping intensity — from two to three crops annually in irrigated areas — by adopting short-duration crop varieties (90–120 days). However, this shift has........

© Dawn Business