Pakistan has a semi-industrialized economy with a well-

integrated sector of agriculture. Pakistan’s economy is the

26th largest in the world in terms of purchasing power and
45th largest in terms of nominal Gross Domestic Product
(GDP).
According to the Federal Bureau of Statistic 2010–2011,
forty-five percent of the country’s labor force are involved
in agriculture (36.2 percent male and 75.4 percent
female). The sector contributes 20.9 percent to the
country’s GDP.
Out of the total area of 79.6 million hectares, 21.2 million
hectares are cultivated; the rest of the territory is
rangelands. Cropped area constitutes 23.8 million
hectares, forests – 4.21 million hectares. Almost 80

Page 1
percent of the cultivated area is irrigated. The country has
the world’s largest contiguous irrigation system.
The country is among the world’s top ten producers of
wheat, cotton, sugarcane, mango, dates and knows
oranges, and holds 13th position in rice production. Major
crops (wheat, rice, cotton and sugar cane) contribute 6.5
percent, while minor crops – 2.3 percent of the country’s
GDP.
Another 11 per cent of the country’s GDP is contributed by
the livestock sector which employs approximately 35
million people. Fisheries and forestry contribute 0.4
percent and 0.2 percent of the GDP respectively.
Despite its impressive and continuously growing amounts
of agricultural production, the country is struggling with
significant levels of food insecurity. According to World
Food Programme (2009), more than 48 percent of the
population is food insecure. FATA has the highest
percentage of food insecure population (67.7 percent)
followed by Baluchistan (61.2 percent) and Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa (56.2 percent).

Page 2
  Number of farms in Pakistan: The distribution of
ownership of land is one of most important factor of
agriculture productivity and economic well-being of
farmer community and is also affect their social and
political status in society. Like all other developing
agriculture countries the world, distribution in Pakistan
is highly skewed. It is evident from table 1, that land
distribution in Pakistan is highly skewed in favor of
large farm sizes; top 4 percent farmers own 40
percent of farms while top 90 percent owned less than
44 percent of farm. The main challenge of
development in Pakistan lies in rural sector which
suffers from wide spread of poverty and number of
social economic and technological problems. The
social problems mainly rise from skewed distribution
pattern of land and ownership which makes rural
society both rigid and iniquitous.
Units Number of Farm area(millions acres)
farms(millions)
Classification Total Small Medium Large Total Small medium large
Pakistan 8.35 7.52 0.50 0.33 55.59 24.35 8.54 22.7
Percentage 100 90 6 4 100 43.8 15.36 40.84

Page 3
  Number of farms in Pakistan:

Table 1

Number of farms Farm Area Cultivated area CULTIVATED AVERAGE SIZE OF FARM
AREA AS %
Size of Total Percent Total Percent Total Percent Farm CULTIVATED
OF FARM
farms Area Area
AREA
(Hectares)

Total 1539829 100 5569700 100 4453079 100 80 3.6 2.9

farms

Under 1.0 476330 31 203671 4 175556 4 86 0.4 0.4

1.0 to 2.5 497077 32 748216 13 651026 15 87 1.5 1.3

2.5 to 5.0 271160 18 913506 16 781804 18 86 3.4 2.9

5 to 7.5 129012 8 736282 13 636000 14 86 5.7 4.9

7.5 to 12.5 91854 6 860214 15 725131 16 84 9.4 7.9

12.5 to 49221 3 829712 15 696726 16 84 16.9 14.2

25.5

25.5 to 50 18181 1 572120 10 417574 9 73 31.5 23.0

50 to 100 5220 * 315515 6 203607 5 65 60.4 39.0

100 to150 1026 * 113638 2 65008 1 57 110.8 63.4

150 above 764 * 276832 5 100644 2 36 362.3 131.7

Page 4
FARMS AND FARM AREA: According to the estimates of
Agricultural Census 2010, there were 8.26 million farms in
the country. These farms were operating an area of 52.91
million acres. The distribution of farm area among small
and large farms was highly skewed. Farms with less than
5 acres of land constituted 64 per cent (5.35 million) of the
total private farms but they operated only 19 per cent
(10.18 million acres) of the total farm area. Whereas, the
farms that were of 25 acres and above in size, comprised
only 4 per cent (0.30 million) of the total farms but they
commanded 35 per cent (18.12 million acres) of the total
farm area. The average size of farm in the country was 6.4
acres whereas the cultivated area per farm was 5.2 acres.
The distribution of all farms and farm area by province is
given in TABLE –2 and in Fig:2-a

Page 5
 Table 2

Number of Farms Farm Area Average size (in acres) of

Administrative unit Number Percent Total Percent Farm Area Cultivated

Area

Pakistan 8.26 100 52.91 100 6.4 5.2

KPK 1.54 19 5.57 11 3.6 2.9

Punjab 5.25 64 29.33 55 5.6 5.1

Sindh 1.11 13 9.87 19 8.8 6.9

Baluchistan 0.36 4 8.14 15 22.7 9.7

Fig 2-a

25

20

15 average
farm size

10 average
cultivated
area

0
Pakistan KPK Punjab Sindh Baluchistan

Page 6
TENURE CLASSIFICATION OF FARMS AND FARM
AREA: Privately managed farms were mostly cultivated by
the owner cultivators (82 per cent) followed by tenants (11
per cent) and then by owner-cum-tenants (7 per cent). The
area under possession of owners was 39.43 million acres
(75 per cent) owner-cum-tenants 7.58 million acres (14
per cent) and tenants 5.89 million acres (11 per cent).
Tenure classification of farms and farm area by province is
given below in TABLE – 3 and in Fig: 3 – a to 3 – d below:
TABLE – 2: TENURE CLASSIFICATION OF FARMS AND
FARM AREA – BY PROVINCE
(Number in Million & Area in Million Acres)

Number of farms Farm area

Administrative Unit Total Owner Owner Tenant Total Owner Owner- Tenant
-cum- cum-
Tenant tenant

Pakistan 8.26 6.74 0.60 0.92 52.91 39.43 7.58 5.89

KPK 1.54 1.34 0.09 0.11 5.57 4.35 0.80 0.42

Punjab 5.25 4.32 0.45 0.47 29.33 20.60 5.37 3.36

Sindh 1.11 0.78 0.04 0.29 9.87 7.83 0.74 1.29

Baluchistan 0.36 0.30 0.01 0.05 8.14 6.65 0.67 0.82

Page 7
TENURE CLASSIFICATION OF FARMS

9
8
7
6
5 Total
4 Owner-cum-Tenants
3 Owner
2
1
0
Pakistn KPK Punjab Sindh Baluchistan

TENURE CLASSIFICATION OF FARM AREA

60

50

40

Tenant
30
Owner-cum-tenants
Owner
20

10

0
Pakista KPK Punjab Sindh Baluchistan

Page 8
 Land Fragmentation in Pakistan: Some reformers
have blamed imbalance in land ownership in Pakistan
for playing a part in "maintaining poverty and food
insecurity". According to the Pakistan-based NGO,
Society for Conservation and Protection of The
Environment (SCOPE), about one-half (50.8%) of
rural households in Pakistan are landless, while 5% of
the country’s population owns almost two-thirds (64
percent) of its farmland. (The World Bank found that
according to 2000 agricultural census 63.3% of rural
households were landless. Of the remaining 37% of
rural households, 61% of these owned fewer than 5
acres, totaling 15% of total land. Two percent of
households owned 50 acres or more, accounting for
30 percent of total land area.) Concentration of
ownership is also thought to be less productive than
owner farmed land. According to the World Bank,
"most empirical evidence indicates that land
productivity on large farms in Pakistan is lower than
that of small farms, holding other factors constant."
Small farmers have "higher net returns per hectare"
than large farms, according to farm household income
data. Sharecropper productivity is also lower (about
20%) than landowner productivity, holding other
factors constant, because there is less incentive for
sharecroppers’ own-labor inputs.

Page 9
 Tables show the current fragmentation in all provinces:
FARM AREA CLASSIFIED BY NUMBER OF FRAGMENTS AND BY SIZE OF FARM (area in acres)

KPK
Total Area of Area of farms fragmented
Area farms not
Size of farms fragmented Reporting Reporting Reporting Reporting MORE
2-3 4-5 6-9 10 OR more Fragments
Total Average area
Fragments Fragments Fragments Fragments per Fragment

PRIVATE FARMS- 5569700 2318896 3250804 1886930 823890 496117 43870 1.7
TOTAL

Under 1.0 203671 154758 48913 38751 6179 3922 56 0.2

1.0 to 2.5 748216 469978 278238 213690 39491 23436 1621 0.5

2.5 to 5.0 913506 439363 474143 337651 87345 6727 2418 1.1

5 to 7.5 736282 324370 411912 269235 83617 57422 1637 1.7

7.5 to 12.5 860214 352523 507691 323741 116113 65004 2837 2.7

12.5 to 25.5 829712 237884 591828 356765 164035 66811 4228 4.8

25.5 to 50 572120 127602 444518 195452 151690 95038 2338 7.5

50 to 100 315515 113054 202461 75117 73153 49974 4221 13.2

100 to150 113638 27457 86181 20402 38549 24329 2902 22.0

150 above 276832 71914 204918 56125 63723 63461 21610 65.4

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 Punjab
Total Area of Area of farms fragmented
Area farms not
Size of farms fragmented Reporting Reporting Reporting 6- Reporting MORE
2-3 4-5 9 10 OR more Fragments
Total Average area
Fragments Fragments Fragments Fragments per Fragment

PRIVATE FARMS- 29326443 13575020 15751423 10614299 3074894 1903728 158501 3.0
TOTAL

Under 1.0 306511 260173 46338 39241 5338 1764 - 0.2

1.0 to 2.5 2296737 1788158 508579 450082 45555 12941 - 0.7

2.5 to 5.0 3908497 2542052 1366445 1038220 261029 66163 1017 1.2

5 to 7.5 4549052 2652469 1896583 1339611 300136 255289 1545 1.8

7.5 to 12.5 5929334 2803827 3125507 2385828 392018 330686 16972 3.1

12.5 to 25.5 5812909 2116467 3696442 2723184 626168 322397 24702 5.3

25.5 to 50 2999934 746132 2253802 1490107 507637 236156 19882 9.1

50 to 100 1541264 279985 1261279 613022 393036 237796 17430 14.6

100 to150 1541264 279985 1261279 613022 393036 237796 174 14.6

150 above 1455495 311695 1143800 342376 366898 363007 71528 56.1

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 Sindh
Total Area of farms Area of farms fragmented
Area not
Size of farms fragmented Reporting Reporting Reporting Reporting MORE
2-3 4-5 6-9 10 OR more Fragments
Total Average area
Fragments Fragments Fragments Fragments per Fragment

PRIVATE FARMS- 9868792 4699247 5169545 3419466 1164869 557033 28180 5.8
TOTAL

Under 1.0 14618 13522 1096 890 155 36 13 0.2

1.0 to 2.5 499054 456675 42379 39989 1971 378 40 0.8

2.5 to 5.0 988441 804413 184028 172182 11195 600 47 1.6

5 to 7.5 912288 620820 291468 270663 14857 5946 - 2.4

7.5 to 12.5 1313189 725439 587750 513408 61803 12363 178 3.8

12.5 to 25.5 1784728 794581 990147 705283 197532 87101 2 42 6.0

25.5 to 50 2088489 725929 1362560 921960 288181 151855 572 9.8

50 to 100 1302374 318938 983436 466569 348270 162102 6500 15.4

100 to150 350581 88408 262173 124123 70010 62932 5112 26.5

150 above 615016 150526 464490 204402 170898 73721 15475 56.3

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 Baluchistan
Total Area of Area of farms fragmented
Area farms not
Size of farms fragmented Reporting Reporting Reporting Reporting MORE
2-3 4-5 6-9 10 OR more Fragments
Total Average area
Fragments Fragments Fragments Fragments per Fragment

PRIVATE FARMS- 8145473 2116683 6028790 2292184 1533289 2087266 116056 9.1
TOTAL

Under 1.0 2320 1705 615 502 77 39 - 0.1

1.0 to 2.5 103763 85364 18399 17108 897 378 16 0.8

2.5 to 5.0 198718 124272 74446 61037 12039 1379 - 1.4

5 to 7.5 296318 163609 132709 95786 21296 15572 64 1.9

7.5 to 12.5 644994 267663 377331 256808 80701 38910 917 3.0

12.5 to 25.5 933858 262240 671618 362518 201878 104422 2803 4.6

25.5 to 50 1065339 167576 897763 409585 284660 196691 6824 8.0

50 to 100 987394 87771 899623 338054 250451 300134 10987 12.7

100 to150 410171 52168 358003 80180 87814 177874 12139 18.6

150 above 3502600 904346 2598254 670613 593466 1251867 82309 105.5

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