The estimated 68%of Pakistan's 155.8 million population - which is living in rural areas and rendering 21%of the GDP - is a reflection of a sad tale of unavailability or poor quality of education, high military spending, and the criminal silence of the successive Pakistani governments towards land reforms. These problems collectively count for landlessness of the tenants, absent landlordism, bonded labor, r u r a l urban migration and unemployment. The excessive use of fertilizers, insecticides, shortage of water, rising costs of agricultural inputs, poor infrastructure in terms of roads, culverts, farmer-friendly market, etc. add to the miseries of those who show any sings of resistance.

Facts and Figures about Livelihood

Changes in the patterns of land tenure between 1972 and 2000 show a dramatic decline in tenancy and a corresponding increase in owner-cultivation.

In Punjab, farm area managed by landless tenants declined from 26%to 11% whereas it increased in the case of owner-cultivation from39% to69% till 2000.

From 1974 to 2004, agriculture's proportion of GDP has declined from 35 to 21 percent, whereas the proportion created by services increased from43% to 52%, and Industry and manufacturing in Pakistan has increased only slightly from22% to 25%.

The kind of treatment that policymakers in Pakistan have been giving to the farmers is certainly matchless. It is unheard in countries where the role of peasants and workers is greatly honored for their contribution in ensuring food security. The support mechanisms of those countries for their peasants may include building of schools, colleges, health centers, community-centers, mattled roads, transportation system and subsidized agro-electric inputs, etc. So, the situation for peasants there is different from what their brethren and sisters are facing where they make cuts on their basic as well as developmental needs for meeting their living and agricultural costs; take loans or sell their lands to feudals cheaply; or migrate for selling their incompatible labor to the urban informal and fragile industrial sector. Of course, the cultural bonds and traditional ways of living, working, participating and rejoicing are also facing irreparable loss.

As a matter of fact, every government in Pakistan has already tried its myopic bit to eradicate poverty from Pakistan. Their efforts however did not succeed because of multiple reasons, including lack of their commitment and flaws in programming. In November 2000, for instance, the government of President Musharaf made a commitment to reduce poverty and restore economic stability. His strategy was articulated in the Interim Poverty Reduction Strategy paper (I-PRSP). Later, Pakistan adopted the final PRSP on December 31, 2003. The IMF and the World Bank reviewed and approved Pakistan's PRSP through a joint assessment. Thereafter, theWorld Bank released US$ 300 million poverty reduction strategy credit in September 2004, which was the first phase of the three-year program to extend support for implementation of the PRSP. Despite the fact that assessments indicate that poor governance lies at the centre of the causes of poverty and its offshoots in Pakistan, interestingly, there were no monitoring targets set for governance in the PRSP document. The table related to monitoring targets was left blank. So, it speaks volumes about the lack of conceptualization in terms of governance in the minds of the authors of the PRSP, and the present government. Similar has been the fate of the other poverty reduction programs, with a difference that poverty has increased unprecedently this time. The government of President Musharaf claims that it reduced poverty from 40%to 23 % due to its planning. But this claim invited lots of criticism from the national as well as international media, research organizations and planners. Many of them ask the government to explain the mathematical methods that it used to arrive at such a conclusion in a situation when it did virtually nothing with regards to development of rural infrastructure, agriculture and industry.

The issue of poverty is directly linked with livelihood and employment. And poor conditions with regards to livelihood ultimately becomes a domain for civil society organizations in Pakistan, including SAP-Pk, to educate and train people, advocate their rights and strike partnerships for their economic development.

The affective way of dealing poverty is that peasants are respected, their voices are heard and their abilities are trusted in planning, designing, implementing and monitoring of all agricultural, livestock and economic development plans. This recipe can do wonders. The civil society has to press this approach forward. They should continue to act as watchdog with regards to the national and international policies and as hub of information dissemination. It should engage peasants, especially women and religious minorities, who are far less privileged, around small models of economic and infrastructure development. This kind of support will remove the burden of poverty from the shoulders of the peasants as well as organize them to take control of their lives.