PAKISTAN, 1987
The Islamic Republic of Pakistan covers 804.000 sq.kms. of the Indian Subcontinent.
Much of the country is treeless and arid and deficient in water
supplies. Only 21 percent of the land is cultivated, most of this in the food-rich
Punjab, and less than 1 percent is forested. With a population growth
rate of 2.9 percent, the estimated population of 107 million will double within
the next 25 years. Per capita income is $390 a year which is too low to allow
the majority of Pakistanis to live well or to provide the capital needed for
financing national development. This leaves Pakistan with an urgent and
continuing need for development assistance from the richer nations and from
multinational aid agencies. Among the latter, the UN Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO) has extended considerable technical assistance. There are
at present 43 FAO-assisted development projects in Pakistan in the fields of
fisheries, forestry and agriculture. 20 are funded by the UN Development
Programme (UNDP), 7 by Trust Funds from the richer FAO member states and 16
come under the organization's Technical Cooperation Programme (TCP).
Little girl from farming family in the Pakistani Punjab sitting on a mound of
freshy harvested potatoes which are ready for transport to market in Lahore.