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The composition and volume of global trade has witnessed
significant changes during the last two decades. Trade liberalisation,
rising income and technological advancements, have been the main
determinants. Against the backdrop of a rapidly changing global export
pattern, and the success of Southeast Asian economies, there is a strong
case for Pakistan to pursue an export-led growth strategy that leads
ultimately to improve living standards. However, given Pakistan's past
macroeconomic performance and its current export structure, such a
turnaround would require a major structural transformation of the
economy and changes in its export specialisation patterns.

Agriculture research and development efforts in Pakistan have
traditionally been focused on raising the farm productivity of irrigated
areas. Among other factors, the underlying causes for this irrigated
bias could be attributed to: the importance given to the irrigated areas
in the overall planning framework; the dominance of the irrigated farm
lobby at all levels of research, politics, and government; the relative
progressiveness of irrigated farmers in terms of adoption of new
technologies; and the presence of risk-reducing natural conditions
prevailing on irrigated farms, e.g., certainty of subsidised water
supply when it is most needed. Further, like other parts of Asia, the
Green Revolution has helped the irrigated farmers in Pakistan to raise
the productivity of their major crops, such as wheat, cotton, and rice.
On the other hand, the rainfed I areas of Pakistan have drawn little
benefit from the Green Revolution. The average yields achieved on the
rainfed areas remain significantly lower than the yields derived by the
traditional irrigated farmers. The rainfed farmers are also subject to
subsistence farming conditions with per capita incomes well below the
national average.2 Given the size of the area under rainfed conditions
and the problems faced by the rainfed farmers, there have been attempts
by the government, international donor agencies, and nongovernment
organisations to come up with strategies to raise the productivity as
well as income of the rainfed farmers. Such efforts, however, must take
into account the production behaviour of the farm-households under
rainfed conditions.

Examines growing shortage of edible oil, and analyzes comparative economic advantage to Pakistan of increasing oilseed production over importing required quantities, using Domestic Resource Cost (DRC) criterion.

Like many other South Asian countries the advent of the green
revolution has led to increased productivity of many cash and food crops
in Pakistan and a noticeable movement towards food-sufficiency,
especially in case of wheat. One unintended outcome of these
achievements has been the neglect of the oilseed and edible oil sector
at all levels of research and government. With a widening in the edible
oil deficit, Pakistan has become increasingly dependent on imported
edible oils. At an annual average growth rate of9.6 percent, Pakistan's
edible oil imports have risen from 466.94 million kg. in 1980-81 to
1045.95 million kg. in 1991-92. By contrast the import costs during this
period have risen from Rs 2.62 billion to Rs 10.2 billion showing an
annual growth rate of nearly 13 percent. This unhappy state of affairs
has been the result of not only of the rapidly accelerating pace of
edible oil demand but also of deceleration in the growth rate of
domestic production [Government of Pakistan (1992)].

This book presents strategies for managing disasters and reducing risks in Asian countries. Given the dynamic changes in the natural environment as well as the patterns of land use and management, the growing populations of the developing nations in Asia, migration patterns, and other social-cultural aspects, the impacts of disasters have increased manifold in Asian countries. Against this backdrop, the book examines disaster management issues such as disaster preparedness, post-disaster reconstruction, peace, development and corruption. The views of different groups of stakeholders are incorporated in the discussion to ensure a comprehensive analysis of and findings on the governance process, as well as best practices in pre- and post-disaster management. The book also includes chapters focusing on aspects often overlooked in the context of disaster management, such as the need to invest in public education to improve public awareness, and approaches to supporting the disabled, the vulnerable and the elderly from disaster risks. In closing, the book presents research on disaster management methods employed by different countries in the Asian region.

In today's world economy, financial crises have been quite
rampant and have been a source of greater misery, deprivation and
poverty among a growing number of countries [Wolfensehn (1998)]. Some of
the major causes of this state of affairs especially in Pakistan lie in
rising debt servicing liabilities, receding donor assistance and growing
saving-investment and import-export gaps [UN (1997)]. To the extent that
the above situation can be ameliorated considerably by emphasis on
domestic production especially in agriculture, this paper looks at
possibilities of increasing the production of oil-crops for eliminating
edible oil imports. It must be noted that self-reliance in edible oil is
not important in its own right but would also be consistent with more
judicious use of domestic resources, greater food security, enhanced
welfare of consumers and producers and above all saving of scarce
foreign exchange resources [Goldman (1975) and Mellor and Johnston
(1984)]. In line with the above, the paper has the following outline.
Section 2 reviews edible oil situation in the country. The factors
underlying the growing edible oil deficit are highlighted in Section 3.
In Section 4 discussion is centred on policy alternatives for attainment
of self-sufficiency in edible oils through local production. The final
Section 5 summarises the conclusions of the paper.