An outcome of author’s life long academic research -- this book is a valuable reference source on over 55 years of agriculture in Pakistan. Enriched with comprehensive and updated statistical information, the book begins with an overview of the changing role of agriculture in the national economy, its overall performance, and its effects on rural income distribution and poverty. The closing chapters focus on the political economy of agricultural growth in the country and the role of public policy in terms of its effect on agricultural growth. In between these, the book contains a detailed and indepth analysis of production and productivity, cropping patterns, farm structure, use of resources and inputs, and marketing of agricultural products -- over the last more than 5 decades.

Mahmood Hasan Khan is Emeritus Professor of Economics, Simon Fraser University, Canada.