زرعی مارکیٹنگ کے اصول و آداب قرآن و سنت کی روشنی میں

Abstract

The agriculture sector is poised to play dual role in the development of a country. On the one hand, it is aimed to meet food requirements of the country; on the other, it is playing a pivotal role in saving precious foreign exchange by limiting imports of edibles. By contributing to the development of industrial sector in the form of agricultural raw material, it serves to contribute to the overall economic progress. In addition to this, it accounts for 19.9% of GDP and 42.27% of total job provision. Despite this significance of the sector, it is pertinent to note that contribution of this sector to employment has declined by 4 percent during the last 20 years as is evident by the statistics provided by the Economic Survey of Pakistan. The figures indicate a downward contribution trend from 46.79% in 1997-98 to 42.27% in 2016-17. One of the reasons for this decline purports to be the agricultural marketing which accounts for massive exploitation of agriculturists. These further results in exorbitant cost outlays leading to decreased income margins of the communities subsisting on agriculture. This state of affairs seems to be the raison d'etre for the rural migration to cities. This paper suggests that to curb this situation, the need of the hour is to treat agriculture sector at par with industry and to take steps to shape marketing practices in line with Islamic principles to bring an end to this glaring exploitation of people associated with agriculture.