The Role of the Agriculture Sector in Pakistan's Economic Growth

Abstract

The foremost and most impactful economic sector in Pakistan is agricultural production, which accounts for 50% of the nation's workforce and represents 25% of its GDP. The growth rate of this sector is instrumental in shaping the overall economic growth, as reported by a secondary source covering the period from 1972 to 2018. To assess economic growth, the study employed the autoregressive distributed lag approach (ARDL). Various parameters, including actual gross domestic product per capita, gross capital formation, working labor force, inflation rate, trade openness, and agriculture value-added, were considered in the analysis. The rate of inflation has a negative impact on economic development; other factors, on the other hand, have a positive impact. The study found that agriculture contributes a significant amount to economic growth and recommends that the government increase the number of working workers by increasing advanced learning in both the agricultural and industrial sectors. The findings demonstrate that a country's economic growth may be boosted by an increase in labor force employment, a better degree of trade openness, a good position on agricultural products, and lower input prices.