Although the economic importance of agriculture in terms of its contribution to GDP has been declining over the last 25 years, this sector still accounts for a large share of GDP and employment in many developing countries. In Pakistan, agriculture still contributes slightly above 25 percent to GDP, employs around 44 percent of work force, is the main source of foreign exchange earnings, and provide linkages through which it can stimulate growth in other sectors. Being in such a dominant position, the growth of agriculture is itself a major component of overall economic growth. Over the last one decade, agriculture grew at an annual average rate of 4.4 percent with large fluctuation mainly on account of weather conditions and pest attacks on crops. Agriculture has also been suffering from various problems, such as traditional methods of farming, low yields, shortage of key inputs (credit, fertilizer, improved seed), adulterated pesticides, unstable price market, and little attention to the sub-sectors other than crop farming. The trends in agriculture growth is depicted in Figure 1.

Agriculture accounting for over 25 percent of GDP, bounced back with a growth of 5.5 percent in 1999-2000 as against a relatively low growth of 1.9 percent in the preceding year. The sharp recovery in agriculture owes mainly to bumper cotton crop, a good rice and wheat crops. However, the surge in agriculture growth was partly offset by a substantial decline in sugarcane crop. Major crops as a whole, registered a growth of 9.6 percent in 1999-2000 as against a growth of only 0.04 percent last year. The growth of minor crops and livestock slowed to 2.7 percent and 2.8 percent respectively as against 4.3 percent and 3.2 percent last year. Fisheries, however, posted a growth of 8.5 percent as compared with 0.6 percent recorded in the preceding year. The production of major crops are given in Table 2.1:

(000 Tonnes)

P: Provisional.(July-March)
*: Figures in parentheses are growth rates
Source: Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock.

I. Crop Situation
Pakistan has two principal crop seasons: the "Kharif", which begins in April-June and ends in October-December, and the "Rabi", which begins in October-December and ends in April-May. Rice, sugarcane, cotton, maize, bajra and jowar are "Kharif" crops while wheat, gram, tobacco, rapeseed, barley and mustard are "Rabi" crops. Major crops such as wheat, rice, cotton, sugarcane, and maize continue to account for nearly 90 percent of value added in the agricultural crop sector. The minor crops consist of pulses, potatoes, onions, chillies, garlic etc. The performance of the "Kharif" and "Rabi" crops is discussed in the following paragraphs.

a) Main Kharif Crops:
i) Cotton:
Cotton is the main cash crop which contributes significantly to the national economy. It accounts for 11.7 percent of value added in agriculture and 2.9 percent of GDP. In addition to providing raw material to the local textile industry, the lint cotton is a major export items. As against the target of 9.7 million bales, the size of the cotton crop is estimated at 11.24 million bales in 1999-2000 which is 27.9 percent higher than last year. It is due mainly to an increase in the area because of the shifting of sugarcane area to cotton crop and less attack of insects, pests/diseases on the crop during the year. The cotton was cultivated on an area of 2983 thousand hectares, showing an increase of 2.1 percent, as compared to 2923 thousand hectares last year. The cotton yield per hectare is higher by 25.2 percent. Area, production and yield of cotton for the last five years is given in Table- 2.2.

P. Provisional (July-March).
Source: Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock

ii) Rice:
Rice is the second largest staple food crop in Pakistan and is a major export item accounting for 6.1 percent of total export earnings over the last five years. It accounts for 6.3 percent in value added in agriculture and 1.6 percent in GDP. Production of rice during 1999-2000 is 5156 thousand tonnes, which is 10.3 percent higher than last year as a result of increase in the area, better yield, favourable climatic conditions and less attack of insects, pests/diseases, on the crop during the year. It was cultivated on an area of 2515 thousand hectares, which was 3.7 percent higher as compared to last year. The yield per hectare is also higher by 6.3 percent. Area, production and yield of rice for the last five years is given in Table-2.3

P: Provisional (July-March).
Source: Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock.

iii) Sugarcane:
Sugarcane crop serves as a major raw material for production of white sugar and gur and is also a cash crop. Its shares in value added in agriculture and GDP are 6.7 and 1.7 percent, respectively. Sugarcane has been cultivated on an area of 1010 thousand hectares during the current year, showing a decline of 12.5 percent over the last year. The production during the current year is estimated at 46363 thousand tonnes which is lower by almost 16 percent as compared with last year. The yield per hectare has also declined by 3.9 percent. Several factors are responsible for the sharp decline in sugarcane crop. Firstly, the delay in payments by the sugar mills discouraged farmers to grow sugarcane. Secondly, it is well known that sugarcane is an intensive user of water relative to other crops. The abolition of flat rates of electric tubewells by the WAPDA in Punjab created water constraints. Thirdly, there was less rainfall during the growth period of the crop and finally, heavy rainfall and cyclone in May, 1999 in Sindh province heavily damaged the standing sugarcane crop.

The area, production and yield per hectare for the last five years is given in Table 2.4:

P: Provisional. (July-March)
Source: Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock.

b) Main Rabi Crop
Wheat:
Wheat accounts for nearly 45.6 percent of crop land. Although the governments in the past made efforts to increase acreage under wheat cultivation, the acreage in wheat nevertheless fluctuated during the last five years. The contribution of wheat in the value added in agriculture stands at 12.5 percent and its share in the GDP is 3.1 percent. During the year 1999-2000, the area under wheat crop has increased by 4.2 percent - increasing from 8230 thousand hectares to 8575 thousand hectares. The preliminary estimates suggest that production of wheat for 1999-2000 is likely to be 19.3 million tonnes or higher by 7.9 percent over 17.9 million tonnes last year. The yield per hectare is also expected to be higher by 3.5 percent. These increases can be attributed to the enhancement of support price of wheat by 25 percent, increasing from Rs.240/40 kg to Rs.300/40 kg and timely disbursement of agricultural credit to the growers. Because wheat is a key element in the staple diet of a majority of the population, its availability at a reasonable price is an important socio-political objective for the government. The area, production and yield for the last five years is given in Table 2.5:

P: Provisional.(July-March).
Source: Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock.

c).Other Major Crops
The production of maize during the current year is estimated at 1352.0 thousand tonnes or showing a decline of 18.8 percent, as compared to 1665.0 thousand tonnes of last year. This decline is due to reduction in area and sowing of open pollinated varieties which need improvement and replacement. The production of bajra is projected at 156 thousand tonnes, or showing a decrease of 26.8 percent, as compared to 212.9 thousand tonnes last year. The production of Jowar is estimated at 225.0 thousand tonnes, or indicating a decrease of 1.3 percent, as compared to 228 thousand tonnes of last year. The production of gram is estimated at 667.0 thousand tonnes, or showing a decline of 4.4 percent, as compared to 698 thousand tonnes of last year. The production of barley and rapeseed have been estimated at 132.0 and 251.4 thousand tonnes respectively during the current year, as compared to 137 and 279 thousand tonnes respectively last year. The details are given in Table 2.6:

(Production 000 tonnes)

P: Provisional (July-March).
N.A: Not available.
Source: Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock

d) Minor Crops
i) Oil Seeds
The major oilseed crops include: cotton, rapeseed, sunflower, soybean and safflower. Total requirement of edible oils in 1998-99 was 1.9 million tons. Of which, 0.6 million tons (29%) came from local production and the remaining 1.3 million tons (71%) were imported at the cost of US$ 788 million. The edible oil requirement for 1999-2000 is also projected at 1.9 million tons. Of this, local expected production is 0.6 million tons (32%) and the remaining 1.3 million tons (68%) are to be imported. The annual growth in consumption of edible oil is 9 percent. Production of oilseed crops during the 1998-99 and targets/achievements for 1999-2000 are as under:

*: Soybean, Safflower
**: Soybean, Safflower & Corn.
Source: Agriculture Statistics of Pakistan, MINFAL and Pakistan Oilseed Development Board.

Pakistan Oilseed Development Board (PODB) has imported 100 tonnes hybrid sunflower seed and also arranged 1150 tonnes seed through private seed companies to accomplish the current season target of 500,000 acres. To facilitate oilseed production, the Government provides loans to growers through one-window operation of the ADBP. The Board has made special arrangement for the procurement of canola and sunflower, in collaboration with Solvent Extraction Industry. One of the Board's objectives is to strengthen the research component working on oilseed crops. Research components of the Board at Tarnab, Peshawar and NARC are conducting research trials on hybrid seed production of sunflower, canola and soybean.

ii) Other Minor Crops:
The production of pulses has shown a mixed trend. Production of "Masoor" and "Mung" has increased by 7.4 and 3.1 percent respectively while production of Gram and Mash decreased by 4.7 and 7.2 percent respectively during 1999-2000. Production of potato and onion are estimated to increase by 3.3 and 43.2 percent while production of chillies is estimated to decrease by 39.3 percent in 1999-2000 over the last year. Details are given in Table 2.8.

P: Provisional (July-March).
Source: Ministry of Food,Agriculture and Livestock.

II. Farm Inputs
i.) Fertilizer
Fertilizer is one of the key inputs in agricultural production and crop productivity. Domestic production of fertilizer during the first nine months (July-March 1999-2000) of the current iscal year registered an impressive growth of 25 percent over the corresponding period of last year. As a result of substantial increase in production, the import of fertilizer declined by 21.2 percent. Thus, the total availability of fertilizer was higher by 10 percent in the current year. The offtake of fertilizer was also higher by 6.8 percent. The details are given in Table 2.9

ii) Improved Seed
For attaining sustained growth in agriculture sector, seed is a critical basic input. Improved/certified seeds play an important role in enhancing the production of crops and yield per hectare. The distribution of improved seed target of 158.0 thousand tonnes has been fixed for 1999-2000 or 11.8 percent higher than the actual achievement of 141.2 thousand tonnes in 1998-99.

('000' N/tonnes)

Source: Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock, National Fertilizer Development Centre.

Federal Seed Certification and Registration Department (FSC&RD) is a regulatory organization for controlling and regulating the quality seed. The procurement and distribution of quality seed is the responsibility of provincial governments. There are also about 312 companies in the private sector, including 5 multinational companies, doing seed production and marketing in the country.

During the period under report, the seed testing labs tested a total quality of 49752 mt of wheat, onion, oilseeds etc, offered by different procurement agencies. A total of 36907 mt, (or 74.2 percent ) was accepted as per minimum seed certification standards. Besides, a total of 352 samples were analyzed for bacteria, fungi and viral diseases and 346 (98.3 percent) were approved. The concerned seed dealers were further advised to take remedial measure to avert the spread of diseases. A total of 15,069 mt. imported seed of Corn, Onion, Clovers, Sunflower, Coconut etc. were also tested for purity.

iii) Mechanization
Mechanization of agriculture has played an important role in increasing agricultural production. The policy has been framed to accelerate the pace of agricultural mechanization in the country. The sale of tractors for the period July-March 1999-2000 is reported as 26313 or 47.1 percent higher than 17882 tractors delivered during the same period last year. The increase in sale is largely attributed to the availability of agriculture credit and ensuring of tractor's prices within the affordable limit of farmers. No increase in tractor's price has been allowed since 1998-99. On the contrary, the prices of various tractors were reduced, as per details given in Table 2.10:

To ensure supply of quality seed to farmers and minimizing crop harvesting losses, Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock has also arranged Seed Processing Units and Combine Harvesters. The Agricultural Development Bank of Pakistan(ADBP) has reported the supply of 11 units of Seed Processing Units, besides 110 Combine Harvesters to farmers on cash/credit basis.

The ADBP has allocated more funds to the tune of Rs.7000 million for tractor financing during the year 1999-2000, as demand for tractors is growing. Furthermore, a sum of Rs.4,510 million were disbursed during 1998-99 for purchase of 16,951 tractors of various makes, including 2,562 tractors under Punjab Government subsidy and 791 tractors under Federal Government subsidy for Baluchistan.

(In Rupees)

Source: Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock.

iv) Plant Protection
The plant protection measures help in increasing per acre yield by protecting the crop from damage. Public sector provides facilities, such as, pest scouting, advisory services and aerial spray to the farmers while private sector is responsible for carrying out plant protection measures including ground sprays. On the demand of Provincial Governments, the aerial sprays are arranged by the Plant Protection Department. It also carries out regular vigilance surveys for control of locust in the deserts of Punjab, Sindh and Baluchistan. In case of any locust threat, it arranges ground as well as aerial sprays to arrest their spread and minimize crop losses.During the current year 1999-2000, an area of 67 thousand hectares of orchards in Baluchistan has been set for aerial sprays under regular programme.

To control insects, pests and diseases, the on-going research and development activities will be continued. The excessive use of pesticides is a health hazard and also kills useful insects and predators, therefore, the efforts will be made to popularize Integrated Pest Management (IPM) techniques among the farmers in order to prevent indiscriminate use of insecticides. The Government is trying to popularize the use of "Pheromones" to control harmful insects. The "Pheromonoes" are environmentally friendly and safe for other useful insects and predators. Efforts will be accelerated to prevent the sale of adulterated pesticides through administrative and judicial measures. The Governments of Punjab and Sindh have already launched a strong campaign in this regard.

v) Irrigation
Pakistan's agriculture is almost completely dependent on irrigation. It is well-known that an efficient irrigation system is pre-requisite for increasing agriculture production. It provides food security against the vagaries of the nature and enables the cropping intensity to increase. Despite having a very good irrigation canal net work in the world, Pakistan still suffers from wastage of a huge amount of water in the irrigation process.

The canal head withdrawals in kharif 1999 (April-Sep.) has increased by 2.1 percent and stood at 70.84 million acre feet (MAF), as compared to 69.40 MAF during the same period last year. During the Rabi season 1999-2000 (Oct-March), the canal head withdrawals decreased by 16.2 percent, as it went down to 30.04 MAF compared to 35.84 MAF during the same period last year, due to lesser water flow in the rivers, as per province-wise details given in Table 2.11:

(Million Acre Feet)

Source: Indus River System Authority, Lahore.

In order to effectively manage the existing irrigation infrastructure, measures like water conservation through seepage control of waterlogging, control of salinity through lowering of watertable, protection of irrigated infrastructure from floods through spurs and embankments and improvement of on-farm water management practices have been adopted. As a result, it is expected that water availability at the farm gate will improve. The Government also announced a special package of Rs.750 million to install Green Tubewells in Baluchistan. During current year 1999-2000, the ADBP has allocated Rs.2450 million for installation of tubewells in the country.

vi). Support Price Policy
To benefit the farming community specially the small farmers, government fixes the support prices of important crops upward, almost every year and are generally announced before the sowing time. In recommending the support prices to the Government, the Agriculture Price Commission(APCOM) considers a number of criteria, including cost of production, domestic and world demand and supply situation, market prices, international prices (import and export parity prices). As per announcement of Cotton Policy by the Federal Government, a minimum support price of "phutti" has been fixed at Rs.725/- per 40 Kgs. and Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) shall only enter the market and lift such quantities of phutti/lint, if the price of phutti falls below Rs.725/- per 40 Kgs for the premium quality of phutti. The support prices of various crops fixed for 1998-99 and 1999-2000 are given in Table 2.12:

(Rs.per 40 Kgs)

Source: Agricultural Prices Commission.

vii) Agricultural Credit:
a) Production and Development Loans
Agricultural loans amounting to Rs.27912.6 million were disbursed during July-March, 1999-2000 as against Rs.30652.1 million during the corresponding period last year thereby registering a decline of 8.9 percent. The decline in disbursement of credit is mainly due to lower demand for production loan. Supply of agricultural credit by various institutions since 1995-96 to 1999-2000 is given in Table 2.13:

b) Loan to Small Farmers
To ensure increased share of credit to small farmers during 1999-2000, 75 percent of the targeted loans under General Banking has been allocated to small farmers by the ADBP. However, it is encouraging to note that Rs. 14,812 million (sharing about 82 percent) were channelled to small farmers, operating land upto 25.0 acres (including landless) during the first nine months of FY 1999-2000.

(Rs. in million)

Source: Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock. Agricultural Development Bank of Pakistan.

III. Agriculture Research
Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC) is an apex national agricultural research organization to widely disseminate agricultural research results. It undertakes, promotes and coordinates agricultural research by setting up and strengthening of agricultural research establishments, for high level training of scientific manpower. During the current year, the main emphasis has been on germplasm screening and variety development of crops, livestock development and conservation of natural resources. The research activities are classified in the following four main divisions:

A. Crop Sciences
i) Development of New Varieties
The new varieties for the following three crops were developed/approved by the Variety Evaluation Committee:

ii) Technology Developmen
a) Wheat:
Hybridization and breeding for desirable characteristics were continued. In National Uniform Yield Trials(NUYT) 73, individual sets of the varieties were distributed to the coordinated units in different agro-ecological zones. This resulted in the development of 5 new wheat varieties for commercial cultivation.

b) Rice
A simpler, labour and resource saving technique of raising mat type rice nursery was simplified and demonstrated successfully at farmers field. Rice transplanting with Chinese Modified Rice Transplanter was demonstrated in major rice growing areas of Punjab. Mechanically transplanted rice gave 25 percent more yield than manual transplanting mainly because of maintaining higher plant population. Based on bio-ecological studies, chemical control of rice leaf folder in shaded areas saved 76 percent insecticide in managing this pest.

c) Pulses
In chickpea, 165 newly developed lines were evaluated for high yields and disease response. The blight resistant lines under Pothwar conditions were planted for seed increase and registration. Three genotypes resistant to blight are ready for VEC approval.

d) Oilseeds
Thirteen inbred lines of sunflower were maintained and their seed multiplied. Among 18 tested hybrids, Hysun 33 produced the maximum yield (2335 kg/ha). Soybean variety PC-56 gave the highest yield of 2878 kg/ha. In rapeseed, Hyola-308 and in Mustard, the entry 95104/12 gave the highest yields. In Canola, SPSO-3 gave the good quality seed. In groundnut, out of 16 entries, ICGV-86745 gave the highest yield.

e) Farm Machinery
A 12-row rice transplanting machine instead of 8-row machine was developed at the National Agricultural Research Centre (NARC). Three units of Chinese paddy transplanters were modified to suit local conditions. A prototype dall processing unit, solar dryer for persimmon and fruit and vegetable drying were developed and tested.

f) Fruits/Vegetables
Low chilling varieties of peach, plum and apple have been identified and are being multiplied for distribution to farmers. Better quality varieties of olive, guava and oranges has been identified. For early and off-season vegetables, production technologies are developed and disseminated. True Potato Seed (TPS) technology is developed whereby only 120 gm of TPS per hectare proved better, as compared to 2.5 tonnes of potato tubers. At Tissue Culture Labs, virus free seed potatoes, virus free bananas, and date palm plants were produced and supplied to private sector for multiplication and distribution.

g) Tea
Tea production technology including nursery raising was standardized and demonstrated. A 30 acres tea garden was established and about 20 acres of tea was planted on farmers field. A pilot green tea processing plant was established in 1996-97 and 35 tones green tea was processed in 1998.

B. Animal Sciences
The Livestock research has focussed on animal disease control, nutrition, health improvement and poultry production and results obtained sector include:

i) Animal Health
Brocellosis is an infectious disease of animals with zoonotic implications and is typically characterized by abortion in animals. A control programme has been started which will initially include all public livestock farms and is aimed at eradicating Brucellosis in the next 5-7 years. To asses the real life disease problems of broilers, an epidemiological study has been initiated covering 50 broilers farms.

ii) Animal Production
Cottonseed meal and maize gluten meal were compared, as the protein source for buffalo calves in fattening diet. It was found that growth performance of buffalo calves was better when fed on cottonseed meal as compared to maize gluten meal. These findings are being conveyed to the stakeholders i.e. scientists, livestock extensionists, solvent plants, and herders. It was also found that growth performance of buffalo calves was higher when fed on multi-nutrient molasses blocks containing sunflower meal, as compared to cottonseed meal.

IV. Forestry
Total forest area of Pakistan including rangelands is 10.5 million hectares. The low forest cover is due to skewed distribution of rainfall and prevailing aridity. Out of the total forest area, 1.4 million hectares are the productive forests and the remaining are protected forests. Besides, the Forest Departments control 6.28 million hectares of rangelands, supporting 109.8 million livestock population. In addition to forest area administrated by Provincial Forest Departments, substantial tree growth exists on private farmlands in the form of compact, scattered and linear plantations. Total forests are of Punjab, NWFP, Sindh, Baluchistan, Azad Kashmir and Northern areas including rangelands is 3.3, 1.4, 1.3, 1.1, 0.6 and 2.9 million hectares respectively. The forest sector contributes about 0.1 percent to the GDP and 0.3 percent to the agriculture sector during 1999-2000.

Pakistan is deficit in timber production and a demand gap of 734.7 thousand cubic meter of timber was met from imports. A large quantity of wood based products is imported annually to meet local demand. During 1998-99, Pakistan spent Rs.8499.3 million on import of wood and wood products, as compared to Rs.7903.6 in 1997-98, showing an increase of 7.5 percent.

To earn foreign exchange, Pakistan also exports forest products. During 1998-99, Pakistan exported wood and wood products amounting to Rs.381.4 million. The export of wood based sport goods was of Rs.255.0 million which accounted for 66.9 percent of the total exported forest products.

V. Livestock and Poultry
a) Livestock
Livestock is an important sector of agriculture in Pakistan, which accounts for nearly 37 percent of agriculture value added and about 9 percent of the GDP. Its net foreign exchange earnings were to the tune of Rs.35.0 billion in 1998-99, which is about 9 percent of the overall export earnings of the country. The role of livestock in rural economy may be realized from the fact that 30-35 million rural population is engaged in livestock raising. The livestock include: cattle, buffalo, sheep, goat, camels, horses, asses and mules. Population of livestock for the last three years is given in Table 2.14:

E: Estimated.
Source: Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock.

Production from livestock sector include: milk, beef, mutton, poultry meat, wool, hair, bones, fats, blood, eggs, hides and skins and their production for the last three years are shown in Table 2.15

Source: Ministry of Food, Agriculture & Livestock.

b) Poultry
The production of commercial poultry and poultry products for 1998-99 and 1999-2000 are given in Table 2.16.

E: Estimates
Source: Livestock Division.

The production of rural poultry products for 1998-99 and 1999-2000 is given in Table 2.17:

E: Estimates Source: Livestock Division.

For promotion of livestock and poultry, the government has provided the following incentives in the agricultural package:
- imported plant and equipment not manufactured locally shall be subject to custom duty of 10 percent, with complete exemption from sales tax.
- capital structure of projects in food industry will be entitled to equity ratio of 70:30. Projects will be entitled to financing from all banks and development finance institutions.
- Expatriate personnel will be allowed to import food items and other consumable without any duty/taxes, subject to maximum limit of $2,000 per person per year.
- import of breeding stock will be allowed subject to the import duty of 10 percent.
- locally manufactured machinery will be provided credit.
- parts and Components upto 5 percent of initial C&F value of imported plant and equipment shall be imported at 10 percent duty, if imported together with the plant.

VI. Fisheries
Fishery plays an important role in Pakistan's economy and is considered to be source of livelihood in particular for coastal inhabitants. Apart from marine fisheries, inland fisheries agro-(comprising of rivers, lakes, ponds, dams etc) are debt-also very important source of animal protein. Fisheries' share in GDP although very little but contributes substantially to the national income through export earnings. During 1999, 90.384 m. tons valued at Rs.7.02 billion fish and fishery products were exported. During 1999-2000, the total fish production is estimated at 627,000 m tons. Of which, share of marine sector is 452,000 m.ton and inland contribution 175,000 m. tons.

Pakistan exports a reasonable quantity of shrimp and fish and earns a substantial amount of foreign exchange. Thus during the calendar year 1999, 90.384 m. tons of fishery products were exported to Japan,USA,UK, Germany, Middle East and other countries.

The Government is taking a number of steps to improve fisheries sector. Further, number of initiatives are being taken by Federal and provincial fisheries developments which, inter-alia, include strengthening of infrastructural facilities, improvement of extension services, introduction of aquaculture techniques, diversification of fishing efforts, improvement in post harvest techniques, development of value added products, enhancement of per capita consumption and up- gradation of socio-economic condition of the fishermen's community. Marine Fisheries Department is also executing a project, namely, "Establishment of a Hatchery Complex for Production of Fish/Shrimp Seeds" which will play a vital role for the development of fish shrimp farming.

The total number of persons engaged in fisheries sector during 1999-2000 is estimated at 395,000. Out of which, 125,000 persons (31.6 percent) were engaged in marine sector and 270,000 (68.4 percent) in inland fisheries. Whereas compared to 378,878 persons/fishermen in 1998-99 (119,199 (31.5 percent) in marine and 259,679 (68.5 percent) in inland fisheries).