Pakistan is amongst those countries of the world that are frequent victim of
droughts. Frequency of this creeping disaster in our country is 2-3 years in every
10 yrs. According to Anjum, Wang, Salhab, Khan & Saleem (2010) droughts are
common in both the developed and the developing world, however this disaster
leaves its long lasting impacts on the economy of the developing countries because
their agriculture is mostly rain fed. Out of total 79.6 million hectares area of
Pakistan, 88% consist of arid and semi-arid lands. According to facts provided in
their paper only 9% of Pakistan’s land receive more than 508mm of rain, 22%
receive between 254-508mm of rain, and 69% less than 254mm (Anjum et al.).The
authors list some of the major sectors of Pakistan’s economy that are affected due
to meteorological droughts: agriculture, forestry, livestock, fisheries, banking,
energy and transportation; inflation rate, unemployment, etc. Figure 2 shows the
GDP and agricultural growth rate of Pakistan from 1985-2005. Note that during
drought years both the variables suffered a sharp decline, thus producing a drain
on the economy.