The Impact of Urbanization on Agriculture Sector: A Case Study of Peshawar, Pakistan

Abstract

By recognizing the socio-economic factors of urbanization, that lead to the loss of agricultural land it is important to design policies for combating agriculture land loss. This study aim is to identify the socio economic factors that cause land loss in Peshawar. The dependent variable urban population is used as a proxy to measure urbanization. We examined five explanatory variables, arable land, GDP per capita growth, agriculture value added (% of GDP), agriculture value added (annual % of growth) and cereal production. The results indicates that both agriculture value added %   of GDP and agricultural value added annual % of growth had a negative relationship with the urban population , it means that as the urbanization rises more and more agricultural land is converted to non agricultural uses which lead to the reduction of agricultural production. The result shows the urgent attention of the policy makers towards the policy implication for the land management to prevent further agricultural land loss.