The growth of Pakistan’s agriculture-based economy depends on elevating agriculture production and raising the per-capita income of rural communities. This paper evaluates the value of two simultaneous initiatives for the economic development of Pakistan, i.e., (i) reforming and modernization of the cadastre system, and (ii) the implementation of national spatial data infrastructure (NSDI). Both can provide crucial frameworks to assemble geographic information necessary for effective agriculture policies in the country.

The driving mechanism of soil quality (SQ) has important implications for arable land protection, sustainable agricultural development and ecological environment conservation. This study builds a “perception–response” theoretical framework to investigate how farmers’ land use behavior may affect SQ from the temporal and spatial perspectives.

In recent decades, global social and economic development has resulted in substantial land-use transitions. This was first observed with respect to losses of forested land, attracting worldwide concern. Forest transitions have an important impact on global ecology, whilst farmland transitions are key in terms of global food security. However, research into farmland transitions is lacking, particularly with respect to mechanistic analysis.