THE Pakistan Kissan Ittehad has painted an alarming picture of Pakistan`s agricultural sector, highlighting neglect, rising production costs and poor policy implementation.

A combination of these factors, the PKI leaders said at a press conference, had caused unprecedented financial distress to farmers besides leading to a big decline in rice, corn and mango exports and, consequently, in foreign exchange earnings. They also warned of an increase in food insecurity due to a potential shortfall in the next wheat harvest thanks to the abolition of the support price mechanism. Moreover, they predicted an increase in rural poverty and inequality, which could result in social and political instability. The PKI analysis underscores that the farm sector has reached its tipping point even if the group`s rhetoric is seen as politically motivated, and policymakers can question it. Despite some government interventions, the sector continues to face major challenges such as water stress, low productivity, inadequate infrastructure, low levels of mechanisation, high production costs, poor seed quality, unregulated markets and flawed policymaking.

Extreme weather events such as erratic monsoons and heatwaves induced by climate change have worsened these challenges in the last couple of decades. Hence, it is no surprise that agriculture has consistently lagged behind industry and services in driving economic growth as reflected by data for the past 15 years. The major field crops wheat, cotton, maize, sugarcane and rice dominate resources, but have delivered annual growth of just above 1pc. The same goes for fruit and vegetables. Growth in agriculture is being driven only by livestock.

The PKI has called for ensuring guaranteed 25pc profits on crop production, reduction inelectricity tariffs for irrigation and fair market prices for staple crops and vegetables to help growers and revive yields. But one can detect in these demands a rent-seeking mindset. To unlock agriculture`s full potential, the sector must shift from the traditional government-led model to a private sector-driven and tech-enabled model to become globally competitive. The government must focus on systemic reforms, not short-term packages, for increasing farm productivity and profitability. Policies should aim at improving rural infrastructure, market access, crop diversification, investment in R&D, farm mechanisation and promotion of climate-smart agriculture to ensure the sector`s full contribution to economic growth.