Pakistan Among World's Largest Food Producing Countries

[Riaz Haq]

Pakistan's agriculture output is the 10th largest in the world. The country produces large and growing quantities of cereals, meat, milk, fruits and vegetables. Currently, Pakistan produces about 38 million tons of cereals (mainly wheat, rice and corn), 17 million tons of fruits and vegetables, 70 million tons of sugarcane, 60 million tons of milk and 4.5 million tons of meat.  Total value of the nation's agricultural output exceeds $50 billion.  Improving agriculture inputs and modernizing value chains can help the farm sector become much more productive to serve both domestic and export markets.  

Top 10 Countries by Agriculture Output. Source: FAO

Pakistan has about 36 million hectares of land under cultivation. Wheat and rice are grown on more than half of it. Fruits and vegetables each account for only about 3% of the cultivable land.  Since year 2001, the country's cereal production, mainly wheat, corn and rice, has grown about 45% to 38 million tons. Pakistan produced 6.64 million tons of vegetables and 5.89 million tons of fruits in 2001. 

Pakistan is the world’s 4th largest exporter of rice. The country's domestic production is estimated to surge 13.6% to an all-time high of 8.4 million tons in the year end June 2021, according to Bloomberg.  

Vegetable production rose to about 10 million tons and fruit production increased to nearly 7 million tons in 2015.  A little over 60% of Pakistan's agriculture consists of livestock. Pakistan produces 60 million tons of milk and 4.5 million tons of meat.  Fish production adds up to about 575,000 tons. 

Pakistan's Rising Rice Exports. Source: Bloomberg

Share of Land For Various Crops in Pakistan

Crop yields in Pakistan are low, mainly due to poor quality inputs like seeds. In addition to fertilizer and water, seed is the basic input for agriculture sector and has a major role in enhancing agriculture productivity. This needs to be a key area of focus for Pakistani policymakers working on agriculture. 

Other critical area is post-harvest handling, particularly storage and transportation that is in desperate need of improvement. Post-harvest losses in fruits and vegetables due to mishandling of the perishable product, poor transportation, and inadequate storage facilities and market infrastructure account for about 30%–40% of total production, according to experts at Asian Development Bank.  

World's 5th Largest Population of Chicken in Pakistan

Improvements in agriculture inputs and modernization of post-harvest process require significant financing and investment. Growers get only a small fraction of value of what they produce, making it difficult for them to make these investments. Middlemen finance farmers and take the lion's share of profits in the value chain.  

Source: FAO via Kleffmann Group

Most of the farmers sell their produce to wholesalers via middlemen called arthis, according to an ADB report. Farmers contract out fruit orchards during the flowering stage to the middlemen (arthis), commission agent, and/or wholesalers who provide loans to the farmers over the course of production. Vegetables and fruits are transported by the same cart or truck from farms to the main markets in the absence of specialized vehicles for specific products. The same vehicle is used for many other purposes including animal transportation. Recently however, reefer (refrigerated) trucks have been introduced on a limited scale in some parts of Pakistan. In the absence of direct access of carrier vehicles to the farms, farmers gather their products in a convenient spot along the roadside for pickup. When middlemen or contractors are involved, it is their responsibility to collect and transport the produce. The unsold produce in one market is sent to other markets in the same locality. 

Date Palms in Sindh, Pakistan. Photo: Emmanuel Guddu

Investments in modernization of the agriculture production process and farm-to-market value chain will require major reforms to ensure growers get a bigger share of the value. The extraordinary power of the middlemen (arthis) as financiers needs to be regulated. This can not happen without legislation in close consultation with the growers. Improving agriculture inputs and modernizing value chains can help raise the productivity of the farm sector for it to serve both domestic and export markets better.  

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[Riaz Haq]

Pakistan’s food exports rise to $4.62 billion in seven months - Profit by Pakistan Today

https://profit.pakistantoday.com.pk/2025/02/19/pakistans-food-expor...


Pakistan’s food exports increased by 8.17 percent to $4.62 billion during the first seven months of the fiscal year 2024-25, up from $4.26 billion in the same period last year, primarily driven by a rise in rice shipments, according to data from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).


This marks the 18th consecutive month of export growth, even as domestic food inflation remains at historically high levels, leading to increased prices for consumers across the country.

Rice exports played a key role in the overall increase, with shipments reaching $2.19 billion during July-January 2025, a 3.73 percent rise from $2.12 billion in the corresponding period last year.

The export volume of basmati rice grew by 22.04 percent to 487,221 tonnes, with its export value rising by 11.98 percent to $511.59 million. Non-basmati rice exports also increased by 1.46 percent in value to $1.68 billion, with export volume up 7.72 percent to 3.15 million tonnes.

New export markets, including Bangladesh, have contributed to the expansion of Pakistan’s rice sector, which remains a key driver of exports to the European Union and the United Kingdom. However, the continued surge in rice exports has impacted domestic availability, pushing basmati rice prices up to Rs400 per kg from Rs150 two years ago.

Sugar exports saw a dramatic increase, rising by 2,188 percent to 757,597 tonnes compared to just 33,101 tonnes in the same period last year. Afghanistan has been the primary destination for these shipments, contributing to the domestic price hike in sugar.

Meat exports also registered a modest increase of 2.6 percent during the first seven months of the fiscal year. The expansion of meat exports has been driven by new market openings, the participation of additional exporters, and the approval of more slaughterhouses. However, domestic meat prices have surged in recent years, with buffalo meat prices doubling from Rs700 per kg to Rs1,400, while chicken prices have hit record highs.

Conversely, exports of vegetables declined by 18.14 percent during July-January 2025, mainly due to a drop in onion, potato, and tomato shipments. Fruit exports also recorded a slight decline of 0.24 percent, while fish and seafood exports showed minimal growth of 1.25 percent.

[Riaz Haq]

Friends Afar: How do Chinese scientists grow soybeans in Pakistan? | Macau Business

https://www.macaubusiness.com/friends-afar-how-do-chinese-scientist...

Hafiz Mamoon Rehman, born in a small village in Pakistan’s Punjab province, grew up surrounded by golden wheat and cotton as white as snow. Unlike the generations before him who toiled the land, he chased academic excellence and sought knowledge beyond the familiar terrain of his homeland.
“Agriculture is food for poor countries,” he says.

Rehman’s journey led him to the fields of biotechnology, where he grappled with the intricacies of herbicide resistance and genetically modified wheat. In 2016, while pursuing his doctorate at Chonnam National University in South Korea, he chose soybeans as the subject of his long-term research.

He cast his resume into the world, reaching out to soybean experts across the globe. It was a message from Professor Lam Hon-ming of the Chinese University of Hong Kong’s School of Life Sciences that set the stage for what was to come.

Lam, a prominent expert in agricultural science, has decoded the genomes of 31 soybean varieties and bred non-genetically modified germplasms that are tolerant to drought and salinity. He was also the first researcher from Hong Kong to participate in a national-level space agricultural research project.

Two years later, Rehman joined Lam’s lab, completing a successful three-year postdoctoral stint. Hong Kong became a dream for him, a place where he built up a family and memories, including the birth of his child at Prince of Wales Hospital.

Yet, despite the allure of the vibrant city, Rehman never lost sight of his goal — returning home and using his knowledge to help his people. “Hong Kong has a better life. But I think if you really want to serve the farmer community, you should come to some agricultural country and serve.”


Pakistan, primarily an agrarian nation, faces challenges due to limited crop diversity and the adverse effects of climate change. With most of its agricultural land dedicated to five traditional crops and suffering from low soybean yield and quality, the country relies heavily on soybean imports for animal feed, unlike China’s familiarity and consumption of soy products.

Professor Iqrar Ahmad Khan, vice-chancellor of the University of Agriculture Faisalabad, explains that Pakistan spends up to $2 billion annually importing around 300,000 metric tons of soybeans. “What’s important now is to bring in soybean as a mainstream green crop.”
Sowing hope

After years of growth and learning, Rehman became a beacon of hope at the University of Agriculture Faisalabad, developing local soybean varieties suited for the conditions

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Lam said he hopes these students could observe their homeland from a different perspective and understand the connection between Hong Kong and Pakistan.

After a 10-hour flight and a layover, Lam and his team touched down in Lahoreamid tight security. The trip, meant to be a straightforward agricultural exchange, nowrequired navigating a complex security landscape.

Punjab, Pakistan’s breadbasket, was the destination — a province with more than 100 million people and the most developed agricultural sector in the country.

“Introducing soybeans to Punjab is not an easy task,” says Rehman, noting the crop’s novelty to local farmers. In the following days, Rehman and Lam’s team visited various villages, encountering soybean plots tucked away among cornfields, coriander, and winter melons, or nestled within vast sunflower expanses.

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The high temperatures of Punjab, edging close to 50 degrees C, posed a significant challenge. “The extremely hot weather almost melted everything,” Zhang says.

But the resilient seeds provided by Lam sprouted, offering a glimmer of hope. “I used to give them seeds that were already stable. This year, I brought new seeds that are still changing. It’s only by starting from a seed and struggling together that they can develop new varieties that truly belong there,” says Lam.

[Riaz Haq]

Despite rising prices, Pakistan’s love for sugar remains unshaken

https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2025/3/21/despite-rising-prices-...

Pakistan’s total sugar production for the current financial year, which will end in July 2025, is forecasted at 6.8 million tonnes, while consumption is expected to be about 6.7 million tonnes.

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With overall inflation down and costs of other commodities stable, consumers are willing to pay more for sugar, especially during Ramadan, even as the government scrambles to curb prices.

Islamabad, Pakistan – When Ayesha Khan, a mother of four, was buying groceries for her family this week, sugar was high on her shopping list.

A few miles away in the corridors of power, Pakistan’s government and bureaucrats were trying to thrash out a fix for sugar’s soaring prices. But for Khan, buying sugar was a necessity.

“It has been almost 20 days since Ramadan began, and this will be the third time I am buying a five-kilogramme bag of sugar for the family,” Khan, who is in her 30s, told Al Jazeera while shopping in an Islamabad market frequented mostly by middle-class customers.

“What can I say? We all have a sweet tooth, and we love our sugary tea and rooh afza!” she added, laughing, referring to the popular rose-flavoured beverage.

General inflation in the country has trended downwards over the past year, with inflation crashing from 23.06 percent in February 2024 to 1.5 percent in February this year. This was after inflation had reached a record high of 38 percent in May 2023.

However, over the past few months, the price of sugar has increased by nearly 22 percent, rising from 140 rupees per kilogramme ($0.50) in January to 171 rupees per kilogramme ($0.61) in the second week of March, according to Pakistan’s Bureau of Statistics.

But in the markets of Islamabad, many customers said that the increase in sugar prices was only a pinch, not a punch, to their wallets, adding that the stability of prices for other key commodities such as milk, wheat and rice helped them balance their budgets.

Mohammad Shehzad, 27, was buying jalebi – a spiral-shaped South Asian dessert made from all-purpose flour and soaked in hot sugar syrup.

He said that while Ramadan usually brought a slight increase in the prices of nearly every commodity, things had been worse in previous years.

“We do love to add sugar to our tea and desserts, of course, but because our overall expenditure is under control, the increase in sugar prices has not hurt us too much,” he told Al Jazeera while placing an order for three kilogrammes of jalebi, sold for 650 rupees ($2.32) per kilogramme, for an iftar dinner at his house.

Ramadan, with its daily rituals of suhoor and iftar — the predawn and post-sunset meals, respectively — often brings a slightly higher consumption of various food items.

Wajid Mehmood, the manager of Shikarpuri Sweets, the dessert shop where Shehzad was buying jalebi from, said that while the overall input cost had increased due to rising sugar prices, it had mainly affected profit margins.

“We purchase about 10 to 12 bags per day, each weighing 50kg, for our six branches. One bag currently costs us 8,500 rupees ($30). Before Ramadan, it cost us 7,800 rupees ($27) per bag,” he said.

However, Mehmood said that the shop owners had decided not to pass the increased cost on to customers during Ramadan.

“Maybe the price will be raised a little at Eid,” he said, referring to the festive period that follows the month of fasting.

For some, like Muhammad Zahid, a juice vendor who has run his roadside stall for the past 32 years, pricing depends on a combination of factors, including increases in the prices of both sugar and fruits, such as apples, bananas and oranges. During Ramadan, he has no customers during the day.

“With Ramadan, my sugar requirements have naturally gone down, so my daily usage is between two to three kilogrammes, costing me 165 rupees ($0.59) per kilogramme these days,” he said while slicing fruits.