Pakistan's problematic food economy

Dawn's analysis argues that discontent among farmer groups in Punjab goes well beyond the price of wheat and points to a deeper agrarian crisis. With the state stepping back from large-scale wheat procurement, growers now depend more on private buyers, even as fertiliser, power, diesel, machinery and labour costs have climbed sharply. Many growers say the prices they receive often fail to cover what it costs to produce a crop.

Citing Pakistan Bureau of Statistics data, Dawn reported that food imports climbed 11.66 per cent to $9.15 billion in FY26, while exports dropped 29.49pc to $5.02bn. As a result, the food trade gap ballooned from roughly $1.08bn in FY25 to $4.13bn a year later, a rise of about 283pc. Palm oil purchases alone accounted for $3.8bn, more than 41pc of the import bill.

Rice, the flagship agricultural export, saw earnings slide 31pc to $2.29bn in FY26 as India's return to world markets after easing export curbs intensified competition. Sugar imports, meanwhile, rose sharply to 309,545 tonnes in FY26 from 3,508 tonnes a year earlier, lifting the bill to $175m. The paper argues that such swings reflect weak domestic supply management and a model that exports surplus output, and it calls for oilseed farming, cold-chain storage and greater agro-processing.