Azeem Ahmed Khan

Pakistan is working on a comprehensive Agriculture Innovation and Growth Action Plan (AIGP) to build a more resilient food system to tackle its growing food security challenges, said Economic Consultant at the Ministry of National Food Security and Research Dr. Haroon Sawar Malik.

Speaking to Wealth Pakistan, he said the country’s food system faces five key challenges: climate vulnerability, water stress, market distortions, post-harvest losses, and nutrition insecurity. The government is framing policies to directly address these issues, because climate vulnerabilities are hurting Pakistan again and again. “There is a time when we are facing floods, and a few months later, we are facing droughts and heatwaves. So, all these climate vulnerabilities are making our farmers much more vulnerable,” he said.

More than 90% of farmers in Pakistan are smallholders, who have been struggling to access credit due to a lack of collateral, Dr. Haroon pointed out. He said the government was developing a clean financing facility aimed at supporting both banks and small farmers by offering first-loss guarantees to financial institutions. Under the scheme, 750,000 small farmers are expected to be brought into the formal banking system within three years, with each new entrant receiving Rs10,000 in initial support, he informed Wealth Pakistan.

Highlighting food availability, he said while sufficient food exists in terms of numbers, yields per acre are far below South Asian and global averages. Nearly 90% of small farmers are unable to afford modern machinery and rely on primitive sowing methods, which also drives up the production costs, he said. To address this issue, the AIGP will scale up investment in infrastructure and mechanization.

Referring to the Kisan Package introduced after the 2022 floods, Dr. Haroon said the government leveraged Rs71 billion worth of farm machinery, including tractors, precision planters, harvesters, thrashers, and solar tubers, with just Rs6.4 billion in subsidies – a model now planned to be expanded under AIGP.

He further pointed out that interventions in wheat and sugar markets had restricted diversification. “To ensure food security and nutrition, we are moving toward crop diversification and market diversification,” he said. Dr. Haroon also underscored the government’s focus on food fortification, citing new zinc- and iron-fortified wheat varieties and plans to expand oilseed cultivation.

“For bio-fortification, we have been doing research and we have introduced the wheat varieties that are zinc- as well as iron-fortified,” he said. These interventions under AIGP are aimed at transforming Pakistan’s food system and ensuring resilience in the face of climate and economic challenges, he added.

Credit: INP-WealthPk