A statement from the PTI Kissan Wing has warned that Pakistan is potentially facing a severe food crisis and situation, and Pakistan’s agricultural sector is going through the worst crisis in history as its agricultural sector is on the brink of collapse. The party’s agricultural wing has claimed that poor government policies have forced nearly 2.5 million farmers to leave the profession, posing serious threats to the country’s food security.
In a joint communique on Tuesday, PTI Kissan Wing Chief Organizer Sheikh Waqas Akram (MNA) and Information Secretary Khalid Nawaz Sadhraich stressed that government incompetence has pushed the country’s agriculture into its worst crisis ever.
Citing recent data, they highlighted a significant decline in agricultural production, with overall output falling by 13.49 percent. According to the data, wheat production decreased by 8.9 percent, maize by 15.4 percent, and cotton production saw a staggering decline of 30.7 percent, which they described as evidence of anti-farmer and anti-state policies.
The leadership expressed serious concern over the lowest budget allocation of only 0.18 percent for agricultural research. They compared this to countries like Brazil, which invests up to 1.75 percent in its agricultural sector, and termed the disparity a “criminal negligence” that is perpetuating the decline and cycle of poverty among farmers.
The statement severely criticized the government’s wheat deregulation policy, calling it the “worst joke” played on the farming community. It claimed that farmers suffered a heavy loss of Rs 2200 billion, as the government-set price of Rs 2700 per maund was far below the actual cost of production, which was over Rs 3410 per maund.
Policy instability was also cited as a major issue, with representatives stating that seven different secretaries had been changed without forming a coherent agricultural policy. They added that after the 18th Amendment, important crops like cotton and sugarcane were handed over to the jurisdiction of the textile and industries ministries respectively, leaving farmers without effective support and exposing 11.3 million farming families to the risk of devastation.
The impact of recent floods, coupled with policy failures, has been devastating. PTI representatives reported an agricultural loss of Rs 1100 billion in Punjab alone, where the rice crop suffered 60 percent damage and sugarcane 30 percent. This resulted in an 11 percent decrease in wheat cultivation, increasing the country’s reliance on imports and stalling the agricultural sector’s growth rate at a mere 0.56 percent against a target of 2 percent.
In response, the PTI Kissan Wing demanded immediate government action to reduce production costs, open up exports, and invest in modern seed technology. They urged new agreements with international companies to revive the sector and make agriculture truly the backbone of Pakistan’s economy.
The statement also strongly condemned the alleged mistreatment of farmers and exporters at the Sindh-Punjab border. It described the act of stopping export containers from Punjab for up to 12 hours and breaking seals for searches as the “economic murder of farmers,” an act that jeopardizes exports and wastes the producers’ hard work.
The PTI Kissan Wing issued a clear ultimatum to the government: if the “oppression against farmers” does not stop and immediate reforms are not implemented, they will launch a strong protest movement across the country, for which they said the current rulers would be held fully responsible.