LAHORE: President of Pakistan Kisan Ittehad (PKI) Khalid Khokhar has sounded the alarm over the deepening crisis in Pakistan’s agriculture sector, warning that negative growth and poor government policies are pushing farmers to the brink of collapse.
Addressing a press conference on Wednesday, he said two years ago, when wheat farmers received fair prices, agriculture witnessed an improvement, but this year the denial of fair wheat prices has driven the sector into decline. “There is already a severe water shortage for agriculture in the country, yet instead of addressing it, more sugar mills are being established, further depleting underground water reserves,” he lamented.
He said promoting sugarcane cultivation and sugar production in the country means that we would not be able to grow more cotton, wheat or oilseed crops.
Khokhar highlighted that cotton, once called the “white gold” of Pakistan, is being destroyed. Despite being an export crop, an 18% tax has been imposed on its cultivation. Meanwhile, maize and potato growers are not being given fair rates, and maize cultivation has already dropped by 40%.
“Sugarcane farmers have not seen any increase in their prices, while wheat cultivation has suffered losses worth Rs 2,200 billion,” he stated. “Farmers are ruined—they don’t even have the money to buy fertilizer.”
He stressed that beyond border security, food security must be treated as a national priority. “For God’s sake, do justice with the farmers. Establish a Price Commission for agriculture,” Khokhar demanded, adding that many farmers are abandoning the profession altogether because production costs are not being recovered.
“In no other country is food security made into politics, but in Pakistan, due to ill intentions, even agriculture has been turned into a political issue,” he remarked. Khokhar warned that sugarcane continues to deplete water and nutrients like potash from the soil, leaving agriculture in a state of ruin. “The farmer is a human being too, yet he has been abandoned,” he concluded.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
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