Pakistan Kissan Ittehad President Khalid Mahmood Khokhar has urged the federal government to declare an agricultural emergency and introduce an effective wheat procurement and marketing mechanism.
Addressing a press conference, he said fixing the wheat price at a viable level could help revive the entire agriculture sector and improve the national economy.
Welcoming the proposed wheat price of Rs4,500 per 40kg, Khokhar said farmers had suffered losses in wheat cultivation for the past three years, and the recent proposal had provided them a ray of hope.
He said the wheat price should reflect the actual cost of production, adding that a reasonable support price would also improve the financial position of growers cultivating sugarcane, potatoes, rice and peas.
He said he was grateful to the prime minister for considering a reasonable wheat price, which would benefit farmers and strengthen the economy.
Khokhar warned that climate change, floods, droughts and changing rainfall patterns were likely to create serious challenges for global agriculture, potentially affecting wheat availability in international markets next year.
He urged the government to build strategic wheat stocks and ensure procurement directly from farmers to safeguard national food security.
He appealed to the Punjab chief minister to introduce a clear mechanism for wheat sales, saying an effective marketing system was essential to protect growers from market volatility.
Referring to the declining use of agricultural inputs, Khokhar said DAP fertiliser consumption in Pakistan had fallen from 2.3 million tonnes to 1.2 million tonnes, reflecting the financial difficulties faced by farmers.
He noted that growers who had sold wheat at around Rs3,500 per 40kg were now witnessing market prices exceeding Rs5,000, highlighting the need for a stable and transparent pricing policy.
Khokhar said agriculture is a subsidised sector across the world, but Pakistan continues to face major challenges despite being an agrarian economy, importing edible oil, wheat, cotton and pulses.
He pointed out that Pakistan allocates only 0.18 percent of its relevant budget to agricultural research, compared with 1.16 percent in Brazil.
He also expressed concern over the decline in cotton production, saying it had dropped from less than 14 million bales to around five million bales, while India’s output had risen to about 50 million bales.
Khokhar urged the government to declare 2026-27 the Year of Agriculture and take coordinated measures to strengthen farmers, improve productivity and reduce dependence on imported agricultural commodities.
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