A comprehensive report released by the Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry reveals that regulatory bottlenecks and inconsistent policy frameworks are severely constraining Pakistan’s agricultural sector. The publication, titled Seeds of Growth, highlights that execution hurdles rather than a lack of capital or technology remain the primary obstacles preventing agricultural yields from matching regional competitors. Despite contributing approximately twenty-three percent to national gross domestic product and absorbing thirty-seven percent of the total workforce, key crop yields continue to lag, generating significant foreign exchange leakage and missed export opportunities across several core commodity value chains.
The report presents a stark assessment of the country’s cotton sector, where annual production has fallen by more than half from its historic peak of fourteen million bales to an estimated six point eighty-five million bales in the 2026 fiscal year. This harvest level stands thirty-four percent below the federal government target of ten million bales. OICCI attributes the steep decline to recurring climate shocks, severe pest infestations, substandard seed quality, and the sudden imposition of blanket bans on specific pesticide ingredients without establishing a science-based transition plan. Because the domestic textile industry generates nearly sixty percent of national export revenues, this production deficit forces two to three billion dollars in extra import costs and lost export receipts each year. Restoring output to eight or nine million bales would offer immediate relief to country balance sheets.
Beyond cotton, similar regulatory hurdles are stalling progress in the maize sector. Although hybrid seeds have successfully tripled per-acre maize yields over the last three decades, necessary biotech corn hybrids remain blocked pending official policy implementation. While the federal cabinet approved the National Biotechnology Policy last month, institutional delays in notifying and operationalizing the policy continue to hold back an estimated one billion dollars in potential maize grain and silage exports. OICCI leadership noted that policy approvals must be swiftly translated into actionable ground execution to unlock investor confidence, enhance farm yields, and expand export capacity.
The diagnostic report also underlines structural inefficiencies across potato cultivation, dairy production, tobacco, and soil nutrition management. Less than five percent of potato output originates from certified processing-grade seeds, keeping average yields at twenty to twenty-three tonnes per hectare compared to global benchmarks of thirty to thirty-five tonnes. In the dairy segment, only ten percent of milk undergoes processing, with nearly twenty percent of total production lost to inadequate cold chain logistics despite Pakistan ranking among the top five global milk producers. Furthermore, rising tobacco production costs and an unrecorded market segment outside the tax net continue to distort local industry dynamics.
On soil health and fertilizer usage, the chamber observed an ongoing imbalance in nutrient application among domestic farmers. Nitrogen-based urea continues to dominate field application, while balanced inputs like potash remain severely underutilized. Potash offtake reached only seven thousand tonnes in March despite registering a year-on-year increase of nearly forty percent. The chamber emphasizes that implementing predictable regulatory pathways, modernizing cold chain logistics, and expediting seed technology approvals remain critical requirements to secure national food security and revive primary export sectors.
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