In a country where agriculture and allied activities support the livelihoods of a majority of the population, the government of the day cannot prioritise short-term fiscal arithmetic over important sectors that feed the nation, sustain rural livelihoods and even support the national economy. But the Islamabad government is an exception.
About 60-70 percent of the population of Pakistan is directly or indirectly linked to the agriculture sector but its growth has shrunk to 0.6 percent now from 6.5 percent earlier. The alarming situation demanded immediate and robust corrective measures, which could have been broadly undertaken through budgetary decisions. However, the Islamabad government instead reduced the allocation to the crucial sector.
Islamabad ignored millions of farmers and workers involved in allied sectors such as poultry, fishery and livestock rearing in its annual budget for 2026-27. It has just added insult to injury for the people who were suffering from the double whammy of two-digit inflation and global supply chain disruptions triggered by the US-Iran war. The widening income gap in the country is a reflection of the Islamabad’s apathy and ignorance, as it failed miserably to think about welfare of the masses in the most important statement of a government’s priorities.
Shockingly, it decided to increase defence spending by a whopping 18 percent to PKR 3 trillion, but belittled the critical agriculture sector; it is better not to talk about allied sectors like fisheries, livestock, and poultry. Poultry can be a miracle for poor and high-inflation country to fulfil the protein demand beside generating employment. Fisheries do not just support a major livelihood support but can also bring foreign exchange through exports. But both remained largely invisible in the budget.
Farmers had expected an allocation of 10 percent of the total budget to the distressed farm sector. However, the budget presented by the Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb rather saw a decline, leading to sharp criticism from different quarters. “No incentive or noteworthy step is seen in the speech,” said Nabi Bux Sathio, President of Sindh Chamber of Agriculture.
Moreover, the subsidies were reduced by 8 percent as compared to the previous year’s budget, in which wheat reserve stock subsidy received the biggest hit. It was reduced from PKR 14 billion in 2025-26 to PKR 9.5 billion in 2026-27. Moreover, the food subsidy also saw a decrease to PKR 19 billion from PKR 20 billion. In short, the budget appeared completely contrary to the expectation of measures aimed at strengthening agricultural production, food security, and rural economy.
No wonder farmers and industry in Pakistan are angry as they felt the farm sector was badly ignored in the budget, especially against the backdrop of the Economic Survey of Pakistan painting a grim picture of the sector. Besides anguish over higher pesticides and fertilisers prices, farmers have been demanding the abandonment corporate farming plans and an end to military control over agricultural resources. The misaligned budget has only made matters worse.
Pakistan Kissan Ittehad President Khalid Khokhar said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif invited the representatives of agriculture sector to get insight into the problems, but the budget showed none of their concerns were even considered. “We are at a total loss as higher authorities fail to pay heed to our demands for the revival of agriculture. It simply implies that agriculture is no more a priority area for the government,” he said.
Agriculture is Pakistan’s backbone as it contributes one-fourth of its GDP and supports millions of rural households. The farm output has declined due to a decrease in crop production and crop productivity, thanks to climatic problems, volatile market conditions, high inflation and bureaucratic mismanagement. However, Islamabad is paying more attention to IMF’s recommendations about stabilising the economy through structural reforms and fiscal discipline.
It might startle anyone who understands the basic principles of economics that to realised that Islamabad appears oblivious to the very fundamentals of governance and economic management. Agriculture does receive huge attention in the country’s polity. Where? In bureaucratic meetings and political speeches and manifestos. But it does not translate into meaningful policies and government decisions and adequate budgetary allocation.
Are Pakistani policymakers still living in the twentieth century. They do not seem to recognise agriculture as an engine of economic growth. Islamabad must learn from small South Asian countries like Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, and even the Maldives, which ensured food security and reduced poverty through investment and innovation in agricultural production.
Pakistan’s future cannot be secured through macroeconomic adjustments or increased defence spending. If Islamabad continues to treat agriculture as an secondary sector and deprive it of funds and support, it will jeopardise food security, rural livelihoods, and agricultural resilience. No one should be surprised if isolated events of protests over farm distress snowball into a gigantic nationwide movement if Islamabad ignores its primary sector.