By Dr Alamdar Hussain Malik
The Federal Government of Pakistan has reportedly decided, on the recommendation of the Ministry of National Food Security and Research, to import one million tonnes of wheat to meet the requirements of the provinces and ensure the availability of wheat across the country. This decision has once again exposed a fundamental contradiction in Pakistan’s wheat policy and revived serious questions about the country’s agricultural planning and food security management.
Only a few months ago, the nation was officially informed that Pakistan had produced a bumper wheat crop. Government representatives expressed satisfaction over the harvest, while farmers were led to believe that domestic production would comfortably meet national requirements. Yet, within a matter of months, the same government has decided to import one million tonnes of wheat.
This raises a simple but unavoidable question: If Pakistan had indeed produced a bumper wheat crop, why has it now become necessary to import one million tonnes of wheat?
Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident. It has become a recurring pattern in Pakistan’s agricultural policy. Time and again, optimistic claims of abundant wheat production are followed by large-scale imports. Such contradictory narratives undermine public confidence, create uncertainty in agricultural markets and expose weaknesses in planning, forecasting and policy implementation.
Wheat is not merely another agricultural commodity. It is Pakistan’s principal staple food and the foundation of national food security. It is cultivated on approximately nine million hectares, making it the country’s largest cultivated crop. Wheat contributes nearly 10 per cent of agricultural value added and around 2 per cent of Pakistan’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Under normal conditions, annual wheat production ranges between 28 and 32 million tonnes, while national requirements are estimated at around 30–31 million tonnes, including food consumption, seed requirements, strategic reserves and industrial use. With a population exceeding 250 million, ensuring an uninterrupted supply of wheat is not merely an agricultural objective—it is a matter of national importance.
Given these well-established statistics, Pakistan should be in a position to estimate its wheat availability with reasonable accuracy long before harvesting is completed. Modern technologies such as satellite imagery, remote sensing, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), artificial intelligence and digital crop monitoring are now routinely used across the world to forecast crop production months in advance.
Moreover, Pakistan is not short of institutions responsible for agricultural research and planning. The Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC), provincial agricultural research institutes, crop reporting services, agricultural universities and extension departments are staffed by highly qualified scientists, economists, statisticians and technical experts. These organisations exist to generate reliable scientific evidence and provide governments with timely advice on production forecasts and food security.
This naturally leads to another important question: What role are these institutions playing if Pakistan repeatedly moves from declaring bumper wheat harvests to importing wheat within a few months?
If scientific estimates indicate that domestic production is sufficient, why do policymakers subsequently conclude that imports are unavoidable? If those estimates prove inaccurate, what corrective measures have been taken to improve forecasting? If the problem lies not in scientific assessment but in procurement, storage, stock management or policy implementation, then the government owes the nation a clear and transparent explanation.
These questions are not intended to undermine Pakistan’s research institutions. On the contrary, they are meant to strengthen them. Institutions funded by public resources must be evaluated on the basis of transparency, scientific credibility, measurable outcomes and accountability. The recurring contradiction between bumper crop announcements and emergency wheat imports demands an honest national review.
The economic implications of this policy inconsistency are equally serious. Importing one million tonnes of wheat will require hundreds of millions of US dollars in precious foreign exchange, depending upon international prices, freight and insurance costs. At a time when Pakistan is striving to reduce its import bill, strengthen its foreign exchange reserves and stabilise its economy, every avoidable import places an additional burden on the national exchequer.
The greatest victims of this recurring policy inconsistency are Pakistan’s farmers. When government procurement is delayed or inadequate, growers are often compelled to sell their wheat below the cost of production. Months later, imported wheat enters the market, placing further downward pressure on prices and discouraging farmers from investing in quality seed, fertilisers, mechanisation and modern farming practices. Such uncertainty weakens rural incomes and ultimately threatens Pakistan’s long-term food security.
Consumers are also affected. Inconsistent policies create uncertainty in wheat and flour markets, contributing to price volatility and avoidable government intervention.
A stable and predictable wheat policy is essential not only for farmers but also for every household in the country.
Pakistan’s wheat challenge is not the result of a lack of scientific expertise or institutional capacity.
The country possesses experienced researchers, agricultural economists, crop scientists, modern technologies and well-established institutions. The real challenge lies in weak coordination among institutions, delayed decision-making, inadequate integration of scientific data into policymaking and the absence of effective accountability. Unless these structural weaknesses are addressed, Pakistan will continue to oscillate between claims of bumper wheat production and costly emergency imports—at the expense of farmers, consumers and the national economy.
The Federal Government should seize this opportunity to undertake a comprehensive review of Pakistan’s wheat management system.
The Prime Minister should constitute an Independent High-Level Commission comprising experts in agriculture, economics, food security, public finance, statistics, climate science and representatives of the provinces. The Commission should critically examine the entire wheat supply chain—from crop forecasting and production estimates to procurement, storage, stock management and import policy—and recommend structural reforms to ensure that such contradictions never recur.
The Commission should also determine whether the recurring problem stems from inaccurate production estimates, weak procurement policies, inadequate storage capacity, poor inter-provincial coordination, delayed policy decisions or shortcomings in the implementation of recommendations made by technical institutions. Identifying the root causes is essential if Pakistan is to develop a credible, evidence-based and sustainable wheat policy.
The decision to import one million tonnes of wheat should not be viewed merely as an administrative measure; it should serve as a national wake-up call. Food security is far too important to be managed through contradictory claims and reactive decisions. Farmers deserve fair and predictable policies. Consumers deserve affordable food.
Taxpayers deserve complete transparency and accountability for every rupee spent on avoidable imports.
Pakistan possesses the scientific expertise, experienced institutions and modern technology needed to accurately forecast wheat production and manage national food stocks. What the country cannot afford is the repeated failure of planning, coordination and accountability. If Pakistan continues to celebrate bumper wheat harvests only to import millions of tonnes of wheat a few months later, it will not merely be an agricultural failure—it will be a failure of governance.
The time has come to replace conflicting narratives with facts, short-term decisions with long-term planning, and institutional complacency with accountability. Pakistan’s food security, the livelihoods of millions of farmers and the confidence of more than 250 million Pakistanis demand nothing less. The recurring cycle of declaring bumper wheat crops followed by emergency imports must end—now.
The writer is Advisor Academics
University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Swat, Former Financial Adviser
Finance Division, Government of Pakistan
