By Uzma Ehtasham
Pakistan’s economic crisis is often discussed through the language of emergency. Governments speak of stabilisation packages, international lenders demand fiscal discipline, and policymakers promise that recovery is just beyond the horizon. Yet for millions of Pakistanis living with inflation, unemployment and deepening insecurity, the crisis no longer feels temporary. It has become structural, woven into everyday life through rising food prices, stagnant incomes and collapsing public confidence. In this bleak landscape, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is correct to place agriculture at the centre of the country’s economic future. No other sector possesses the same capacity to create employment, strengthen exports, reduce poverty and restore a degree of national self-reliance.
But recognising agriculture’s importance is the easy part. Pakistan’s real test lies in whether it can finally overcome the decades of neglect, political inconsistency and institutional decay that have kept the sector trapped far below its potential. Agriculture is not merely another component of Pakistan’s economy. It remains the backbone of rural society and the primary source of livelihood for millions of families across the country. Entire communities depend on the rhythm of harvests and irrigation cycles for survival. Yet despite this dependence, successive governments have treated agriculture as a sector to be managed reactively rather than strategically. Policies have often emerged in response to crises instead of long-term planning. Farmers have been left vulnerable to fluctuating market prices, exploitative middlemen, water shortages and soaring production costs.
The result is a rural economy marked not by growth and innovation, but by exhaustion and uncertainty. The contrast with countries such as China is impossible to ignore. Over the past several decades, China transformed its agricultural sector through scientific investment, mechanisation, modern irrigation systems and strong state coordination. Rural development was treated not as a secondary concern but as a national priority tied directly to economic stability and industrial growth. Pakistan, by comparison, allowed its agricultural institutions to weaken through underfunding, political interference and administrative stagnation. Research bodies that should have been driving innovation became symbols of bureaucratic inertia. Farmers continued relying on outdated methods while climate pressures intensified around them.
This is why the proposed cooperation between the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council and the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences carries genuine significance. If implemented seriously, such collaboration could introduce modern seed technologies, advanced farming techniques and improved research capacity. But Pakistan has a long history of announcing ambitious reforms that never move beyond ceremonial agreements and official optimism. Institutional partnerships alone cannot transform agriculture unless they are accompanied by continuity, transparency and political commitment that survives beyond press conferences and changing governments. The government’s emphasis on reviving cotton production is equally important. Cotton once formed the foundation of Pakistan’s export economy, sustaining textile industries and supporting millions of livelihoods.
Its decline over recent years has not only damaged exports but also exposed the fragility of the wider economic structure. Falling yields, pest attacks, poor-quality seeds and rising input costs have steadily weakened one of the country’s most valuable crops. Rebuilding cotton production is therefore about far more than restoring agricultural output. It is about rebuilding economic resilience itself. Yet agriculture cannot recover in isolation from the broader crises consuming the state, particularly the collapse of energy reliability. Farming in the modern world depends heavily on electricity. Tube wells, irrigation systems, cold storage facilities and food processing industries all require stable and affordable power supplies.
In Pakistan, however, farmers operate within an energy environment defined by uncertainty. Load-shedding continues to disrupt agricultural activity across many regions, while rising electricity tariffs place additional pressure on already struggling rural households. Farmers are forced to pay more for fertilisers, fuel and electricity while their profits continue to shrink. The consequences eventually spread beyond villages into cities through rising food prices and worsening inflation. It is within this context that the government’s push to privatise electricity distribution companies must be examined carefully. There is no doubt that many state-owned enterprises have become financially unsustainable and administratively dysfunctional. Calls for greater transparency and professional management are both necessary and overdue.
But privatisation in itself is not a cure for systemic failure. Pakistan’s power sector suffers from far deeper structural problems rooted in ageing infrastructure, transmission losses, weak regulation and chronic corruption. Merely transferring ownership from the public sector to private hands will not automatically solve these failures if the underlying governance culture remains untouched. Ordinary consumers have heard promises of reform before. They have repeatedly been told that restructuring, tariff adjustments and administrative changes would improve efficiency and reduce costs. Instead, electricity has become increasingly expensive while service quality remains deeply unreliable. Public frustration is therefore rooted not simply in economic hardship but in a broader collapse of trust.
Many Pakistanis no longer believe that reforms are designed with public welfare in mind. They see a system where ordinary citizens carry the burden while institutional accountability remains elusive. The country’s continued dependence on imported fuel for thermal power generation has further intensified this crisis. Pakistan spends vast sums on energy imports while passing the resulting costs directly onto consumers. This model has become economically unsustainable for a country already struggling with debt and foreign exchange pressures. Yet Pakistan possesses enormous untapped hydropower potential capable of generating cheaper and cleaner electricity over the long term. The construction of dams and water reservoirs is therefore not simply an infrastructure debate. It is central to the country’s economic survival, agricultural sustainability and climate resilience.
(The writer is a public health professional, journalist, and possesses expertise in health communication, having keen interest in national and international affairs, can be reached at uzma@metro-morning.com)
