PM Shehbaz pushes for wider markets for farm exports

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has directed the government to take coordinated steps to expand international market access for Pakistani agricultural products and identify new destinations for the country’s farm exports.

He issued the directives while chairing a high-level meeting in Islamabad on strengthening the agriculture sector and increasing agricultural exports.

The prime minister instructed Pakistan’s commercial officers stationed at diplomatic missions abroad to play a more active role in promoting locally produced agricultural goods and helping exporters access new international markets.

He also called for an effective media campaign to inform farmers about a mobile application designed to monitor crops. The initiative, he said, could help farmers improve monitoring and make better decisions regarding their crops.

Shehbaz stressed that greater value addition was essential for increasing the country’s agricultural exports. Instead of relying mainly on the export of raw commodities, he said Pakistan needed to develop products with greater market value and competitiveness.

The prime minister highlighted the importance of agriculture to Pakistan’s economic growth and stability. He called for stronger coordination between the federal and provincial governments to improve productivity on a per-acre basis, introduce modern agricultural techniques and innovation, strengthen the livestock sector and expand exports.

Officials briefed the meeting that Pakistan’s agricultural exports reached $5.18 billion during the last fiscal year. Major export items included rice, fisheries products, halal meat, potatoes, sesame, tobacco, mangoes and maize.

The meeting also discussed the development of agricultural value chains aimed at improving production, processing, packaging and marketing so that Pakistani products could compete more effectively in international markets.

Officials proposed the creation of a Digital Farmers’ Diary under the Agri Stack initiative. The proposed system would involve digitising farmers’ information and agricultural land records across the country, potentially helping improve access to data and government services.

The meeting was further informed that the National Agriculture and Food Security Council would be activated to improve coordination on agricultural and food security matters. The chief ministers of the provinces would represent their respective provinces on the council.

Authorities also proposed developing a Pakistan Good Agriculture Practices (Pak-GAP) system to encourage farming practices that improve productivity, quality and overall agricultural outcomes