Key Takeaways
- Federal Committee on Agriculture unable to set Rabi crops targets.
- Targets to be finalised after illustrative wheat price is announced.
- Committee tasked to suggest policy actions for wheat sowing season.
The Federal Committee on Agriculture (FCA) has delayed setting production targets for Rabi crops, a decision made during a meeting chaired by the Minister for National Food Security, Rana Tanveer Hussain. The targets will be finalised after the announcement of an illustrative price for wheat, a task given to an eight-member committee by the prime minister.
Rana Tanveer Hussain stated, 'We are conscious of the challenges faced by our farmers due to rising input, energy and transportation costs. The government is taking measures to ensure affordable inputs and remunerative prices, including an appropriate wheat illustrative price.'
The committee, headed by the prime minister’s adviser on inter-provincial coordination, includes the minister for national food security, coordinator to the PM on agriculture, provincial agriculture ministers, provincial chief secretaries, and chairman of the Pakistan Banking Association.
Regarding water availability for Rabi crops, the press release mentioned an anticipated shortage of 22 per cent for Punjab and Sindh. The Meteorological Department informed the committee that soil moisture stress was expected in October and November due to below-normal rains over the last three months, but the situation is likely to improve soon due to above-normal rains forecast for the next two months.
On seed availability, the federal seed certification department informed the committee that the availability of certified seeds during the Rabi season would be 'satisfactory.'
The committee reviewed the performance of seven Kharif crops, noting that sugarcane, rice, maize, mungbean, and chillies showed an increase in production over the previous year. Sugarcane production for 2025-26 is provisionally estimated at 97.2 million tonnes from an area of 1.358 million hectares, showing an increase of 18.5 per cent and 21.1 per cent in area and production, respectively, over the targets fixed by the FCA.
Rice production for 2025-26 is estimated at 10.182 million tonnes from an area of 3.902 million hectares, showing an increase of 28.4 per cent in area. Maize production is estimated at 9.97 million tonnes from an area of 1.83 million hectares, showing an increase of 21 per cent in area and 3.2 per cent in production over the target fixed by the FCA.
Mungbean production is estimated at 171,000 tonnes from an area of over 225,000 hectares, an increase of 32.3 per cent in area and 14.8 per cent in production over the FCA targets. Chillies also recorded growth in area, production, and yield as compared to the previous year.
Total availability of urea during 2026-27 is estimated at 3.95 million tonnes, comprising 765,000 tonnes of carryover stock and 3.18 million tonnes of domestic production. Urea offtake is expected to be around 3.5 million tonnes. The total availability of DAP will be 766,000 tonnes against an expected offtake of 838,000 tonnes, indicating a gap between supply and demand in DAP.
We are conscious of the challenges faced by our farmers due to rising input, energy and transportation costs. The government is taking measures to ensure affordable inputs and remunerative prices, including an appropriate wheat illustrative price.
Rana Tanveer Hussain, Minister for National Food Security
