We are entering 2026 with the agriculture sector having faced floods in 2025 in addition to low prices, low production, rising input prices, and an inconsistent policy regime, with other chronic challenges, including having almost no research and development. This impacts investment in agriculture negatively. Therefore, in 2026, agriculture is likely to remain vulnerable due to climate change and lower investments. It is thus high time that agriculture is not left as it is, almost abandoned currently. The support price mechanism is withdrawn, but the export is highly regulated. This policy regime would continue to choke the prices that a farmer receives.

That said, the government should open exports and imports of agricultural commodities so there is at least an international market available. The mammoth infrastructure of the public sector should be offered to the private sector for seed research and development. The horticulture sector offers opportunities to the economy and agriculture. Provision of financing, electricity to the rural areas, and long-term policy will bring in investment in the value-added sector, and exports worth $2 billion can be achieved in the medium term from this sector alone.

Published in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, December 29th, 2025