HYDERABAD: The Sindh Abadgar Board (SAB) met on Sunday to tackle the dual challenges of a shifting climate and the fluctuating prices of produce in local markets. Expressing grave concern over the increasing unpredictability of weather patterns, the board underscored the urgent need for a coordinated scientific response to safeguard the region’s agricultural future.

During the session, members highlighted the direct impact of environmental shifts on crop yields, which has contributed to the volatility of fruit and vegetable prices for consumers.

Chaired by Mahmood Nawaz Shah, the board issued a formal call to action, urging researchers and academia to prioritise the study of evolving climate patterns specific to Sindh. They further emphasised that extension departments must work to translate this scientific data into actionable advice for growers, while agricultural institutions focus on producing the robust, data-driven insights necessary to inform and secure future planting cycles.

During the meeting, it was observed that the escalating climate crisis has led to increasingly severe pest and disease outbreaks during the critical mango flowering and fruit-setting stages. This year, certain regions suffered particularly devastating attacks which, in a troubling trend, have become sudden, rapid and intense. Such volatility leaves farmers with a dangerously narrow window of time to react, threatening the viability of one of the region’s most vital crops.

The meeting further noted that many farmers are still relying on traditional practices from an era when pests such as hoppers, thrips and jassids — and diseases like anthracnose and malformation — were neither common nor particularly lethal. Consequently, as these threats grow more aggressive, growers often find the situation spiralling out of control, as their legacy methods prove increasingly inadequate against modern environmental pressures.

The SAB reported that some orchards have already suffered devastating losses, with growers now fearing that the El Niño phenomenon could similarly cripple cotton and rice production. It has been established that temperatures exceeding normal summer peaks during the critical grain-formation stage lead to crop abortion, resulting in a substantial drop in yields. While acknowledging that the climate crisis presents no easy fix, the meeting concluded that farmers rightfully expect a more proactive and urgent response from the relevant agricultural institutions and departments.

The SAB asserted that research and development bodies, academia, and extension departments must rigorously study climate patterns to generate actionable intelligence. Specifically, the board called for detailed data on how specific thresholds of temperature and humidity trigger outbreaks of certain pests or diseases, alongside the definitive preventive or curative measures required to counter them. Furthermore, the meeting emphasised the urgent need to develop resilient seed varieties engineered with traits to withstand the escalating risks of the climate crisis, including extreme heat and prolonged drought.

In the current climate, with temperatures already exceeding 45°C and forecast to rise further, the rate of evapotranspiration is expected to climb substantially.

The participants of the meeting included Dr Zulfiqar Yousfani, Bashir Nizamani, Syed Nadeem Shah, Aslam Mari, Masroor Soomro, Syed Salman Shah, Arbab Ahsan, Mustafa Nawaz Shah, Ali Mardan Shah, Murad Ali Shah and others.

Published in Dawn, May 4th, 2026