Pakistan must convert the largest sector of its economy into a high-value export engine, Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Ahsan Iqbal said on Friday, as he called on the agriculture sector to move from raw commodity shipments to value-added, certified and branded exports and to work with the government on a roadmap for doing so.
The Minister chaired the third session of the Strategic Dialogue Series on Unlocking Pakistan's High-Value Export Potential, a roundtable conference with agriculture sector stakeholders. Coordinator to the Prime Minister on Commerce and Industry Mr. Rana Ahsan was also present. The session was moderated by Dr. Sohaib S. Hassan, Member Private Sector Development and Competitiveness, Planning Commission. Around one hundred participants joined in person and by video link, including federal and provincial institutions, agricultural and engineering universities, chambers of commerce, trade associations, certification bodies, and exporters and growers of meat, poultry, dairy, rice, dates, horticulture, olive and organic produce.
The Planning Minister said the dialogue series was convened to move beyond conventional consultation and bring government, industry, academia and research institutions together to develop practical solutions, sector by sector. Agriculture, he noted, contributes close to one fourth of Gross Domestic Product and employs around 37 percent of the labour force, yet carries the smallest export footprint relative to its size.
Prof. Ahsan Iqbal reiterated the national ambition under Uraan Pakistan of building a one trillion-dollar economy by 2035, resting on exports of 100 billion dollars and above. He said countries that stood level with Pakistan a generation ago, Vietnam and Malaysia among them, pulled ahead on the strength of policy continuity sustained over decades and the willingness to restructure, and that agriculture must now deliver its full share of Pakistan's export growth.
The Minister said the requirements of premium markets have changed, and compliance, traceability, quality standards and certification are now the entry ticket rather than an optional extra. He identified livestock as the largest unrealized opportunity, noting that Pakistan holds one of the world's largest herds while Australia, New Zealand and the United States supply the world with processed and branded product. The value, he said, lies in processing capability and value addition, extending to high-value derivatives such as cosmetic and pharmaceutical products from agricultural raw material.
Ahsan Iqbal called for smart agriculture built on new technology, weather-resistant seed, cooperative models and a leading role for the private sector, observing that European countries have modernized agriculture on a fraction of Pakistan's land. He named olive a national project, saying Pakistan can become an olive oil producing nation, and called for the transition from traditional to modern scientific agriculture backed by credit access and a supportive regulatory framework.
Coordinator to the Prime Minister on Commerce and Industry Mr. Rana Ahsan said agricultural trade is almost 22 percent of Pakistan's exports and remains largely raw commodity, exposed to price volatility and external shocks, and that there is no route to the 60-billion-dollar export target, or 100 billion dollars by 2035, without branding and value addition. He outlined measures in hand: review of the Export Policy Order and regulatory requirements through the Cabinet Committee on Regulatory Reforms, expansion of the EXIM Bank export finance pool from Rs 1 trillion to Rs 2 trillion over 2026 to 2028 with monthly monitoring of access to finance, a dedicated SME finance window under preparation with the Ministry of Finance and the State Bank of Pakistan, the phase-down of additional customs and regulatory duties in the second year of the National Tariff Policy, the Pakistan Horticulture Development and Export Company as the platform for agricultural exporters, and a National Compliance Authority to be operational within three months.
The conference reviewed the sector's position. Food exports stood at 5.02 billion dollars in FY2026 against a food import bill of 9.15 billion dollars, with the decline concentrated in commodity rice and sugar while meat, fish and fruit grew through the year. July 2026 opened the new fiscal year with food exports up 2.5 percent, rice up 19 percent and meat up 16 percent. Participants identified the margin in halal meat and poultry under the 700-million-dollar Halal Meat Policy target for 2028, premium horticulture with new direct access to the European Union, branded basmati, processed food and dates, edible oils, and certified niche segments including organic and regeneratively produced crops, where global retail sales of about 145 billion euros in 2024 remain almost untapped by Pakistan for want of national standards and a domestic certification body.
Industry and academia placed specific proposals before the conference: removal of the sales tax differential that penalises processed and packed meat against the informal trade, a national cattle and goat farming initiative with disease control and breed improvement, protection of the electronic warehouse receipt system and preparation of storage ahead of the wheat cycle, regulatory action against exporters whose substandard shipments have closed rice markets, a tariff review for domestic edible oilseeds, development of high-yielding export-quality fruit varieties with PARC, national organic standards with accredited laboratories and affordable smallholder group certification, and full use of university capacity for training, market intelligence and business incubation.
The Ministry of National Food Security and Research reported that the legal and institutional instruments for livestock exports, including the Breeding Policy, the Animal Health Bill and a Rs 7.35 billion traceability programme, exist and now require funding and provincial adoption.
The Planning Minister said the government's role is to facilitate the private sector, provide a conducive business environment and ensure the continuity of policies that let industry grow, innovate and compete globally. He directed that the proceedings be consolidated into a set of proposed decisions, with each proposal mapped to the ministry that owns it and said the dialogue will continue as a standing collaborative forum. Prof. Ahsan Iqbal further directed that the stakeholders reconvene after three months to review progress on the proposals placed before the conference and on the actions taken by the concerned ministries in the interim.
The purpose of the consultations is clear: recover and grow agricultural exports from the FY2026 base, remove the tax, regulatory and certification bottlenecks that keep produce leaving the country raw, build the compliance, traceability and processing depth that premium markets demand, and develop agriculture into a full contributor to the country's 100 billion dollar-plus export ambition by 2035.
