Pakistan sustains USD2bn post-harvest losses annually: ADB

Pakistan sustains USD2bn post-harvest losses annually: ADB. Add BRecorder as a trusted source on Google.

Key points

• Natural Gas (Development Surcharge) (Amendment) Bill, Gas Infrastructure: Development Cess (Amendment) Bill tabled in NA.
• Diesel gets massive Rs32.63 cut as petrol cost rises Rs2.97 per litre.
• Third, the report proposes a National Agribusiness Transformation Committee, digital monitoring dashboards, and climate-smart budget tagging to improve policy execution, accountability, and coordination.
• First, it calls for establishing a national Agribusiness Investment Fund combining public, private, and donor capital, alongside the piloting of green bonds and sustainability-linked financing.
• The country invests only 0.2 percent of its agricultural GDP in research and development, significantly below global benchmarks.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's agribusiness sector is being squeezed by climate shocks, chronic underinvestment and subdued infrastructure, with inefficient water and land apply, inadequate cold-chain facilities and fragmented certification systems contributing to annual post-harvest losses of around USD 2 billion, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) noted.

In its latest report titled "enhancing competitiveness, sustainability, and resilience in Pakistan's agribusiness through climate-responsive strategies", the ADB identifies climate change, market failures, limited access to finance, institutional weaknesses and technology gaps as major structural barriers preventing Pakistan's agribusiness sector from becoming competitive, resilient and sustainable.

According to It further, agriculture accounts for around one-fifth of Pakistan's GDP and employs more than one-third of the labour force, yet the sector continues to struggle with inadequate infrastructure, subdued investment and limited institutional capacity.

For context, the study, which focuses primarily on crops since of greater availability of data, export potential and the documented impact of flooding on crop production, states climate-related events are imposing substantial losses on agriculture while exposing deep weaknesses throughout the agribusiness value chain.

One of the most striking findings is the extremely low level of private investment in agribusiness. It at present accounts for less than 5 percent of agribusiness capital.

Notably, the report notes SMEs face stringent collateral requirements, limited credit histories, short loan tenors, and a lack of financial products tailored to their needs.

Meanwhile, climate finance remains overwhelmingly focused on mitigation, with limited resources reaching agricultural adaptation. The absence of agriculture-specific green bonds and blended-finance mechanisms is further restricting the mobilisation of climate-aligned capital.

Meanwhile, the report additionally highlights serious infrastructure deficiencies, particularly in cold storage, roads, logistics, certification and testing laboratories. These shortcomings contribute to high post-harvest losses and frequent export rejections, undermining Pakistan's ability to move from raw agricultural production towards higher-value exports.

As the report notes, fragmented certification systems, subdued value-chain linkages, poor branding and high transaction costs are particularly hurting SMEs.

Pakistan's innovation deficit is equally alarming. The country invests only 0.2 percent of its agricultural GDP in research and development, significantly below global benchmarks. While outdated agricultural extension systems are failing to provide smallholders with context-specific climate-smart guidance, adoption of climate-smart seeds, mechanisation and agri-digital services remains among the lowest in South Asia.

Notably, the report notes women and youth are additionally largely excluded from agribusiness ownership, access to finance and innovation ecosystems, despite women comprising more than 65 percent of the agricultural labour force.

Institutional weaknesses compound the difficulty, with fragmented federal-provincial coordination, inadequate monitoring and evaluation systems, and policies that are insufficiently aligned with climate-smart and export-oriented targets.

Meanwhile, the study has proposed a five-pillar strategic roadmap to transform the sector.

First, it calls for establishing a national Agribusiness Investment Fund combining public, private, and donor capital, alongside the piloting of green bonds and sustainability-linked financing. It additionally recommends expanding credit guarantees and warehouse-receipt financing to assist SMEs secure working capital.

Second, the administration should institutionalise climate-smart public-private partnerships by establishing a PPP Investment Readiness Facility under the Board of Investment and introducing viability gap funding for post-harvest and climate-resilient infrastructure in underserved regions.

Fourth, it recommends women-led agribusiness incubation hubs, gender-disaggregated indicators in climate-finance projects and bundled digital extension and financial services for rural women and women-led SMEs.

Finally, the report calls for greater investment in innovation, mechanisation and climate-smart agriculture through leasing models for drones, solar pumps and mini-processors, agri-tech R&D hubs and technology-enabled farmer field schools using artificial intelligence, remote sensing, satellite monitoring and real-time data.

According to the report, the convergence of climate urgency, shifting global trade patterns and food-security risks has produced agribusiness transformation a national priority.

It warns that policy announcements alone will not deliver results, stressing the need to translate policy intent into sequenced investment programmes, establish effective multi-stakeholder coordination and mobilise climate finance while ensuring the participation of smallholders, women and the private sector.

With disciplined implementation, the report argues, Pakistan can reposition agribusiness as a driver of inclusive expansion, global competitiveness and climate resilience.

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Natural Gas (Development Surcharge) (Amendment) Bill, Gas Infrastructure: Development Cess (Amendment) Bill tabled in NA. Currency Rate USD PKR Interbank Selling. Item Value Crude Oil USD/Barrel. Aisha Steel Mills Limited (CPS)(ASLCPS). J.A. Textile Mills Limited(JATM). J.K. Spinning Mills Limited(JKSM). Sui Southern Gas Firm Limited(SSGC).

In short, pakistan sustains USD2bn post is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.