Farmers’ body has urged the government to restore the wheat support price at Rs4,702 per 40kg.
It has also demanded subsidies on all fertilizers to avert a potential wheat shortage and protect farmers from mounting production costs.
In a statement issued on Monday, Pakistan Kissan Ittehad President Khalid Mahmood Khokhar said flawed government policies over the past three years had badly affected wheat production. The situation, he added, placed the country’s food security at risk.
Pakistan could face a wheat shortfall of around three million ton, he said, fearing the it could force the government to import the commodity at an estimated cost of about $1.2 billion.
Farmers, he claimed, had suffered losses of around Rs2.2 trillion over the past three years. This happened because of a sharp decline in wheat prices, he added.
The losses, Khokhar said, had discouraged farmers from investing in the crop, contributing to lower production during the 2025-26 season.
The PKI also linked rising input costs to the international situation. This, according to PKI, included the Gulf conflict, disruptions to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and the Russia-Ukraine war.
“Fertilizer and diesel prices and electricity tariffs for agricultural tubewells had placed an additional burden on farmers.”
The federal Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) approved a wheat support price of Rs3,900 per 40kg in March 2023. It estimates the current production cost at Rs3,761 per 40kg. Adding a 25% profit margin, which it described as a global benchmark, brings the suggested support price to Rs4,702.
The farmers’ organisation said the revised price would encourage farmers to expand wheat cultivation. And, it added, it would bring previously fallow land back under the crop.
The PKI has proposed restoring the wheat support price to Rs4,702 per 40kg. It called for direct government procurement of wheat to protect farmers and strengthen food security. The PKI urged the prime minister and the federal minister for National Food Security to announce the restoration of the support price and procurement policy by the end of August. It called for a nutrient-based subsidy covering all phosphatic fertilizers instead of limiting the subsidy to DAP. The government, it said, should aim to produce 31 million tonnes of wheat during the 2026-27 Rabi season.
“The government should not restrict any fertilizer subsidy to DAP alone. Farmers also widely use Nitrophos, TSP, SSP, MAP, NP/NPS and NPK fertilizers.”
He recalled that the ECC had approved a fertilizer subsidy covering all phosphatic fertilizers, rather than DAP alone, in March 2022.
The PKI said it had shared its proposals with the president, prime minister, federal and provincial ministers, chief ministers, parliamentary leaders, agriculture departments and other relevant authorities.
