The recent escalation between Iran and the US induced geoeconomic pressure has once again highlighted how geopolitical conflicts can rapidly affect global food systems.
Disruptions in international trade, rising fuel and fertilizer prices and uncertainty in agricultural input markets have placed significant pressure on food-producing countries, including Pakistan. These developments have demonstrated that ensuring agricultural stability is no longer dependent solely on increasing yield; it also requires effective governance, evidence-based planning and the ability to anticipate future risks.
Agricultural governance is widely recognised as a key element of sustainable agricultural development globally. It encompasses institutional frameworks, policy settings, regulatory frameworks, and decision-making processes that governments and other actors use to manage agricultural resources and promote rural development. Many developed and developing nations have an integrated institutional framework that coordinates the work of government ministries, research institutes, extension, universities, the private sector and the farming community for agricultural governance.
Good governance is integral to the work of international institutions such as the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the World Bank and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). These principles can be used to boost agricultural production, improve food security, and strengthen climate resilience in countries.
In Pakistan, agricultural development has a well-defined institutional mechanism. After the 18th Amendment, agriculture has been made a primarily provincial matter and the federal government has the responsibility of coordinating national policy, agricultural research, international cooperation and strategic planning. Hence, agricultural governance is a collective process involving institutions such as the Ministry of National Food Security and Research (MNFSR), the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC), provincial agriculture departments, agricultural universities, extension services and various regulatory institutions. They play important roles, but coordination is limited, and there are sometimes issues of duplicated tasks, poor policy implementation and service delivery.
The agricultural policy process generally begins in most developing countries with defining national policy priorities that affect food security, climate change, agricultural productivity and rural development. Extension services and provincial development plans are also developed to translate the national policies and strategic plans into implementation and the provincial governments are responsible for implementing the development programmes. However, many implementation barriers remain, including limited institutional capacity, inadequate monitoring and financial resources, and limited involvement of farmers and other stakeholders. However, the agri-policies since then have had only mixed results, even when they have clear agri-policy goals.
In the past few years, agricultural governance in Pakistan has been increasingly characterised in the literature as a multi-level governance system, which necessitates vertical and horizontal coordination between federal, provincial, district and local governance institutions and capacities as well as between sectors like agriculture, water resources, energy, finance, trade and environmental management.
Institutions must also be effective and able to coordinate policy, share information, and work together on shared development objectives to achieve good governance. Modern governance methods to improve policy effectiveness also include embedding digital technologies, real-time agricultural data systems, performance monitoring and evidence-based decision-making.
Despite institutional reforms, certain governance problems remain, which affect agricultural productivity in Pakistan. Compared with many similar countries, water productivity remains relatively low, largely due to inefficient irrigation management and weak water governance. Smallholder farmers also have limited access to financial services, modern technologies, quality inputs and organised markets, which restricts their productivity gains.
These problems have been compounded by climate change, which has introduced rising temperatures, irregular rainfall, flooding and droughts, and water shortages. Women also play an important role in agricultural activities; however, they face challenges in accessing agricultural machinery, finance, and decision-making opportunities. The issues reveal that technical problems are not the only ones in agriculture; institutional and governance problems also exist.
In Pakistan, agricultural planning is carried out through a shared institutional framework involving both federal and provincial governments. The Ministry of National Food Security and Research (MNFSR) develops national agricultural policies, sets strategic priorities, and coordinates with international organisations, while provincial agriculture departments prepare and implement development plans based on local production needs.
The Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC) plays a central role by coordinating agricultural research across the country, developing improved crop technologies, promoting climate-smart agriculture and linking research institutions with policymakers. Agricultural universities, research institutes, extension services and regulatory authorities also contribute by generating scientific knowledge, providing technical support and facilitating technology transfer to farmers.
However, despite the presence of these institutions, planning and implementation often remain fragmented because of weak coordination, overlapping responsibilities, limited data sharing, financial constraints and inadequate communication between researchers, extension workers and policymakers. These institutional gaps reduce the effectiveness of agricultural policies and highlight the need for a more integrated governance system in which research, policy formulation, extension services and farmer participation are closely connected to achieve sustainable agricultural development.
Integrated agricultural governance can be made more effective by strengthening the link between governance institutions and agricultural extension services. Extension should not only function as a channel for transferring technologies to farmers, but also as a two-way mechanism through which farmers’ problems, production constraints and market information are communicated back to policymakers and research institutions. In this system, government policies, research findings, extension advice and farmers’ experiences can be connected to generate practical outcomes.
The outputs of good agricultural governance should therefore be assessed not only in terms of crop yield, but also through broader economic and industrial outcomes, such as improved quality and quantity of agricultural raw materials, reduced production and post-harvest losses, better resource-use efficiency, stable supply chains, value addition, agro-processing opportunities and improved market competitiveness. Strong coordination among government, extension services, research institutions and private industry can help convert agricultural production into higher-value economic activities, thereby contributing to rural employment, industrial development, food security and climate resilience.
For Pakistan, these external shocks have reinforced the need to modernise agricultural governance through stronger policies supported by scientific modelling and data-driven decision-making. While well-designed policies provide the institutional framework for agricultural development, modelling tools play an equally important role by forecasting crop production, assessing climate risks, evaluating water availability, and estimating the economic impacts of different policy options before implementation.
Integrating agricultural modelling with governance enables policymakers to make informed decisions, allocate resources more efficiently, and develop timely adaptation strategies. Therefore, strengthening agricultural governance through sound policies, institutional coordination and advanced modelling approaches is essential to improve productivity, ensure food security and build a resilient agricultural sector capable of responding to climate change and future geopolitical uncertainties.
Agricultural governance must be strengthened not only through policy changes, but also through a comprehensive institutional framework. Better governance outcomes depend on stronger coordination between federal and provincial governments, greater investment in agricultural research, higher education institutions, better extension services, monitoring and evaluation systems, better support for smallholder farmers and better digital transformation of agricultural services.
A governance framework that can be a powerful lever for better productivity, climate change adaptation, and rural development depends on collaboration, science, engagement, and accountability. This integrated governance model could be instrumental for Pakistan in utilising its agricultural resources and, in the foreseeable future, addressing food security, environmental sustainability and economic development challenges.
The writer is a researcher at the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI).
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