Pakistan is a food insecure and water scarce country. Though, there had been a decrease in
‘extremely food insecure’ population from 22.4% in 2009 to 17.4% in 2013, an overall extent
of food insecurity has increased from 48.6% in 2009 to 58% in 2013(Ramay 2014). The
Economic Survey 2014-15 reported agriculture’s share in GDP at 21%. The sector also
provided employment to 43.5% working age population. During the recent years, agriculture
growth rate in Pakistan has remained below the long-term average of 4%.1 Key reasons for
this subdued growth include: falling global prices for commodities produced in the country,
higher cost of production in crop and livestock sectors, slow rate of agro-technology
innovation, weak adoption of progressive farming techniques, issues regarding quality and
quantity of raw material supplies, weak marketing, trade restrictions in agriculture, pest and
livestock disease, slow and inadequate disbursements of agriculture credit (GoP 2015). While the crop sector’s value added declined over time, livestock production steadily gained
(Box 1). This is partially attributed to recurrent floods and droughts in several parts of the
country which have hampered the profitability of the crop sector farmers. The effects of
climate change have been particularly hard in Balochistan and Sindh provinces, and in
several parts of Punjab province (Khan 2011).
According to IUCN (2011), impact of climate change in Pakistan could result in reduction in
water available for agriculture in turn changing the crop rotation and cropping patterns;
reduction in production of wheat and rice; 20% reduction in yields of major cereals; 30%
reduction in livestock in turn creating shortages of milk, meat and poultry; reduction in
inland fisheries due to the declining water tables. The climatic changes in Pakistan continue
to exacerbate due to unsustainable production practices in the neighborhood especially
China and India. The coal-intensive power generation and associated production processes
have resulted in higher levels of black carbon, in turn impacting the ecosystem (Ahmed
2014). Such trends are particularly seen in the neighbouring states of China and India. In the
case of former, the public investment has been doubled compared to 2010 levels in order to
provide more inclusive infrastructure and social services to China’s Xinjiang province. Most
of this infrastructure delivery is backed by higher levels of fossil fuel usage.