Business community leader Shahid Rasheed Butt on Tuesday urged the government to immediately activate emergency food import channels and impose export curbs after floods destroyed major crops across thousands of villages in Punjab, warning that losses could surpass those of 2010 and trigger severe food shortages and inflation.
Addressing businesspeople and agriculturalists, Butt called for a comprehensive response that includes targeted cash support for affected farmers, provisional export restrictions on dairy, poultry, fruits, and vegetables, and expedited procurement through competitive tenders.
He said the agricultural damage has already disrupted market expectations. “We were anticipating a bumper rice crop this year, but flooding has turned promising harvest projections into supply uncertainties,” he noted.
The catastrophic floods have destroyed three key crops in Punjab, with rice particularly devastated in the central producing districts. Livestock losses have compounded rural economic distress, as farmers report decimated herds that were their primary source of income. Despite visible evidence of destruction, government officials insist that domestic stocks remain adequate, while traders warn of logistics disruptions that are slowing distribution.
The government’s damage assessment capacity has also come under scrutiny, as no district-level crop loss data have been released so far, and import-export policy frameworks remain vague. Butt, a former president of the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI), warned that higher food imports alongside reduced export proceeds could widen Pakistan’s trade deficit at a time when economic stability is critical.
He proposed direct cash transfers, subsidised seed and fertiliser distribution for replanting, and debt rescheduling arrangements for smallholder farmers. He also emphasised the need for a 90-day pause on food exports, strict enforcement of anti-hoarding measures, real-time monitoring of wholesale prices, and transparent import tenders to stabilise the markets.
Business community representatives cautioned that any delay in action would compound volatility. They noted that Pakistan’s vulnerability to monsoon flooding has persisted despite repeated promises of infrastructure upgrades, with improvements to dam management and drainage systems still unfunded and unimplemented.
With agriculture contributing 18.9 per cent to the GDP and employing 37.4 per cent of the labour force, the scale of flood losses has far-reaching implications. Disruptions to export commodities threaten foreign exchange earnings, while an increasing reliance on imports risks exacerbating external financing pressures.
The business community is now awaiting concrete policy measures that strike a balance between domestic food security and preserving the export market. Analysts stress that time-bound, transparent interventions with measurable outcomes will determine whether Pakistan can navigate this agricultural crisis without undermining long-term economic competitiveness.
Butt underlined that the devastation once again highlights Pakistan’s vulnerability to climate shocks, with floods occurring more frequently and with greater intensity. Despite the launch of multiple resilience frameworks, implementation has lagged due to weak institutional capacity and fiscal stress. Without urgent investment in disaster-resilient infrastructure, crop insurance, and climate-smart farming, each monsoon season risks wiping out billions in output and pushing the economy deeper into crisis, he warned.
