he 2026 Global Report on Food Crises, a multi-agency UN publication backed by the WFP, the FAO and the IFAD, has flagged Pakistan as one of the ten most food insecure countries, with 11 million people facing acute food insecurity. There can be a long list of causes and consequences. I will focus on the performance of research systems.

On a positive note, we have grown from a population of 35 million to 250 million, yet the per head availability of calories is higher than ever. That is no coincidence but the result of a consistent arrival of knowledge products.

Food security is not guaranteed by availability alone. The world has more food than its inhabitants need, barring distributive injustices.

The genes driven (short statured wheat and rice) green revolution was complimented by two large water reservoirs, link canals, subsoil water exploitation, fertilisers, pesticides and a certain degree of mechanisation. The emergence of poultry industry provided cheap protein, thanks to exponential growth in maize production. The research system was central to the adoption of technologies. Credit goes both to the national agriculture research system and the collaborating international agriculture research system.

The economy grew parallel to the expansion of cotton and textile industries during the 1980s and 1990s. Research provided new heat-resistant cotton varieties (NIAB-78, S-12) that could be planted after wheat. The entire cropping system was reconfigured, doubling cropping intensity. The introduction of spring maize is another example of home-grown innovation. Horticulture and high value crops are future avenues for global reach.

Upcoming interventions include soybeans, irrigated chickpeas, determinate mustards, heat tolerant wheat, livestock breed improvement, vaccines, olive farming in Balochistan, agro-ecological zoning and data science applications for precision agriculture and forecasting.

The average growth of agriculture (approximately 5 percent) in the last four decades of the previous century was higher than the population growth. The growth in agriculture during the current century (approximately 2 percent) has lagged behind the population growth. This problem has been compounded by climate calamities and market failures.

Regional conflicts have a strong bearing on the supplies and purchase power. In the 2025 Global Hunger Index, Pakistan ranked 106th out of 123 countries with a score classified as “serious.”

The research system is being blamed for the situation.

The stagnant yields are attributable to lack of investment (due to high cost of energy) by the small farmers (97 percent), deteriorated soil health and regulatory hindrances to GM crops. Wheat crop alone dropped from a record 31.8 million tonnes in 2024 to about 29 million tonnes in 2025, an 8.9 percent decline, with cultivated area shrinking by nearly 7 percent largely in response to collapsing farm gate prices.

In 2025, agriculture sector grew a mere 0.56 percent. The percent of GDP spent on research in Pakistan (0.16 percent) is lowest in the region. It compares unfavourably with India (0.7 percent), China (2.5 percent) and the world average (0.43 percent).

Most important factors in the success of research system are the quality of human resources and the ecosystem that they are given. Success stories mentioned above were a direct result of a team of highly competent individuals trained at the Washington State University, Pullman, during the late 1950s and early 1960s. The impact of that training of about 100 top scientists is documented in a PhD thesis, Washington State University in West Pakistan, 1954–1969: An Evaluation of Technical Assistance to Higher Education for Agricultural and Economic Development.

Maxi-Pak was followed by Chenab-70 and Pak-81 wheat varieties bred by a team led by SA Qureshi segregated from the then Punjab Agriculture College, Lyallpur (now, the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad) into Ayub Agriculture Research Institute. The poultry revolution (private sector driven) was another example of adoption from PIA Shaver to the current highly mechanised modern poultry industry, then led by people like Yaqub Bhatti.

Spring maize was led by another Yaqub Bhatti, who left a government job and joined Rafhan Maize. The cotton story took root at NIAB-Faisalabad and CRI Multan, again as a continuation of better human resource placements.

The momentum that continued for four decades started declining as induction of highly qualified teams ceased.

Better human resource is a product of public investment. There was one university, two agriculture colleges and one college of animal husbandry till 1980. Today, more than 60 universities and colleges are offering degrees in agriculture and allied subjects. There are more than 200 federal and provincial research institutions manned by more than 5,000 full time faculty and research scientists. Private sector is also investing in research and development. There are several islands of excellence. The research output from the system is measured in terms of impact factor papers and not as an impact in terms of ‘goods and services.’

A lack of integration of resources is to be blamed for lack of performance. The Pakistan Agriculture Research Council was created as an apex body with coordination as a principal function. International liaison and strategic research are other duties of the PARC. Unfortunately, the PARC has created a parallel system to the provincial ones. A lot of duplication and overlaps are imminent.

Human resource development has to be prioritised by way of attracting highly qualified resources from the diaspora. The PM has sent 1,000 young scientists to China in several groups, for three months each. This continuous professional development is a good investment. The feedback from the large group should be used for future academic and research planning.

There are about 37,000 PhDs in the country, including 6,800 who were sent overseas by the HEC. The share of agriculture in this pool is tiny. We have to create a human resource investment portfolio in agriculture on the pattern of the 1950s and early 1980s by the PARC. The latter largely ended up in Canada, which is an example of ecosystem failure.

The Punjab chief minister has constituted a committee to review agricultural education landscape in the province. The HEC chairman has also constituted a committee with the same task at the national level. I happen to chair both committees. We are reviewing curriculum, student intake and the ecosystem at large. The bigger challenge is to find suitable faculty. In many cases, the institutions are budgeted to pay salaries and utilities only. There is hardly any direct research investment in place.

The PARC should urgently focus on coordination and internationalisation for integrated provincial systems. Agriculture universities should be operating as a consortium. Human resource development needs to be bifurcated into interdisciplinary field workforce and highly specialised research workers. The best agricultural universities in the world perform three functions—education, research and extension—under one umbrella.

On April 29, the federal cabinet approved the country’s first ever National Agriculture Biotechnology Policy and the National Seed Policy, 2025, targeting a 15 to 20 percent increase in crop yields through advanced seeds and partnership with world-class seed companies.

During 2024-25, the variety evaluation committee approved 208 improved crop varieties covering wheat, rice, cotton, maize, fodder, oilseeds and horticultural crops. The newly established NSDRA cancelled the registration of 430 non-compliant seed companies.

On food security, I would like to present some recent case studies.

A USAID funded ($30 million) Centre for Advanced Studies in Agriculture and Food Security was established in 2014 at the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, in collaboration with the University of California, Davis. Wheat, soybean, chickpeas, sorghum and cotton were chosen for collaborative research. More than 80 scientists were trained at UC-D and WSU. I am confident that soybeans will become a successful Kharif crop in the near future. It is essential for poultry industry and is a source of edible oil. Our import of edible oil and soybeans is well above $5 billion a year. The CAS innovations are making precision agriculture a reality. Irrigated chickpeas and heat tolerant wheat are other outcomes. Commissioned research at CAS has generated a pipeline of policy documents and strategic plans.

While the availability of calories is a measure of food security, there is the challenge of malnutrition. Poverty driven affordability is a partial cause of malnutrition. There is a significant population facing malnutrition for other reasons. These include lack of diversity in diets, shift from traditional food mixes, lifestyle changes and lack of education.

To address some of the mentioned causes of malnutrition, a Pak-Korea Nutrition Centre was established in 2021. The centre has built a training-of-trainers team through placements at the Chungnam National University, South Korea, and has established five provincial partners, two satellite centres and 150 village outreach partners. The workforce training includes 3,980 school teachers and lady health workers and 11,500 health professionals.

Based on lessons learned at CAS and PKNC, the Punjab Higher Education Commission has established food, nutrition, one health, water and climate research clusters in 25 universities of the province.

Food insecurity in Pakistan can only be a case of neglect. The insufficient public investment in the research and governance model needs immediate correction.

The writer is the chairperson of Punjab Higher Education Commission and a former vice chancellor of the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad.