The gov­ern­ment of Pakistan has announced a new national action plan to improve yields by mod­ern­iz­ing its agri­cul­tural sec­tor. New tech­nol­ogy in the fields, pro­cess­ing facil­i­ties and aqua­cul­ture will be deployed to strengthen the related pro­duc­tion chains. There is a need to approach com­mu­ni­ties that are most affected due to cli­mate change. Water scarcity lies in poor water gov­er­nance in Pakistan.- Imran Khalid, direc­tor of gov­er­nance and pol­icy, World Wildlife Fund Pakistan Mechanization for har­vest­ing and post-har­vest­ing processes will also be pro­vided for by the plan, which will include funds for germplasm resources and fish­ery sci­ence and pro­mote trade and coop­er­a­tion in agri­cul­ture. According to the APP local news agency, the plan includes estab­lish­ing foot-and-mouth dis­ease-free zones, an inter­ven­tion to improve live­stock health. The offi­cial doc­u­ment cited by the local sources falls short of detail­ing the amount of funds des­tined for the plan’s spe­cific actions. Instead, it states that expected results for the agri­cul­tural sec­tor in the next fis­cal year should reach almost 4 per­cent growth com­pared to the pre­vi­ous year. However, these results depend on a full recov­ery of cot­ton and wheat pro­duc­tion and the avail­abil­ity of agro­chem­i­cal prod­ucts and seeds. Water scarcity is also cited as a poten­tial draw­back for yields. Among the goals of the plan is to reduce costly food imports. According to ProPakistani News, the coun­try is expected to import €8.7 bil­lion in food prod­ucts by the end of the cur­rent fis­cal year. Currently, its for­eign exchange reserves have dropped to €9.3 bil­lion. Last year, Pakistan reported food imports of €8 bil­lion. One of the biggest con­cerns for the coun­try’s food pro­duc­tion capac­ity comes from extreme weather events. Pakistan has been suf­fer­ing a pro­longed drought, aggra­vated by a record-break­ing heat­wave, which brought many areas of the coun­try over 50 ºC. Dozens of peo­ple died from exces­sive heat, and mas­sive wild­fires are sweep­ing across large areas. The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) has warned that such events are trig­ger­ing food and energy short­ages, which could impact Pakistan and India, affect­ing more than one bil­lion peo­ple. “Extreme heat has major reper­cus­sions for the agri­cul­tural sec­tor,” said Sumalee Khosla, UNEP’s cli­mate change adap­ta­tion finance expert. “Climate-related heat stress will increase drought and exac­er­bate water scarcity for irri­ga­tion.” “This impacts farm­ing com­mu­ni­ties and poten­tially cre­ates fur­ther food secu­rity issues in affected coun­tries,” she added. In a work­shop held in Islamabad, Pakistani offi­cials and reli­gious rep­re­sen­ta­tives agreed on the urgency to act against water scarcity. The goal of the work­shop was to iden­tify areas of coop­er­a­tion among dif­fer­ent social, insti­tu­tional and eco­nomic actors to reduce water waste and improve infra­struc­ture. One of the most sig­nif­i­cant issues is the avail­abil­ity of clean drink­ing water. According to Imran Khalid, direc­tor of gov­er­nance and pol­icy at the local branch of the World Wildlife Fund, “only one per­cent of waste­water is treated in Pakistan.” “There is a need to approach com­mu­ni­ties that are most affected due to cli­mate change,” he added. “We have to learn from the com­mu­ni­ties fac­ing issues in real-time. We have to rely on indige­nous prac­tices in rural areas. Water scarcity lies in poor water gov­er­nance in Pakistan.” In this com­plex sce­nario, the cur­rent gov­ern­ment is con­tin­u­ing the olive grow­ing expan­sion projects devised by the pre­vi­ous admin­is­tra­tion. They fit into a broader push to boost edi­ble oil pro­duc­tion to reduce imports. According to an olive researcher at the Barani Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), in the last 20 years, sev­eral fed­eral and local admin­is­tra­tions have sup­ported the olive expan­s...