As the government prepares to present the FY27 budget, Pakistan’s agriculture sector is passing through one of its most difficult periods in recent history. A sharp rise in input costs, declining crop yields due to climate change and inadequate use of expensive fertilisers and pesticides, combined with depressed crop prices, mainly due to policy paralysis and a decrease in agri-exports — particularly after the closure of the Afghanistan border — have turned farming into a loss-making business. Against this backdrop, uncertainty has reached such alarming levels that many now view agriculture — the backbone of the economy — as a risky gamble rather than a viable economic activity.