In honour of Kissan Day, reflecting on farmers’ challenges and the urgent need for climate resilience
As we draw closer to Kissan Day and extend Salam Kissan to the nation’s farmers, it is both an honour and a responsibility to acknowledge their struggles and resilience. Paying tribute to those who sustain the nation’s food system means confronting the mounting pressures they face. Pakistan’s agriculture sector, central to national stability, economic performance, and rural livelihoods, is being reshaped by accelerating climate shocks. The country’s food system, already burdened by structural inefficiencies, now faces unprecedented weather patterns that are redefining what can be grown, where, and at what cost. The severe floods of 2022 and 2025 starkly illustrate Pakistan’s growing climate vulnerability and the deepening implications for food security.
The 2025 floods repeated this pattern of devastation, showing that climate disasters in Pakistan are no longer episodic. Early assessments reveal widespread losses across southern and central cropping zones, affecting wheat, rice, fodder, and cotton. Consecutive floods have overwhelmed local coping mechanisms and exposed the fragility of a sector that contributes 23.5% to GDP and employs over 37% of the labour force. The repetition of these events is also shifting cropping boundaries: areas once reliable for specific staples are becoming unpredictable due to erratic rainfall, prolonged heatwaves, and rapidly degrading soil.
According to the Flood Damage Assessment Report 2025, agriculture suffered the heaviest blow, with damage estimated at Rs 430 billion. The country lost 3.4 million bales of cotton, 1 million tonnes of rice, 3.3 million tonnes of sugarcane, and more than 1.3 million acres of Kharif crops in Punjab. Districts like Bahawalnagar lost nearly 80% of their cotton crop, while thousands of acres were washed away in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
For the nation’s 8.2 million farming families, 90% of whom are smallholders, such losses are catastrophic. A single wiped-out season not only erodes household income but also undermines farmers’ ability to reinvest, purchase inputs, or prepare for the next cycle—a direct threat to livelihoods and national food reserves.
Pakistan’s food map is undergoing structural transformation. Rising temperatures are forcing wheat and maize belts northwards; cotton belts in southern Punjab and upper Sindh are narrowing; rice cultivation, once abundant in central regions, now fluctuates sharply due to disrupted monsoons. At the same time, outdated storage and supply-chain systems cause post-harvest losses even in years when crops survive climate shocks.
It is within this context of mounting climate pressure that some private-sector actors began identifying the warning signs far earlier and responding proactively. Fatima Fertilizer, through its initiative ‘Salam Kissan,’ has long recognised the widening gap between traditional farming practices and Pakistan’s evolving climate realities. The program reaffirms the company’s commitment to empowering farmers not just by recognising their struggles but by providing practical solutions and support to thrive. As early as 2019, the company pioneered Kissan Day; Pakistan’s first-ever national tribute to farmers, proposed on December 18 as a platform to recognise their contributions and draw attention to the systemic challenges threatening their livelihoods. What began as a symbolic gesture has since grown into a nationwide movement for agricultural transformation, eventually being adopted by the Federal Government as the country’s official Kissan Day. Complementing this, Fatima Fertilizer’s ‘Salam Kissan’ initiative further amplifies farmer voices, documenting their struggles and championing their central role in Pakistan’s food security.
Beyond advocacy, Fatima Fertilizer has heavily invested in modernisation and farmer empowerment through technology. Its Sarsabz Pakistan app provides real-time weather alerts, 4R nutrient guidance, and crop-stage advisory, helping farmers make data-driven decisions. Precision agriculture tools, including nutrient mapping, optimised irrigation, and hybrid seed development, enhance resource efficiency and reduce climate-driven losses. The company has also introduced the Sarsabz Asaan app for its dealers, offering a user-friendly platform to place orders, remit payments, and track fulfilment in real time.
Moreover, the Sarsabz Tabeer initiative empowers rural women with modern food processing skills, enabling financial independence, reducing post-harvest losses, and driving sustainable agriculture. Partnerships with JazzCash, Mobilink Bank, and ZTBL expand financial access for unbanked farmers, while FasalPay’s ‘Grow Now, Pay Later’ model lowers upfront costs and promotes modern practice adoption. Adoption of the UNDP SDG Impact Framework, the first by any private-sector company in Pakistan, underscores its commitment to aligning agricultural progress with sustainability.
For Pakistan to stabilise its food system, climate resilience must shift from aspiration to urgent priority. Modernised water infrastructure, strengthened embankments, upgraded irrigation, and heat- and flood-tolerant seed research are essential. Smallholders require accessible, collateral-free financing and digital lending tools to ensure timely inputs after climate shocks. Widespread adoption of agri-technology remote sensing, precision nutrient mapping, mobile advisory platforms, and real-time climate monitoring can help farmers make informed decisions, while improved cold-chain networks, modern storage, and efficient logistics reduce avoidable losses and stabilise national food availability. None of these reforms can succeed in isolation; they require coherent policymaking, sustained public–private partnerships, and long-term investment.
Modern farming is no longer a distant goal; it is being practised at scale by companies like Fatima Fertilizer. The company employs pivot-irrigation systems that minimise water and nutrient wastage while improving productivity, high-tech tractors, and satellite-based imagery for weather forecasting, soil moisture, and nutrient assessment. On-ground advisory teams, supported by accredited labs, train thousands of farmers annually through 52 mega seminars and field engagements. Fatima’s impact is measurable: this year alone, its 10% yield-improvement claim was reinforced by outstanding wheat competition results, with 93 district-level top positions and 3 provincial distinctions.
Climate change has already begun to rewrite Pakistan’s agricultural geography. The country must now decide whether it will allow this shift to dictate its future, or whether it will respond with the scale of reform required to protect its food systems. The trajectory is not irreversible, but the window for meaningful action is narrowing. The choices made today will determine whether Pakistan can remain food-secure in the decades ahead.
Author: Rameen Malik
