Agriculture a major loser

The country’s agriculture sector showed a combination of resilience and challenges across all its sub-sectors during 2024-25, and despite climatic challenges, recorded a mere growth of 0.56 per cent, primarily driven by a 4.72pc sustained growth in livestock, according to the Pakistan Economic Survey 2024-25 released on Monday. All important crops declined by 13.49pc due to reduced cultivation area and adverse weather conditions, leading to a decline of 30.7pc in cotton, 8.9pc in wheat, 3.9pc in sugarcane, 15.4pc in maize, and 1.4pc in rice. Important crops accounted for 17.82pc of the value added in the agriculture sector and contributed 4.19pc to the national GDP, while other crops contributed 13.88pc to agricultural value addition, and 3.27pc to GDP.