- Agricultural universities and research institutes need to do more
- Pakistan’s cotton belt, once white with promise, now withers under policy failure and neglect
In the 1990s, Pakistan proudly called itself a Cotton Country. The crop was the backbone of the economy, earning billions in export revenue and supporting millions of livelihoods through the textile value chain. Today, that same cotton belt lies in decline — fields once white with promise have turned green with sugarcane, a crop far less suited to the region’s climate and water resources.
The culprit is not nature, but decades of institutional decay. Agricultural universities and research institutes, entrusted with developing improved seed varieties and protecting the country’s agricultural base, have failed miserably to deliver. Their inaction has turned one of Pakistan’s greatest strengths into a national liability.
Collapse of Cotton: From Pride to Peril
For decades, cotton was Pakistan’s lifeline — supplying raw material for its largest export industry, employing over 10 million people, and contributing more than half of the country’s foreign exchange earnings from manufacturing. Yet, the once-thriving cotton economy has crumbled.
The yield per acre has fallen drastically, while the area under cultivation continues to shrink. The onslaught of Cotton Leaf Curl Virus (CLCV) since the late 1990s should have triggered an emergency research response. Instead, the country’s agricultural research system went into hibernation.
While other nations rapidly developed resistant varieties through genetic research and biotechnology, Pakistan’s public research institutes were caught in a web of bureaucracy, underfunding, and academic inertia. The result is disastrous: farmers abandoned cotton not by choice, but out of sheer frustration. The government, instead of addressing the root cause — poor seed development — allowed the cultivation of water-guzzling sugarcane in areas naturally suited for cotton. This single policy distortion has damaged both the environment and the economy.
Failure of Agricultural Research Institutions
Pakistan’s agricultural universities and research institutes have become bureaucratic fortresses rather than centers of innovation. Appointments are often based on political connections rather than merit. Research priorities are dictated by administrative convenience, not national need. Laboratories lack modern equipment, and scientists lack incentives. There is little collaboration between academia, private sector, and farmers — a glaring contrast to countries where university research directly feeds agricultural innovation.
In the case of cotton, the institutional paralysis is particularly glaring. The Central Cotton Research Institute (CCRI) and provincial centers once known for developing globally recognized varieties have become shadows of their former selves. Research budgets are meager, and whatever funds are allocated are often spent on salaries and maintenance rather than field trials or genetic improvement.
Private seed companies, seeing the vacuum, have stepped in — but largely without effective regulation. Many sell imported, untested, or hybrid seeds that fail under local conditions. The absence of a robust seed certification and monitoring system has allowed substandard varieties to flood the market. Farmers, desperate for solutions, become victims of this unregulated chaos.
Sugarcane: The Wrong Crop in the Wrong Place
The replacement of cotton by sugarcane in traditional cotton belts is a textbook case of policy failure. Sugarcane requires abundant water and longer crop-duration, making it unsuitable for arid regions of southern Punjab and Sindh. Yet, the influence of the politically powerful sugar industry has ensured its unchecked expansion. The result: falling groundwater levels, waterlogging, and reduced availability of irrigation water for other crops.
Worse still, the shift to sugarcane has crippled the textile sector — Pakistan’s export mainstay. The country now imports millions of bales of cotton annually, draining precious foreign exchange and undermining industrial competitiveness. What was once a self-sufficient, export-oriented agricultural system has become dependent and distorted.
Had agricultural universities fulfilled their mandate, this crisis could have been avoided. Countries like India and China successfully developed virus-resistant cotton strains decades ago. Pakistan’s researchers, meanwhile, remain entangled in bureaucratic reporting and outdated experimentation methods. Innovation has been replaced by indifference.
Policy Neglect and the Missing Research Link
The government’s role in this decline cannot be ignored. Agricultural research has never been treated as a national priority. Budget allocations are symbolic; coordination between federal and provincial institutions is almost nonexistent. The Higher Education Commission (HEC) funds universities, but with little focus on applied research outcomes. Ministries and departments work in silos, with overlapping mandates and little accountability.
There is no national seed research strategy, no coherent biotech policy, and no linkage between research output and market needs. The result is visible across crops — from wheat and rice to pulses — but cotton represents the most painful example because of its economic significance. Each passing year, the country loses billions of rupees in potential exports, yet the policy response remains confined to meetings, seminars, and hollow announcements.
The Way Forward: Reclaiming Agricultural Research
If Pakistan is to restore its agricultural competitiveness and reclaim its cotton legacy, a fundamental reform of the research ecosystem is unavoidable. The government must treat agricultural research not as an academic exercise but as an industrial imperative. The following policy measures are essential:
- Reorganize and depoliticize agricultural research institutes — appoint professionals on merit, link promotions to research output, and establish independent boards for oversight.
- Develop a National Seed Innovation and Biotechnology Program with clear timelines and international collaboration to produce virus-resistant and climate-resilient varieties.
- Revive the public-private partnership model to commercialize university research, ensuring that innovations reach farmers through regulated, certified seed distribution systems.
- Discourage water-intensive crops like sugarcane in cotton zones by introducing differential water pricing and incentives for cotton cultivation.
- Increase research funding and accountability — allocate a fixed percentage of the agricultural budget to R&D, tied to measurable results.
Pakistan’s agricultural future will not be secured through subsidies or slogans but through science and innovation. The failure of research institutions to deliver improved seed varieties has crippled the sector and undermined national food and export security. The cotton crisis is not just about a virus — it is about the virus of neglect that has infected Pakistan’s policymaking and academic institutions alike. Unless the government acts decisively to cure it, the dream of a prosperous, self-reliant Cotton Country will remain a story of the past.