Storage fund dwarfed by farm losses

The federal government's allocation of only Rs7.1 billion for agricultural storage in Budget 2026-27 is critically insufficient, especially considering annual wheat losses alone exceed Rs140 billion and overall agricultural losses reach around 35%. Experts like Aamer Hayat Bhandara and Mahmood Nawaz Shah highlight Pakistan's weak storage infrastructure, with inadequate warehousing, outdated facilities, and a severe shortage of cold-storage capacity, particularly for horticulture. Beyond physical infrastructure, the issue is compounded by farmers' lack of post-harvest financing, leading to distress sales at low prices, and inefficiencies in wholesale markets, exacerbating post-harvest losses across various crops.