Water shortfall shadows Sindh Rabi sowing as farmers turn to oilseeds

The Rabi sowing season has begun in lower Sindh with a forecast 22 percent shortfall in irrigation water hanging over it, and growers there are putting more land into oilseeds such as mustard in pursuit of faster returns, Dawn reported.

The Indus River System Authority (Irsa) has projected the 22 percent irrigation shortage for the season. Dawn reported that cultivation of Rabi crops, including wheat and oilseeds, has already started in the lower parts of the province.

Farmers are increasingly turning to oilseed crops, particularly mustard, because they bring quicker economic returns, according to the newspaper. Larger domestic oilseed output would cut Pakistan's dependence on imported edible oil, which absorbs a substantial amount of foreign exchange.

Dawn reported that Pakistan imported a record 3.48 million tonnes of palm oil worth $3.78 billion in FY26, against 3.21 million tonnes costing $3.4 billion in FY25. The average import price climbed to $1,078 per tonne from $1,056.

Separately, the federal minister for National Food Security and Research, Rana Tanveer Hussain, called the recent fixation of wheat prices a balanced approach aimed at supporting farmers and lifting domestic production, Business Recorder reported. In an interview with a private television channel, he said Pakistan, being an agriculture-based economy, had to give its farming community adequate support.

The minister said he expected farmers to respond to the support price by expanding wheat cultivation and investing more in agricultural inputs. Business Recorder reported that he saw this helping the country move towards a stronger position on wheat.

Neither report gave the wheat support price that was fixed, the current size of Sindh's oilseed area, or official sowing targets for the Rabi season.

Taken together, the two accounts set out the competing pulls on the season: a water shortfall in the south and a federal price signal intended to draw area back to wheat.