Pakistan’s agricultural sector and food security hit hard by flooding
Pakistan is grappling with the most severe flooding in over four decades in parts of Punjab, its agricultural heartland, with far-reaching consequences for food production, rural livelihoods, and the country’s export earnings. A new assessment by the Group on Earth Observations Global Agricultural Monitoring Initiative (GEOGLAM) finds that extensive losses to rice, maize, cotton and livestock, coupled with disruptions to upcoming wheat planting, will weigh heavily on farmers and food markets in the coming months.
Since late June, relentless monsoon rains and water releases from upstream dams in India have combined to inundate vast tracts of eastern Pakistan. Punjab has borne the brunt, with 2.9mn people evacuated and entire riverine communities displaced. Districts including Lahore, Sialkot and Gujrat experienced record water levels as the Chenab, Ravi and Sutlej rivers overflowed simultaneously. Further downstream, floodwaters have surged into Sindh, prompting evacuations of at least 150,000 people and raising the spectre of a “super flood” along the Indus.
Although floodwaters have begun to recede in parts of Punjab, large areas remain waterlogged. Damage to homes, infrastructure, livestock and food stocks is widespread, compounding hardship just two years after the catastrophic 2022 monsoon floods.
Crops under water
The timing of the floods has been particularly damaging for Kharif crops. Satellite analysis shows around 220,000 hectares of rice submerged between August 1 and September 16, mainly in Punjab’s Sialkot and Narowal districts. With Punjab accounting for over 65% of national rice output, losses will hit both rural incomes and export earnings, particularly in the premium Basmati segment.
The flooding struck as rice moved through critical growth stages such as flowering and grain filling, amplifying yield losses. While some crop recovery is visible as waters recede, the overall seasonal damage is likely to exceed estimates, given earlier submergence in June and July when replanting was not always possible.
Other crops have also suffered. Maize fields, vital for poultry feed, have been destroyed, while cotton, sugarcane, vegetables and orchards were left standing in floodwaters. With Punjab and Sindh together producing the bulk of maize and cotton, the economic toll is expected to ripple across value chains.
Attention is now turning to the upcoming Rabi season, which begins in late September with wheat sowing. Wheat is Pakistan’s staple, providing up to 70% of caloric intake, and Punjab produces over three-quarters of the crop. The floods have destroyed irrigation channels, delayed land preparation and washed away seed stocks, leaving many farmers ill-equipped for timely planting.
While wheat reserves from the 2024/25 harvest remain adequate—helped by a crop that was 5% above average—the concern is that disruptions to the 2025/26 season could tighten supply later in the year. Markets are already jittery. Wheat and flour prices in major cities surged by as much as 40% after storage facilities in Punjab were damaged. The provincial government has responded with a temporary ban on diverting wheat to feed mills, aimed at preserving household supplies.
Food security pressures
The floods have struck at a time when Pakistan was showing tentative improvement in food security. According to pre-flood analysis, around 10mn people faced acute food insecurity between April and July 2025, down from 11mn earlier in the year. GEOGLAM now warns of renewed pressures, particularly in rural areas where 60% of the population depends on agriculture.
Losses to rice—a cash crop and export earner—are expected to slash rural incomes, while the destruction of maize fields could drive up poultry feed prices, impacting meat and egg affordability. More than 6,500 livestock deaths, mostly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, add to the blow for households that rely on animals for income, food and farm labour.
Still, unlike the devastation of 2022, when 2.6mn hectares of Kharif crops were lost, this year’s floods are expected to cause more localised and short-term food insecurity. Stronger macroeconomic fundamentals—higher foreign exchange reserves, a more stable rupee and easing food inflation—are providing some buffer.
Rainfall data show that eastern Pakistan has endured 150% to 200% of average seasonal rainfall this year, among the highest on record. The deluge has been fed not only by Pakistan’s own monsoon but also by extreme rains in northern India, swelling rivers that flow across the border. Forecasts suggest that while the monsoon is beginning to retreat, elevated rainfall could persist in Sindh and Balochistan into late September, sustaining flood risks.
For farmers and rural households, the floods are both an immediate shock and a long-term challenge. Disruptions to agricultural labour have already reduced incomes, though the Rabi season could bring new opportunities if planting proceeds. Lessons from 2022 suggest that coordinated government and donor support in supplying seeds and fertiliser will be vital to prevent lasting damage to wheat production.
The crisis underscores the fragility of Pakistan’s agricultural system, which remains heavily exposed to climate extremes, the report said. The increasing frequency of catastrophic monsoon floods threatens not only rural livelihoods but also the country’s food security and export competitiveness. With rice, maize and cotton all hit this year, the imperative for climate-resilient infrastructure, improved flood management, and diversified cropping systems has become more urgent.
For now, the scale of recovery will depend on how quickly waters recede, how effectively farmers can access inputs for the Rabi season, and whether relief measures can prevent the displacement of millions from cascading into a deeper food security crisis.
Over 3,000 Punjab schools damaged by floods
• Education minister details efforts to make up for lost time; semester fees waived for flood-hit students
• Villages in Multan, Lodhran and Bahawalpur submerged after Noraja Bhutta breaches
LAHORE: Punjab Minister for School Education Rana Sikandar Hayat said on Thursday that 3,000 schools had been destroyed in the floods, severely affecting the education of thousands of students.
He was speaking during a meeting with Unicef’s Representative to Pakistan, Pernille Ironside, to discuss progress on various educational plans. The meeting also decided to strengthen cooperation for better outcomes.
The minister informed the Unicef representative that the school education department was facing immense challenges due to floods in the province.
He said that the department had already been facing a shortage of facilities, but the disaster had destroyed thousands of schools, many of which were still under water.
“The department is now confronted with the challenge of rehabilitating these schools,” he said, adding that three shifts were being started in functioning schools to meet the educational needs of displaced students.
The minister said that it would take around three months to rehabilitate the damaged schools. In the meantime, the government planned to rent private buildings and establish tent schools in flood-hit areas to ensure continuity of classes.
He added that the government had waived semester fees for students belonging to flood-hit areas and that scholarships would also be provided to them.
Several villages submerged
Meanwhile, despite official claims of receding floodwaters across Punjab, three breaches at the Noraja Bhutta embankment on the Sutlej River have led to catastrophic ponding, submerging several villages in the districts of Multan, Lodhran, and Bahawalpur for over a week.
The situation remains dire in the eastern areas of Jalalpur Pirwala, Lodhran and Bahawalpur, where villages, including Noraja Bhutta, Basti Lang, Kotla Chakar, Bahadurpur, Mouza Kanu, Kandeer, Jhaiyu, Deepal, Tarut Basharat, Daily Rajanpur, Belaywala, Dunyapur, Jhangra, Muradpur Soiwala and Sabra are surrounded by 8 to 10 feet of stagnant water. The relentless pressure has caused widespread destruction of homes and property.
“The water isn’t going down. About 70 per cent of houses have already collapsed, and the rest will follow if nothing is done,” said Altaf Lang, a distressed local resident. “The standing water has changed colour, and we are now seeing the spread of waterborne diseases. This is a health crisis in the making.”
Residents point to a major infrastructural obstacle: the nearby motorway. They allege that the culverts designed to allow water to pass underneath are insufficient and are instead acting as a dam, trapping the water on one side.
“The motorway isn’t usable for traffic now anyway. The authorities should breach it to let this water drain,” argued Altaf Lang. “The current culverts are not for water passage; they are just for locals and cattle to cross. They are completely blocked.”
NHA General Manager Kashif Nawaz told Dawn that there was no question of breaching the motorway and that water was passing through culverts underneath. He added that efforts were being made to secure the motorway by placing stones around vulnerable points, without closing the culverts.
Published in Dawn, September 26th, 2025
No rest for delivery riders amid Pakistan’s monsoon downpours
AFP Published September 25, 2025
Abdullah Abbas waded through Lahore’s flooded streets, struggling to push his motorcycle and deliver a food order on time.
The water had risen to his torso, his jeans soaked and rolled up over sandals, leaving him vulnerable to electrocution and infectious diseases.
Even as monsoon rains deluge Pakistan’s cities, food and grocery orders on the Singapore-based delivery platform Foodpanda pour in.
“If I don’t deliver the orders, my Foodpanda account will get blocked, which would leave me without money,” Abbas told AFP in the old quarter of Lahore, known for its narrow, congested streets.
“I need this money to pay my high school fees,” added the 19-year-old, who is completing his last year of secondary school.
Since June, monsoon rains in Pakistan have killed more than 1,000 people, swelling major rivers and devastating rural communities along their banks.
Urban centres such as Lahore, a city of more than 14 million people, and Karachi, the country’s largest city with more than 25 million people, have also suffered urban flooding in part because of poorly planned development.
Abbas earns around $7 a day, above the average salary, but only when the sun is shining.
To meet the average monthly pay of around $140, he was to work seven days a week for over 10 hours, fitted around his studies.
“Customers behave rudely and you have to handle all the stress,” added Muhammad Khan, a 23-year-old Foodpanda rider, as he carefully navigated his motorbike through Karachi’s muddy, pothole-ridden roads.
Pakistan, where 45 per cent of people live below the poverty line, is among the countries most vulnerable to climate change, with limited resources dedicated to adaptation.
‘Stressful’
By the middle of August, Pakistan had already received 50pc more monsoon rainfall than last year, according to disaster authorities, while in neighbouring India, the annual rains kill hundreds every year.
While South Asia’s seasonal monsoon brings rainfall that farmers depend on, climate change is making the phenomenon more erratic.
In this photograph taken on August 30, 2025, Abdullah Abbas, a food delivery rider for the Singapore-based company Foodpanda, pushes his bike through a flooded street after heavy rainfall in Lahore. — AFP/ Aamir Qureshi
A report by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said brown water inundating city streets is not only the result of climate change but “clogged drains, inadequate solid waste disposal, poor infrastructure, encroachments, elitist housing societies.”
Doctors warn that working repeatedly in damp conditions can cause fungal infections and flu, while exposure to dirty water can spread eye and skin infections.
Gig economy workers attached to delivery apps such as Foodpanda and ride-hailing apps Bykea and InDrive, made up nearly two per cent of Pakistan’s labour force or half a million people in 2023, according to Fairwork, a project by the University of Oxford.
Fairwork rated six digital labour platforms in the country, and all of them have the “minimum standards of fair work conditions”.
The International Labour Organisation, meanwhile, says gig workers lack government protection and face systemic violations of international labour standards.
Motorbike rider Muneer Ahmed, 38, said he quit being a chef and joined Bykea to become “his own boss”.
“When it rains, customers try to take rickshaws or buses, which leaves me with no work,” said Ahmed, waiting anyway on the side of the flooded street.
“Rain is a curse for the poor,” he said, watching the screen of his phone for a new customer.
Daily wage labourers, often working in construction, also see their work dry up.
It has been nearly four days since labourer Zahid Masih, 44, was hired, he told AFP while taking refuge under a bridge with other masons in Karachi.
“Jobs do come up, but only after the rain stops. There is no work as long as it is raining,” says the father of three.
“Sitting idle at home is not an option, as our stoves won’t be lit.”
Header Image: In this photograph taken on August 30, 2025, Abdullah Abbas (C), a food delivery rider for the Singapore-based company Foodpanda, wades through a flooded street under a railway bridge after heavy rainfall in Lahore. — AFP/ Aamir Qureshi
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