menu_open Columnists
Khalid Saeed Wattoo

Khalid Saeed Wattoo

Dawn Business

We use cookies to provide some features and experiences in QOSHE

More information  .  Close

Balancing the crop and water equation

Balancing the crop and water equation

THE water requirements of Pakistan’s agriculture sector, which consumes nearly 90 per cent of the nation’s water, continue to rise due to multiple...

11.02.2025 50

Dawn Business

Khalid Saeed Wattoo

Lack of well-defined govt policies, false past promises leading agri sector down path of negative growth

The federal government recently unveiled the country’s economic performance for the first quarter (July–September) of fiscal year 2024-25. Sadly,...

14.01.2025 30

Dawn Business

Khalid Saeed Wattoo

Hidden hunger and the promise of biofortification

Pakistan is currently grappling with interconnected challenges of rising poverty, growing food insecurity, escalating undernutrition, and increasing...

06.01.2025 30

Dawn Business

Khalid Saeed Wattoo

Explicit and implicit taxation of agriculture

Last month, the Punjab Assembly took the lead in amending its agricultural income tax (AIT) law, increasing the maximum tax rate from 15 per cent...

10.12.2024 10

Dawn Business

Khalid Saeed Wattoo

Investing in agricultural human capital

Pakistan has the world’s highest number of out-of-school children, exceeding 26 million — one-third of the total child population aged five to 16....

02.12.2024 20

Dawn Business

Khalid Saeed Wattoo

Costly inefficiencies need to be addressed lest agri sector falls behind on export competiton

The most pressing challenge facing Pakistan’s agriculture sector today is the high cost of crop production, which has increased manifold in recent...

11.11.2024 20

Dawn Business

Khalid Saeed Wattoo

Sustainability a major concern for farmers as Kissan card’s funding currently limited to FY25

To achieve higher crop yields and boost overall productivity in Pakistan’s agriculture sector, which currently lags behind comparable countries, it...

04.11.2024 4

Dawn Business

Khalid Saeed Wattoo

Shrimp farming — unproductive lands put to use

Building on the success of the 100-acre pilot shrimp farming, the Punjab Government has committed to scaling up the initiative to 100,000 acres,...

07.10.2024 10

Dawn Business

Khalid Saeed Wattoo

Agriculture: Water scarcity — an irrigation crisis

Water has become the most crucial limiting factor for Pakistan’s agricultural growth. Despite the availability of millions of acres of barren land,...

30.09.2024 20

Dawn Business

Khalid Saeed Wattoo

Why IMF has intervened in the agri sector

Just recently, under the $7 billion Extended Fund Facility, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) introduced a new condition that requires...

23.09.2024 10

Dawn Business

Khalid Saeed Wattoo

The issue of unaddressed yield challenges

Given Pakistan’s huge population, currently growing at 2.55 per cent annually, as revealed by the 7th National Population and Housing Census 2023,...

09.09.2024 5

Dawn Business

Khalid Saeed Wattoo

Environmentalists warn against solar tubewells

Over the last three years, Pakistan’s agriculture sector has witnessed two important developments. The electricity tariff for agricultural tube...

19.08.2024 10

Dawn Business

Khalid Saeed Wattoo

Land fragmentation ailing agriculture sector

The agriculture sector in Pakistan is experiencing excessive land fragmentation because of prevailing inheritance laws that divide land among...

29.07.2024 8

Dawn Business

Khalid Saeed Wattoo

Agriculture needs to be subject to progressive taxation

Contrary to popular misconception, agricultural income in Pakistan is already taxed. However, it differs from other forms of income in two key...

22.07.2024 4

Dawn Business

Khalid Saeed Wattoo