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LAHORE: The agriculture sector grew 2.89 per cent in 2025-26 despite the devastating floods of 2025, with strong livestock performance and improved production of key crops helping the sector recover from last year’s slowdown, reveals the Pakistan Economic Survey 2025-26 released on Thursday.
The survey showed that agriculture, which contributes 23.4pc to the national GDP – slightly down from 23.62pc last year – employs over 33pc of workforce. The sector grew from 1.53pc in the previous year. The crop sector returned to positive territory with 1.44pc growth, while livestock, the largest component of agriculture, expanded by 3.75pc.
Among major crops, sugarcane registered the highest growth of 6.2pc, with production rising to 89.45 million tonnes. Wheat output increased by 4.3pc to 29.61mt, while rice production rose 2.8pc to nearly 10mt. However, maize and cotton production declined by 2.7pc and 0.5pc, respectively.
The survey highlighted a significant increase in the production of pulses, vegetables and fruits, which grew by31.4pc, 12.6pc and 2.8pc, respectively. Gram production surged by more than 50pc, while potato output increased by 27.6pc.
