Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have agreed to raise Pakistani agricultural and food exports to $3 billion within two years to mark the Saudi delegation’s visit to Islamabad, naming rice, red meat, fruit concentrates, green fodder and water-efficient technology as areas for cooperation. The government deserves credit for bringing a business agenda into a relationship often sustained by political goodwill. It has opened a useful door. The difficult work begins now. First and foremost, the target needs to be explained clearly. Does the $3 billion figure refer to annual exports by 2028, sales accumulated over two years, or prospective contracts? These are very different outcomes. Pakistan supplied Saudi Arabia with 169,000 tonnes of rice worth $163 million in 2025, as red-meat exports of about 30,000 tonnes earned $167 million, giving the country a base in the Saudi market all the while showing how much new business must be created. Rice offers another useful lesson. Saudi Arabia imported $1.6 billion worth of milled rice in 2023. India held 77.2 per cent of that market, while Pakistan’s share stood at 8.5 per cent. Notwithstanding the geopolitical winds, our exporters will still have to compete for every additional bag through dependable quality, supply and price.Business Formation The larger Saudi food market gives Pakistan room to grow. The Kingdom imported $27.3 billion in agri-food and seafood products in 2023, and its packaged-food market was valued at $24.6 billion last year. Riyadh is still looking for dependable suppliers as part of its food-security planning. Pakistan should understand what that demand entails. Saudi food rules admit imports only from approved establishments. Meat exports require accredited slaughterhouses, veterinary controls, halal documentation and an unbroken cold chain. Fruit concentrates require clean processing, packaging and shipments that arrive in saleable condition. Mutual recognition of quality certificates, discussed in Islamabad, could remove a serious barrier if it is carried through. The government should publish a list of Pakistani facilities already cleared for the Saudi market and the steps required for those still outside it. Green fodder demands particular caution. Saudi Arabia has curtailed domestic fodder cultivation to conserve water. Pakistan should not absorb the environmental cost without asking hard questions about where the crop will be grown and which water source it will draw upon. The Bhakkar irrigation project can help small farmers if it raises yields and lowers water use. However, a fodder export programme that drains stressed aquifers would leave little to celebrate. Agriculture accounts for almost a quarter of Pakistan’s economy. A serious Saudi market can bring income to more than a third of the Pakistanis directly involved with farming and related activities. Two years from now, this promise will be measured in Pakistani products bought regularly in Saudi stores and in farm incomes that show where the trade has gone.
