Pakistan’s rice export crisis has once again exposed deep-rooted weaknesses in the country’s agricultural governance. The sharp 28 per cent fall in rice exports during the first quarter of FY26 — from 991,146 tons last year to 712,797 tons — is more than a temporary fluctuation. It signals systemic regulatory and institutional failures that continue to undermine the sector’s competitiveness in global markets.

The decline is particularly alarming in the basmati category, which plunged by 45.5 per cent, while non-basmati exports fell by 22.1 per cent as per news reports. Analysts and exporters cite fiscal constraints, tight financing, and an appreciating rupee as contributing factors, but the more enduring problem lies in the regulatory breakdown governing agricultural trade — a problem that has deepened since the promulgation of the National Agricultural and Food Safety Authority (NAFSA) Ordinance in May 2025.

When the NAFSA framework was introduced, it was expected to unify and modernise Pakistan’s fragmented food safety and sanitary phytosanitary systems, bringing them in line with international frameworks such as the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC), the Codex Alimentarius Commission, and the WTO’s Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Agreement.

However, in practice, it created more confusion than clarity. Traditional technical institutions such as the Department of Plant Protection (DPP) — Pakistan’s recognised National Plant Protection Organisation (NPPO) under the IPPC — were weakened, disbanded and sidelined. Key regulatory........

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