Analysis of Pakistan Industries

Topic: A Current and Future Outlook of Pakistan’s Maize Industry

Submitted to: Dr. Abbas Ali Gillani

Submitted by: Group 11

Group Members:

Anas Shahid (16905), Sajeel Shafi (16963), and Zara Imran (17488)
Introduction:
Maize is one of the major crops for Pakistan and only behind wheat and rice in terms of

production and consumption. KPK and Punjab produce most of Pakistan’s maize at 95%

compared to Sindh and Balochistan’s 5% (Saeed, 2018). Maize is directly consumed more in

mountainous regions than in urban centres. As a consequence, maize consumption, relative to

other crops, such as wheat and rice, is less. Maize’s significant contribution is towards poultry

and other related industries as it is used for livestock’s feed and silage.

Current Outlook
Spanning over the past 20 years, maize crop in Pakistan has grown extremely successfully. The

private sector has had a huge part in the growth where the investment of high yield maize

hybrids has allowed growth in production during the years to be as high as 320%. (Hassan,

2018). The impact from increase in production has allowed poultry industry to grow which is the

largest consumer of grain. It is evident that livestock and poultry industry is one of the only two

industries growing in Pakistan for the past decade.

The average net farm income for maize farmers is Rs. 19,803. (R. Saeed) This amounts to a

profit of 32% over the total costs of production of maize proving it to be a profitable enterprise.

The attraction of increased profitability has caused a significant investment in farmer education

& agronomic research from private sector companies leading to higher yields in the crop. This

phenomenal growth in maize production has had a huge impact on rural economies concerning to

improvement in employment rates, increase in daily per capita consumption of animal source
proteins, farmer incomes – all of these contribute significantly towards an improved per capita

income & living standards for the people of Pakistan. (Saeed, 2018)

While the increased production has helped in fostering the local food business, it has not

contributed positively towards exports as one would expect. According to (Aazim, 2017) maize

exports can be grown in a short time if the Pakistan Trade Development Authority and the

foreign trade mission assist in marketing. These exports can play a major part in improving the

Pakistani economy through trade if value added products from Maize are exported as global

demand for maize has been high, especially in the Central Asian & west African countries.

Currently, Pakistan only exports loose maize grains in bulk which do not get higher prices and

hence capitalization from maize industry is at its minimum, despite the higher prospects.

There is an imperative need for sustainable growth for maize crop where modern innovative

technologies can be adopted in order to reduce costs & further increase productivity. There are

strong prospects of maize to contribute towards GDP growth, employment, and increased exports

if production & capitalization of maize is done strategically, for example, producing &

marketing value added products such as biotech corn or improved germaplasm for niche markets.
Future Outlook:
Initially it was observed that there was not much growth in Maize industry. Its growth stayed at

around 3% between 1960-1980. However, as more private enterprises ventured into maize

farming, the growth rates flourished. Private firms’ foray into maize industry is symbolic and

noteworthy as it reflects the untapped potential of the maize industry. Paper titled, “Profitability,

Production Efficiency, And Marketing of Spring Maize in Punjab-Pakistan”, explains how maize

farming in Pakistan is underdeveloped. Given this untapped potential and private firms’ interest,

maize presents itself as a potential cash crop for Pakistan (R. Saeed). China has highest maize

consumption rates in the world. Moreover, maize prices in China are higher. Therefore, this

presents a lucrative market for Pakistan which can accelerate a growth spike in the coming years.

 Compared to other crops, maize farming has been the most efficient (R. Saeed)). This is

particularly important as Pakistan, despite its rich water resources, often faces drought

like conditions which leads to poor output in crops and affects cotton and rice fields.

While it is possible that maize is efficient owing to its relatively smaller scale, it still

presents a picture of higher returns in maize industry given the costs.

 Moreover, private sector’s entry into maize farming in the 1990s coincided with

development of hybrid seeds and seeds with better germplasm which allowed an increase

in maize cultivation by three-fold. Development of hybrid seeds was a result of various

efforts by the government and private research centers such as CropLife- Brussels-based

trade association CropLife International that promotes agricultural technologies (Hassan,

2018) .Coupled with Plant Breeders’ Act 2016, maize industry is ripe to benefit from

these developments which are beneficial for the overall crop industry too.
 Maize is overwhelmingly used in poultry and animal feed; ethanol obtained from maize

is a good source of biomass fuel. Given the recent government’s efforts to invest in

poultry under poverty alleviation plans as well as an increase in use of biomass fuel in the

regions of Sindh shows a possibility further indirect growth in maize industry

References

Aazim, M. (2017). Capitalising on record maize production. Dawn, The Business and Finance

Weekly. Retrieved from https://www.dawn.com/news/1340302

Hassan, M. (2018). Maize production increases 3 times on hybrid seeds. The News. Retrieved

from https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/392961-maize-production-increases-3-times-on-

hybrid-seeds

R. Saeed, A. B. (n.d.). PROFITABILITY, PRODUCTION EFFICIENCY AND MARKETING.

Pak. J. Agri., Agril. Engg., Vet. Sci., 2018, 34, 78-86.

Saeed, G. (2018). Pakistan’s most ‘a-maize-ing’ crop. The Nation. Retrieved from

https://nation.com.pk/18-May-2018/pakistan-s-most-a-maize-ing-crop