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PAKISTAN’S farmers are awaiting the next budget with growing fears and fading hopes. Their concerns this year are fundamental, as the government — amid pressure for reform — continues experimenting with subsidies, procurement prices, input-cost liberalisation and agricultural trade. The cost of this trial-and-error has become an existential problem for farmers and the agricultural sector. The agriculture sector’s fading hopes are a direct result of the government’s inability — or unwillingness — to adopt a long-term policy direction and muster the political will needed for its implementation. Deregulation of agricultural inputs has led to a continuous rise in production costs, which the government hesitates to pass on to consumers because of political consequences. Wheat policy reversals, deregulated input costs and controlled output prices are curtailing farm profitability Consequently, farmers and agri-sector experts alike agree the government should make a clear decision thi...

European Union (EU) top diplomat Kaja Kallas on Monday said the bloc sought stability in the region, adding that it was in everyone’s interest for the ongoing war in the Middle East to end and for the Strait of Hormuz to remain open. Kallas, who serves as vice-president of the European Commission and the EU high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, is visiting Pakistan at the invitation of Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar to participate in the 8th round of the EU-Pakistan Strategic Dialogue, which was held earlier today. In an interview on the Geo News programme ‘Capital Talk’, Kallas said, “This is in everybody’s interest that this war is stopped and the Strait of Hormuz is opened. We are paying a very high price. There are a lot of things dependent on the Strait of Hormuz.” During the appearance on the show, she commended Pakistan for being a mediator between the United States and Iran, bringing all the parties together, adding that, “Even...