THE approval of the National Agricultural Biotechnology Policy has set the stage for a major technological shift. Yet, the real battlefield has reportedly moved to the PM’s Committee on Genetically Modified (GM) Maize, chaired by the Finance Minister. As the Committee conducts its “science-based and evidence-driven review” to decide on commercial licensing, a deeper, structural crisis looms. While corporate entities argue that biotech is the key to national food security, the policy threatens to alter the fate of the majority of Pakistan’s smallholders, who form the vulnerable backbone of our rural economy.
Proponents of GM maize, led by biotech bodies currently members of CropLife Pakistan, present a compelling macroeconomic case. Pakistan’s climate vulnerability is no longer a future threat; it is a current reality. Severe heatwaves, shifting monsoon patterns and devastating insect pests like Spodoptera frugiperda, Chilo partellus and Helicoverpa armigera routinely decimate yields. GM seeds, engineered for pest resistance, herbicide tolerance and drought tolerance, offer an immediate remedy. For Pakistan’s booming poultry, livestock and feed mill industries, GM maize promises a stable, high-volume domestic supply chain. By maximizing per-acre yields, the country could theoretically reduce its reliance on grain and soybean imports, saving precious foreign exchange reserves. Furthermore, built-in pest resistance reduces the need for expensive chemical pesticides, offering an environmental and financial reprieve to large-scale, well-capitalized cultivators.
However, from a strict plant protection, trade and regulatory standpoint, the policy is a double-edged sword. Cultivating GM maize risks shutting Pakistan out of premium, non-GM export destinations, most notably the European Union, which maintains strict anti-GMO regulations. Beyond maize itself, the commercialization of a GM crop threatens Pakistan’s multi-billion-dollar mainstream agricultural exports, particularly Basmati rice, sesame, fruits, vegetables and other organic commodities. Maize is an open, cross-pollinated crop driven by the wind, making physical segregation a logistical impossibility under Pakistan’s increasingly fragmented landholding system (Agricultural Census 2024). Pollen drift will inevitably contaminate neighbouring conventional fields.
More alarmingly, if GM traits accidentally commingle with export-bound non-GM shipments due to shared transport, storage and processing infrastructure, the economic fallout would be catastrophic. Pakistan’s premium Basmati rice holds a prized position in the EU and Middle Eastern markets precisely due to its GMO-free status. Even a trace detection of unapproved genetically modified material in a single export consignment can trigger automatic bans, widespread rejections and a complete loss of market trust that took decades to build. The contamination of our supply chain would deal a fatal blow to our rice export revenues and destabilize our national biosafety framework. The most devastating impact of GM commercialization lies in its socio-economic conse-quences for small farmers owning less than 12 acres. Traditionally, Pakistani farmers survive by saving part of their harvest as seed for the next season. Multinational corporations’ (MNCs’) GM seeds dismantle this centuries-old safety net through strict intellectual property protections. Global experience, from parts of Africa to India’s cotton-growing belts, shows that when corporate monopolies dominate the seed market, traditional farming systems weaken. If GM maize becomes the market standard in Pakistan, smallholders will be forced to buy expensive patented seeds every season. Without formal credit, many will depend on high-interest informal lenders, while the high cost of seeds and companion chemical inputs could trap vulnerable farmers in cycles of debt. The economic disparity will widen dramatically across the rural landscape. Wealthy, mechanized corporate farms will easily afford MNC technology, driving their yields up. Meanwhile, cash-strapped smallholders will be priced out entirely, unable to afford the entry cost of corporate agriculture. Left with inferior conventional seeds or facing accidental cross-contamination, smallholders will see their yields lag far behind corporate giants. Unable to compete with corporate-backed economies of scale, smallholders will face inevitable displacement—forced to lease or sell their ancestral lands and transition from independent, self-reliant farmers to low-wage day labourers on their own soil. Technology should serve humanity, not corporate monopolies. If the PM’s Committee ap-proves GM maize, it must introduce strong safeguards to protect smallholders and export markets. Subsidized GM seeds should be made available to small farmers, while strict zoning laws should separate GM cultivation from conventional farming to prevent cross-contamination. Pakistan must also strengthen public-sector research, particularly through the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC) and provincial institutions, to develop affordable, locally owned GM seeds. Agricultural modernization is essential, but it must not come at the cost of seed sovereignty, rural livelihoods or the country’s valuable agricultural exports. Tail of article: Existing premium hybrid maize seeds already achieve high yields of 120 maunds per acre, and GM technology is not a comprehensive solution for pest management. Based on the past failure of Bt cotton in the country, we recommend extreme caution before adopting genetically modified crops.
—The writer is former Associate Professor of Entomology, UAF.
