Agriculture accounts for 19.5 percent of Pakistan’s GDP, employs 42.3 percent of national labor force, and provides raw material for key manufacturing and service industries. It plays a central role in national development, food security, and poverty reduction, and is highly vulnerable to climate change impacts.
The program seeks to address the major challenges of climate adaptation and mitigation, food production, food security and sustainability of agroecosystems. The main methodology is the development and testing of simulation models under a system analysis approach. A central objective is to assist national planners in developing and incorporating suitable strategies in national development plans.

Activities:

• Assessment of the impacts of projected climate changes on productivity of key agricultural crops in different climatic zones of the country using Crop Growth Simulation Models;
• Assessment of climate change impacts on the productivity of forestry, grasslands, rangelands and fragile ecosystems, e.g., coastal areas, mountainous regions, wetlands and arid areas;
• Assessment of climate change impacts on land degradation and deforestation;
• Analysis of changes in insect-pest infestation dynamics due to climate change;
• Analysis of food security in the face of future climate change and especially reduced availability of irrigation water;
• Assessment of climate change impacts on livestock;
• Adaptation measures to counter negative impacts of climate change on agriculture, livestock and forestry;
• Assessment and planning studies at the nexus of water, food and energy security;
• Updating of information on GHG emissions from agriculture, forestry, and land use sectors in Pakistan and analyzing the prospects of climate smart agriculture.