n Pakistan, the agriculture sector accounts for 19.8 percent of the gross domestic product and engages 42.3 percent of the labour force. The Province of Punjab is home to around 54 percent of the population and is the main production area for rice, cotton, sugar cane and mangoes, among other commodities. Moreover, Punjab accounts for 76 percent of national food grain production and over 60 percent of foreign exchange earnings from agriculture.

With the ongoing transformation of the rural landscape, larger farming operations are benefitting from the existing institutional structures to a substantially greater degree than smallholder farmers and both marginalized and landless populations. Acknowledging the requirement to facilitate more inclusive agricultural development, the Government of Punjab has endeavoured to revamp institutional structures to better ensure market liberalization and safeguard poor and marginalized populations. Hence, the Government of Punjab has undertaken the Strengthening Markets and Rural Transformation (SMART) Programme, which envisages policy and institutional reform, as well as increased investment in agriculture, livestock, irrigation and the management of both agroprocessing and supply chains.