Pakistan’s rapidly expanding fodder export industry is targeting annual exports of up to US $1 billion within five years, with industry leaders identifying China along with Saudi Arabia as decisive markets for achieving that goal, Gwadar Pro reported on Sunday. According to Pakistani official trade data, Pakistan exported over 930,000 tons of animal feed worth US $112.2 million during the last fiscal year.

However, exporters remain heavily dependent on a single market, the United Arab Emirates, which accounted for the largest share of purchases. At the center of Pakistan’s export push is Rhodes grass, a high-protein tropical fodder widely used to feed dairy cattle, camels, horses, and other livestock in water-scarce Gulf countries.

As desert climates and water shortages limit domestic cultivation in Gulf states, reliance on imported fodder has grown steadily. Industry representatives have called on Pakistan’s trade authorities to secure government-to-government agreements that would facilitate product registration and market access in China.

Exporters believe that once approved, fodder shipments to China could potentially move via land routes, creating new trade corridors and enhancing regional agricultural connectivity.

The sector’s expansion has been rapid. Cultivated acreage for Rhodes grass has reportedly increased by more than 60 percent over the past three to four years, reaching approximately 120,000 acres nationwide.

Large-scale farms in Sindh province now produce tens of tons daily for export.

With agriculture contributing roughly 24 percent to Pakistan’s GDP and employing nearly 38 percent of the labor force, stakeholders believe that securing access to China could transform fodder into a major non-traditional export category.

Industry leaders maintain that if China alone open its markets, Pakistan’s fodder exports could expand multiple times over current levels, strengthening rural incomes, boosting foreign exchange earnings, and deepening Pakistan’s economic engagement with key strategic partners.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP) — Pak-China