Hit by climate change, agriculture continues to suffer.

Sounding cautious, Pakistan-based economists had dismissed a further slowdown in the national economy months ago, expecting that better water availability would lend much-needed support to the agriculture sector - a key component of the economy.

However, a massive surge in fertiliser prices, impact of climate change and locust attack played havoc with the optimism. These factors are set to turn the economists' little doubt into a major worry.

"A study suggests that the agriculture sector performance has continued to decline for the past 19 years. The sector is feared to continue the downward trend in the 20th straight year - FY20," Sindh Abadgar Board (SAB) Senior Vice President Mahmood Nawaz Shah quoted as saying to the Pakistan daily..

The share of agriculture sector - crops and livestock - in...