Pakistan, Aug. 24 -- Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's meeting on agricultural reform on Saturday dealt with wheat demand, cultivated area and projections for the coming crop. He approved changes at the National Agricultural Research Centre, asked for the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council to meet international standards, directed certified companies to ensure quality seed, and ordered a national system for estimating crop production. That last decision reaches beyond a bureaucratic exercise. Pakistan has too often tried to manage harvests after they have ripened, entered godowns or unsettled the market.

The wheat episode of 2024 explains why. Pakistan imported roughly 3.4 million tonnes of wheat to cover an anticipated shortfall. Gove...