Khalid Wattoo

Khalid Wattoo is a journalist and development professional with more than 25 years’ experience of long-term and short-term assignments with the United Nations (ILO, ITC), World Bank, European Union, USAID, USDA, and DFID-funded projects aimed at agricultural development, value chain development, SMEs development, and Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) at policy and practice level.

For the last three years, he has been writing for DAWN -- the largest English daily newspaper of Pakistan. Moreover, he is a practicing farmer and grows potatoes, corn, rice, sesame, wheat, and garlic.

Khalid Saeed Wattoo brings a rare and valuable perspective to agricultural journalism in Pakistan. As a practicing farmer himself, he writes not just with knowledge—but with lived experience. This gives him a distinct edge in observing and assessing the grassroots-level challenges of the agriculture sector. His articles often go beyond abstract policy discussions to capture the real-world struggles of farmers, the inefficiencies in government interventions, and the ground realities that many armchair analysts overlook.

Khalid Saeed Wattoo belongs to Pakpattan (Pakistan) whereas his agricultural farm is located close to Haveli Lakha (Okara). He embarked on his educational journey at Government College Lahore for Intermediate studies (F.Sc.). Subsequently, he pursued a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering degree at the University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore, graduated in 1989, and got a merit scholarship during his final year. Later, he furthered his academic pursuits by completing an MBA program at Lahore University of Management Sciences in 1999.