1 Rupee FAO

Pakistan's 1981 FAO coinage was part of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization's global program encouraging member states to issue coins with agricultural themes as a form of public education tied to food security campaigns. Pakistan participated repeatedly across the 1970s and 1980s, issuing FAO-designated pieces in multiple denominations. The 1 Rupee was the workhorse denomination for this purpose.

By 1981, the country was absorbing over three million Afghan refugees following the Soviet invasion — the largest refugee population in the world at the time — placing severe strain on domestic food production and distribution networks the FAO program was nominally meant to address.