🇵🇰 Wheat crisis Updates (3 Viewers)

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Punjab comes up with 'vague policy' on wheat crisis

Amjad Mahmood
May 1, 2024

• Minister blames caretakers for fiasco, promises fact-finding probe
• Cabinet undecided on 'subsidy' to small farmers, approves Kissan card
• LHC asks govt to provide details on procurement decision

LAHORE: As it blamed the caretaker government for causing a "wheat crisis" in the province, the Punjab government on Tuesday announced a 'vague' policy that did not contain a date for the initiation of the procurement drive.

The policy also came under fire from the opposition as it offered nothing new to the protesting farmers who had taken to the streets to demand the procurement of their grain at a support price of Rs3,900 per 40kg announced by the government. The government had also reduced the procurement target from over 4 million tonnes to a little over 2 million.

Speaking in the Punjab Assembly during a session that began three hours later than scheduled, Food Minister Bilal Yasin said there was a "wheat crisis" in the province for which the caretaker government was responsible.

"Those who imported wheat [close to the harvesting season] are responsible for this crisis. However, despite this, the government will fully support the small farmers," the minister said, without elaborating on the mode and timeframe for this support.

The minister also promised a fact-finding probe into the import of the staple and said the report would be tabled in the house. He added the procurement drive would start when the grain would contain "10 per cent moisture" which was currently at 16pc due to a recent spell of rains.

Following the policy statement, the speaker adjourned the session indefinitely without allowing the opposition to speak on the matter since "it has already been discussed for the past four days".

The opposition subsequently staged a sit-in on The Mall to express solidarity with the farmers.

'Cabinet's indecision'

On the other hand, the provincial government remained indecisive about the planned subsidy for the 'small farmers' from whom it may not purchase wheat.

The cabinet, however, approved the Kissan card in its meeting and the subsidy proposal was merely reviewed.

Under the proposal, the government intends to provide Rs400-600 per 40kg subsidy to the growers whose grain it will not buy even though they applied on the Kissan app for this purpose.

During the meeting, CM Maryam Nawaz said: "All resources of Punjab are available for farmers. Middlemen and 'Aarthi' cannot be allowed to exploit farmers. My intention is to make roti cheaper for the people," she claimed.

LHC seeks details

The issue also echoed in the Lahore High Court, which ordered the Punjab government to provide details of the cabinet decision on the procurement. Justice Shahid Karim was hearing a petition seeking directives for the government to buy wheat from the farmers.

The judge said the court would not interfere in the government's policy, but it still wanted to know about the cabinet decision and adjourned the matter for one week.

Advocate Farhat Manzoor Chandio, the petitioner, contended that the provincial government announced its wheat procurement policy and fixed support price at Rs3,900 per 40kg.

He argued that the government was bound to buy wheat from farmers at the support price and the procurement was supposed to start on April 22 but it didnot, which was a "violation of fundamental rights" of the growers.

The lawyer pleaded that the delay in the official buying and heavy rains in the province forced the farmers to sell their wheat at lower prices to the 'mafia'.

Zulqernain Tahir and Wajih Ahmad Sheikh also contributed to this report

Published in Dawn, May 1st, 2024

 

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Authorities must investigate the reckless wheat import decision and fix responsibility

Wheat protests

Editorial
May 1, 2024

THE crackdown on farmers protesting in Lahore and several other cities against the government's 'flawed' wheat procurement policy and delays in the commencement of the grain's official purchases in Punjab is deplorable.

Scores of farmers were manhandled and detained by police across the province on Monday, particularly in Lahore and south Punjab. The protesters appeared to have taken to the streets as a last resort after the authorities ignored their calls for help. Wheat rates have plummeted in the market, and are much below the support price of Rs3,900 per 40kg. The recent rains have added to the farmers' woes.

And yet, the government continues to play down the problem, with its spokesperson dismissing the protests as politically motivated. This is not how governments treat those who grow food for the entire country, and the ruling PML-N may, sooner or later, have to pay a big political price for neglecting the plight of farmers, especially smallholders, who have already announced plans to block highways with the opposition's support.

Indeed, the provincial administration has valid reasons for streamlining its wheat purchases through digitising the process, slashing the procurement target for the current harvest, and delaying official purchases far beyond the date announced earlier.

There are also no two opinions that the existing policy of excessive government intervention in the wheat market by fixing a minimum support price and procuring a larger portion of tradable surplus brought to the market by farmers each year has run its course and become a burden on the government budget. These interventions are ostensibly to support growers, and ensure price stability and food security.

In fact, they benefit only the middlemen, and flour millers, especially those who operate only for a few months, and that too on subsidised wheat quotas from official stocks. This policy must end.

However, a sudden curtailment of the government's role will prove harmful for farmers amid collapsing wheat prices resulting from record production and unseasonal rains that are threatening the crop. The government should withdraw from the wheat trade gradually, replacing the existing market support mechanism with an effective new one over the next several years.

Many believe that the previous caretaker set-up's reckless decision to import over 3.2Mt of grain when the harvest was approaching is responsible for the restricted official purchase target. This is largely true.

If the Punjab government did not have stocks of over 2Mt, it might have raised its procurement target for the ongoing harvest without much fuss to avoid protests. Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal also blames unnecessary wheat imports for the present market volatility. The authorities, therefore, must investigate the motives behind this reckless decision and fix responsibility.

Published in Dawn, May 1st, 2024

 

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The government should withdraw from the wheat trade gradually, replacing the existing market support mechanism with an effective new one over the next several years.