Asghar Ali Mubarak
Wheat crisis is the test case for the newly elected government because the farmers are worried, on other side the wheat crop in the country is ripe and ready but the governments have not started purchasing from the farmers. Due to non-purchase of the wheat has started to be sold at a lower price than the official rate, which has caused farmers protest. The wheat scandal crisis seems to be a pre-plan to derail the government. The wheat scandal is a plan to create hurdles for the newly elected MLN government. It is important to remember that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has approved the investigation of wheat purchased unnecessarily during the caretaker government.
The investigation of import of wheat during the caretaker regime will help to find out the conditions and factors that caused damage to the national exchequer due to import of wheat from abroad and problems in the sale of domestic wheat. It is a public demand that those responsible for the wheat scam should be brought before the nation. The people involved in the scandal must be punished. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif ordered an investigation into the matter and formed an investigation team headed by Justice (R) Mian Mushtaq. Member Federal Public Service Commission Mian Mushtaq purchased wheat. After completing the investigation, they will submit a report to the Prime Minister.
It is bound to examine the reasons and submit its report to the Prime Minister within two weeks. On the other hand, revelations have come out regarding this process of wheat import. It is being said that the proposals of the Ministry of Commerce and TCP were ignored and the private sector was also exempted from customs duty and GST. Due to this process, the national exchequer has lost more than 300 billion rupees. It is important to note that this time there has been a wonderful harvest of wheat in the country. Adequate arrangements were to be made for its storage and sale, while the farmers, including the supply of bardana, were to be given all the facilities that would enable them to make extraordinary profits.
But despite the opposition of the concerned ministry, the summary of wheat import from Ukraine was sent to the federal cabinet which was approved through circulation. The said purchase and import was not possible without controlling many issues including the supply of foreign exchange while the arrangement of dollars was also made and other ways were also paved. There should be an investigation about them and there should be an investigation as to who kept the supervisory cabinet ignorant of the effects of wheat import. According to a summary of the Ministry of National Food Security, 28.18 million tons of wheat were produced in the country and it was decided to import 2.45 million tons. Pasco and provincial departments could purchase 5.87 tonnes of wheat instead of the desired target of 7.80 tonnes.
Currently, farmers are protesting against the non-starting of government procurement of wheat, arrests and lathi-charge incidents have also taken place. Farmers are waiting for the wheat purchase campaign to start, while taking advantage of the farmers’ compulsion, they are buying wheat from them at cheap prices. Farmers complain that the government is not buying wheat and is exploiting the farmers by imposing arbitrary prices in the market. Farmers are demanding that instead of leaving them at the mercy of the market, they should be made happy. According to the Pakistan Kisan Ittehad, wheat farmers are not even receiving their costs. Wheat is being bought at a price lower than the official price by Rs 1,000 per maund.
In this situation, the farmers are not able to buy the necessary accessories for the upcoming crops of cotton and rice. On the other hand, the farmers have demanded that the government price of wheat should be set at Rs 5,000. One of the reasons for the current wheat crisis is that the former caretaker government filled the government warehouses with imported wheat a few weeks before the wheat harvest, which created new storage capacity.The situation is that farmers are worried, their economy is mostly dependent on wheat crop. They are not getting the dates set by the government for the purchase of wheat. Bardana is not available. Wheat is not being sold. This situation is painful. The government should take emergency measures to procure wheat and ensure that sowing of wheat in the next crop is not discouraged.
It has been reported that despite the existence of abundant stocks of wheat, millions of tons of wheat have been imported even during the new government’s tenure. The current federal government has also imported millions of tons of wheat worth about 100 billion rupees in a few weeks. According to media reports, millions of tons of wheat were imported even during the current federal government. Even after the new government came, wheat worth 98 billion 51 crore rupees was imported. According to sources, more than 6 lakh tonnes of wheat was imported even during the current government’s tenure, wheat was imported despite having a carry forward stock of more than 1 lakh 13 thousand. According to the sources, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was also kept ignorant about the import of wheat.
According to the sources, the import of wheat continued in the current government under the decision of the caretaker government, the Ministry of Finance allowed the import of 5 lakh metric tons of wheat through the private sector, on the other hand, the investigation of the wheat scandal was conducted on the instructions of Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif. According to the sources, the Ministry of National Food Security told the Prime Minister’s Office that during the caretaker period, on the recommendation of the Ministry of Finance, the private sector was given an open exemption instead of the fixed limit and wheat traders were also given exemption from customs duty and GST.
After the approval of the supervisory cabinet, the Ministry of Food Security sent a summary, the Ministry of National Food Security ignored the suggestions of the Ministry of Commerce and TCP. Under the planned plan, additional wheat was imported, causing a loss of more than 300 billion rupees. It should be remembered that Federal Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal held the caretaker government responsible for wrong decisions on wheat issue. Talking to private TV, Ahsan Iqbal said that the caretaker government took wrong decisions regarding the import of wheat due to which the farmers are worried today. He said that everyone knew that wheat would be abundant this year, the institutions had the data, but wheat worth 1 billion dollars was stolen even though there was plenty of wheat in the country, whoever made these decisions should be punished.
The federal minister said that the prime minister has increased the purchase target of Pasco, the provinces should also talk to the farmers. People raise these questions that how did this wheat crisis arise? Are the provincial governments or the federal government responsible for this crisis? What is the role of the supervisory government in this wheat crisis? How is the market exploiting the farmer? And most importantly, how can the government get the farmers out of this crisis and how can they be remedied? It should be remembered that the reason for the wheat crisis is that all the provincial governments and the federal government agency PASCO reduced the wheat procurement target this year compared to previous years.
Last year, the Punjab government’s target to purchase wheat from across the province was 4.5 million sacks. Similarly, the target of Pasco was set at 1 crore 89 lakh sacks of wheat. These targets are set keeping in mind all the data including current stocks and country requirements. It should be remembered that this year it was expected that there would be a bumper crop of wheat and the production would be much higher than the requirement. Instead of buying wheat this year as compared to last year, the Punjab government reduced the target by almost 4 times this year and gave a target of buying only 90 lakh sacks to all the concerned district bodies from across the province. Where 4 and a half crore sacks and where 90 lakhs, not only Punjab government but other provincial governments and Pasco also reduced their targets.
According to government officials, Pasco’s target for buying wheat this year has been set at 1.4 million sacks. When all the provincial and federal governments lowered the wheat procurement target, it gave free rein to the market and farmers to buy wheat from farmers at rates of their choice. Because the price of wheat or any other commodity is very much related to demand and supply. When demand is low and supply is high, the price of agricultural commodities automatically decreases. According to the same market principle, the per maund price of wheat at present is much lower than the government rate. Why was the wheat target reduced this year and why did the official rate come down and does the responsibility for this crisis also apply to the caretaker government to some extent?
The Caretaker Government had approved the importation of wheat during his tenure. Imported wheat is still present at the port of Pakistan. Farmers are among the direct victims of this import decision. As the government imported wheat near the season, it was decided to buy less wheat from farmers this year. This is the reason why the provincial governments reduced the wheat procurement targets this year. The government had set the support price of wheat low. Because they were getting wheat from outside at a low price and the demand of the IMF is also that due to the availability of abundant wheat stocks, not to buy more wheat this year and not to park more money in it. Due to the closure of Afghanistan’s border, wheat cannot be exported to other countries as they have cheaper prices than Pakistan.Hence new official rates of wheat were released. Despite all this, can these problems of farmers and wheat crisis be solved?
The solution may be that the provincial and federal governments immediately increase the wheat procurement target. This will eliminate uncertainty in the market. Increase in demand will stabilize wheat prices in the market and this will automatically improve wheat prices and also end exploitation of farmers. To end the wheat crisis in the country, the government has to do something for the farmers, so it should immediately increase the target and end the uncertainty in the market. Otherwise, farmers will not grow wheat next year and due to low production, there will be a wheat crisis again. Which the newly elected government cannot afford because Pakistan is an agricultural country.
