As we face food insecurity, the government should listen to the plaintive cry of farmers for it directly impacts our food security. A combination of climate change, capricious government support process of agricultural products, and the implacably rising cost of agricultural inputs has squeezed the lifeblood out of the farmer community.
It appears as if the day is not far when riots may break out like in India where farmers took to the streets against government policies.
Pakistan is an agricultural country where the areas that constitute Punjab and Sindh have historically acted as the breadbasket of the entire subcontinent. Despite our economic problems, we could remain afloat because of the bounteous harvests of our fecund land and the toil of our doughty farmers. Now, a combination of factors is threatening our agricultural solvency and food security.
The precipitous and constant rise in the cost of fertiliser is a critical component of this combination. Urea price ranges between Rs4,450 and Rs5,550 per 50kg bag, while the nitro-phosphate and di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) prices range between Rs8,685 and Rs13,900.
The influential fertiliser lobby is well-linked and organised while facing severely fragmented and weak farmer bodies.
Another input, electricity charges for tubewells, has risen precipitously to put it out of the reach of most farmers. The farmers should have been given fixed and subsidised rates for tubewell irrigation, but they have been burdened with the sliding scale that entails costly rates.
Another problem is the poor quality of seeds and pesticides, which results in poor crop yield and product loss. The apotheosis of the profitability crisis for the farmers is the elimination of the wheat support price under pressure from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The farmers are spending Rs60,000 to Rs70,000 per acre growing wheat, but are unable to even recover their investment due to low prices.
The worst hit are farmers in Cholistan who are dependent on sub-surface water aquifers. They are burdened with high electricity costs as well as high input costs. Several have sold off their assets, like tractors, to pay off this year’s debts and liabilities. The state of corn and cotton growers is no better as they are spending Rs150,000 to Rs200,000 per acre without being able to recover their investment.
There are rumours of wheat import now, while the farmers are keeping the wheat that they are unable to sell at the uncompetitive price. The government cites protection of consumer rights and IMF strictures as reasons for removing the wheat support price, little realising that the consumer rights can be best protected through government subsidies on consumable end products, like flour and bread, in the market by reducing taxes.
If the farmers do stop growing wheat, Pakistan might one day confront the spectre of spending precious foreign exchange to import wheat, putting further pressure on the balance of payments. The impecunious and hardy farmers of Pakistan need concessional schemes for purchase of agricultural machinery.
The Green Tractor scheme was a good initiative, but could not yield the desired results despite initial subsidy as most of the farmers could not manage the required payment due to their economic circumstances this year.
The government must realise that the support price in developing countries acts as a safety net for farmers that encourages them to improve their agricultural yield and productivity, In the absence of this incentive, farmers remain at the mercy of market caprice and middlemen avarice.
BRIG (RETD) DR RAASHID WALI JANJUA
ISLAMABAD
