Pakistan’s relatively stable economy is still supported by the IMF, as in the past, generally whenever the IMF plan is taken, this international organization demands the implementation of such taxes and policies. which cause to increase the burden on the public but a condition has been fulfilled in the recent IMF plan which is proving to be beneficial for Pakistan’s agriculture and agro-based industries.
According to the condition of the IMF, Pakistan has ended the determination of “support purchase price” of wheat, sugarcane and other agricultural commodities. In the past, neither the farmers were happy nor the industrialists were happy with the determination of support purchase price of agricultural commodities, everyone used to complain. The second major crop of Pakistan is “wheat” and Punjab is the largest (more than 2 million tons) wheat producing province in the country.
For many decades, the government has abused the farmers in buying the wheat support price because the government departments and institutions had to buy the wheat, so the price was set low to keep the financial burden low, it also happened that the same price was maintained for 4 years. In the open market, the farmer was being offered a higher price, but the food department used to hijack the farmer’s wheat by using the government’s swindle for its procurement targets.
A few years ago, the then Federal Finance Minister Ishaq Dar increased the support purchase price of wheat by 1700 rupees and set the support price at 3900 rupees per maund. If increased, on the other hand, the financial expenses of wheat purchase of the government departments also increased. Well done to the army chief of Pakistan, who took the responsibility of restoring the country’s economy together with the caretaker government last year. Along with other wrong decisions, this decision was declared wrong.
Last year, the IMF declared the government purchase and sale of wheat as harmful to Pakistan’s economy, after which the caretaker chief minister of Punjab, Mohsin Naqvi, took a very difficult and unpopular but very beneficial decision for the future. Did they fix the selling price of Rs 4,700 per maund by eliminating the big difference between the price and the open market price for the sale of wheat flour mills with the Food Department of Punjab, which reduced the quota theft, reduced the production, and broke the backs of the smugglers? gave In February 2024, when Maryam Nawaz assumed the post of Chief Minister, she also agreed to the initiative of the state, federal and international organizations and ended the official wheat procurement of the Food Department of Punjab.
At that time, there was a strong protest by the farmers, but the farmers also know that the decision to fix the lump sum price of 3900 rupees was an economic mistake. were unstable.
Even today, some Kota Chur flour mill owners and government officials who enjoy speed money hope that the government may start government procurement of wheat again this year, but in hindsight it is not possible. The federal and provincial governments are seriously working on several new proposals regarding wheat. Federal Secretary National Food Security Waseem Ajmal Chaudhry is a very stubborn bureaucrat, always looking for out-of-the-box ideas.
A few weeks ago, he sent an office memorandum to the Chief Secretaries of the four provinces, a two-page letter stating the reality that in the past, the federal and provincial governments had failed to ensure national food security and wheat availability. A “profitable support price” and government procurement used to set targets, but in an agreement with the IMF, the government of Pakistan has agreed to fully deregulate the market for agricultural commodities and inputs. In the year 2022, the Economic Coordination Committee had decided that strategic stocks of 2 million tonnes of wheat would be mandatory at the federal level.
In the past, the provincial governments also used to buy a total of 50/60 million tonnes of wheat through their food department. Now that the new agreement between the Government of Pakistan and the IMF has created new challenges for the deregulation of the wheat market, the federal The government wants to know whether the provincial governments want to buy wheat from farmers or are in favor of open market.
The wheat currently held by the provincial governments will also be used up soon, so the provincial governments will have to make a new plan to maintain strategic stocks for food security as per the federally recommended statistics. The Federal Department of Agriculture is also likely to be dissolved soon. On the other hand, according to the statistics presented by the provinces in the Federal Committee for Agriculture on October 29, 2024, there is a possibility of a big difference of 3.6 million tons between production and needs in the future.
The federal government has proposed to the provinces to create an organization to ensure food security in the event of a sudden calamity, which will be jointly owned by the federal and provincial governments, including the government of Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir. This organization will take measures to ensure food security for the provinces in proportion to the population.
In the past, government wheat buying and selling has been brutally used for corruption, the common man has not benefited, so now if the federal and provincial governments give up the traditional wheat system only to keep strategic stocks for the country’s food security. If you are thinking of bringing a new system, this is a welcome thing.
