DNA
Lahore: Pakistan Business Forum (PBF) says agriculture sector may contribute $3 billion to our economy in the year 2023-24. Still, it has the potential to grow much more subject to Shehbaz Sharif led government takes a holistic approach.
Vice President PBF, Jahan Ara Wattoo addressing before workshop said to achieve agriculture targets properly we have to control cartels in commodity markets if we want the crop sector may perform.
Making her point clear, she said that the government created high hopes for cotton growers when it declared an indicative price of Rs8,500 per maund. It led to a strong revival of crops, and production doubled in a matter of one season. However, as soon as cotton started arriving in the market, the price crashed to Rs6,500 per maund, robbing farmers of their hard-earned money and the government of credibility.
The same thing happened to maize as well: its price dwindled to half of its pre-sowing value. In a production cycle with very high costs, price slides like these leave farmers and farming crippled for years.
“For urea alone, the growers paid more than Rs120 billion to black marketers last season alone. Four different urea prices operated in the national market with complete impunity. Which sector in the world can take that kind of hit and endure? We are talking about one input; Wattoo said.
PBF Chairman South Punjab, Malik Suhail Talat said agriculture does not fit into calendar years; it is all about continuity. Decisions made in 2024 regarding what to sow and what not to sow will define 2025.
“For the last decade or so, maize has anchored agriculture. With its price crashing, each farmer will now have to decide whether to continue with it or not. Punjab’s wheat policy is deeply confusing. Punjab has changed procurement and release prices twice in the last two months, leaving farmers in a financial and policy lurch. The cotton crash has left farmers in a deep muddle about its future. Early potato crop prices have slid after initial better returns, leaving farmers wondering whether they should continue sowing it.
He also viewed capitalists are manipulating political, economic and other systems in the country. Political parties currently in the electoral arena are either not capable enough or don’t have the will to challenge and break this vicious control suffocating the farming community.
All the administrative set-up cannot ensure even the provision of fertilisers at the official rates. The compost-making companies and their dealership networks are usurping the subsidy and minting money by selling their products through the black market.
He questioned can the incumbent government put in place a simple foolproof system for the provision of two bags of urea and one bag of DAP per acre at subsidised rates to all farmers across the board?
Unfortunately the price mechanism in vogue since 1947 is heavily tilted towards arhtis (middle-men) against the interests of the rural population that toils day and night to ensure the nation’s food security.
Malik Suhail Talat also demanded that government should have the political will to control the mafias that use their dirty wealth to manipulate all processes from plantation to harvesting and from farm to fork, exploiting both the rural and urban population.
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