A wave of countries have halted exports of grain to manage domestic food inflation. That has come at the expense of farmers who have needed high prices to maintain their capacity to farm. All imposing export taxes and restrictions does is gives you a year of cheaper prices followed by much higher prices because farmers chose to grow other unregulated crops or in this case they simply don't grow anything because they are broke.
-------------------------------------------------------- Wheat crisis stares next government in the face By By Rauf Klasra 2/17/2008 ISLAMABAD: A mammoth wheat crisis is set to greet the new political government after the elections of February 18.
Thanks to Shaukat Aziz who repeatedly refused to increase the wheat support price, the total area under wheat cultivation has dramatically gone down in the entire country. Millions of poor and voiceless farmers have sharply reacted against the lopsided wheat policy of Shaukat Aziz by refusing to grow wheat as it had become uneconomical to do so.
The costs went up also because of the rising prices of agriculture inputs and low price of their product. They have quietly opted to cultivate other more profitable crops.
The first and the worst to be hit would be the poor farmers of Sindh as new wheat crop is ready there and would hit the market within the next 20 days. These Sindhi farmers were hoping that the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) meeting here on Friday might provide some relief by raising the support price to Rs 600 per 40 kg.
But according to sources, two powerful bureaucrats in Islamabad ganged up and got the summary of the Agriculture Ministry rejected. One top official said when the countrymen were still struggling to survive the effects of the current wheat crisis, no doubt was left in the minds of those who were dealing with this current issue that another powerful crisis would greet the new political government.
He said the new government would inherit this crisis from the previous and current policymakers, mostly from the urban areas of the country, who never visited the rural areas or spent a single night to know the ground realities. Sources said it was a very interesting scene to see the remains of Shaukat Aziz's legacy, joining their hands in the ECC to shoot down the summary about raise in the support price.
It is said Secretary Finance Dr Waqar Masood and Deputy Chairman Planning Division Dr Akram Sheikh — the two close friends of Shaukat Aziz – made an alliance to oppose the raise on the ground that it would hurt the interests of the urban people. As the ECC did not have any significant representation of anyone having sympathy for the millions of farmers, so both the gentleman enjoying powerful positions conveniently prevailed in the ECC and the summary was dismissed.
Quite interestingly, this was not the first time that the official summary seeking gains for farmers was dismissed. In the past, the Shaukat Aziz government had dismissed such summaries of the Agriculture Ministry, which has now led to reduction in the wheat area.
When contacted by The News, Joint Secretary of Ministry of Agriculture Seerat Asghar confirmed that the latest figures show that area under wheat had gone down in the country by more than 3 per cent. When asked would it mean that a new wheat crisis might hit the country in the coming couple of months, he said, "Yes ,in case we fail to get bumper crop from the current reduced area."
He agreed that farmers did not get incentive in the shape of raise in the support price at the time of wheat cultivation season last year.
Responding to a question, Seerat confirmed that the agriculture officials had been trying their best to get the wheat support price raised in the past, to give an incentive to the farmers to grow more wheat to avoid its import. But, he said, the support price was not raised despite recommendation from the Agriculture Price Commission. He said the Ministry always observed that the prices of agriculture inputs had gone up and the farmers needed financial support. He said the use of agriculture inputs like fertilisers, quality seeds, oil, etc had also registered decrease, which might further reduce the wheat production in the country. He said the wheat crop in Sindh was ready for marketing within the next couple of weeks.
Meanwhile, talking to The News, Finance Secretary Dr Waqar Masood defended his own role and that of the government in the whole controversy. He said it was wrong to assume that he made any alliance with Dr Akram Sheikh in the ECC, as he only talked about the policy issues concerning wheat. He said his main concern was that if the support price was raised, then the issue price should also be raised. Likewise, he said the government had given billions of rupees for the import of wheat without any provision in the current budget and it might not be feasible for the ministry to bear more financial burden. He said as Finance secretary he had to look after the interests of all the people of Pakistan and it was not right to blame him.
