Commerce ministry consults the chosen few to decide agri sector’s fate

Farmers say meeting remains inconclusive, threaten to physically block imports.

It may be surprising to many that a chosen few – fertiliser producers – were called upon by the commerce ministry to decide the fate of 70% of the population depending upon the agriculture sector following the trade liberalisation process with India.

“We had consulted fertiliser manufacturers and the farming community was not taken on board when the commerce ministry got the approval of the Cabinet early this year to grant the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to India to open free trade of agricultural goods with the neighbour,” commerce ministry officials said during a high-level meeting held on Wednesday.

Sources told The Express Tribune that the commerce ministry did hold a meeting with farmer groups on Wednesday at a time when lists of agriculture goods to be traded with India under MFN status had been finalised. Pakistan plans to implement the MFN status to India by the end of December.



The meeting remained inconclusive as farmers argued that agricultural goods should be put on the sensitive list as Pakistan’s agriculture sector will not be able to compete with the highly-subsidised Indian agriculture sector.

“Farmers walked out of the meeting in protest and said the bureaucracy was not ready to listen to their point of view,” sources added.

Senator Sughra Imam said, “Pakistan’s agriculture sector provides 50% of total jobs and 70% population of the country is dependent on it.” She said that agreements made by Pakistan earlier with other countries were provided with a clause to protect the sector in view of food security. “Pakistan may face food security issues after Indian agricultural goods flood the Pakistani market,” she said, adding that India was already building dams on rivers that enter into Pakistan which has hit the agriculture sector badly.

The meeting was also informed that in the presence of the South Asian Free Trade Agreement (Safta), there was no need to grant MFN status to India.



“Pakistan has no labs to check the quality of Indian goods and crowding of Indian agricultural goods can also transfer diseases in the country,” growers observed. They also said that Indian banks offered loan to their farmers at a 4% mark-up whereas in Pakistan mark-up rates ranged between 17% and 35%.

Okara Potato Growers Association Director Afzal Razwi while speaking to The Express Tribune said that the duty-free import of potatoes from India will destroy Pakistani farmers. “Indian farmers are receiving $88 billion in subsidies and Pakistani farmers will lose the fight with cheaper Indian produce,” he said; adding that the government should impose a regulatory duty equal to the subsidy given to Indian farmers.

All stakeholders are consulted when trade policies are being discussed with any country, but farmers are the only neglected community while taking a decision to open trade with India,” he said adding that, however, import of seed of agricultural products from India should be allowed.

He said that the meeting with the commerce ministry had not been fruitful. The World Trade Organisation supports the opening of markets but also discourages subsidies.

The farmers said that if the government does not take them on board, they will have no option but to take matters into their own hands, including physically blocking imports of agricultural products from India to safeguard the interests of the farming community.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 14^th, 2012.