Businessmen irked over delay in wheat import

Urge government to kick-start process on immediate basis to avoid food crisis

KARACHI:

The business community has expressed fear of a looming wheat shortage in the local market owing to delay in import of the staple grain by the government despite the Economic Coordination Committee’s go ahead about a month ago.

In a statement on Saturday, Korangi Association of Trade and Industry (KATI) President Sheikh Umer Rehan urged the government to kick start the process of importing wheat on an immediate basis to curb the projected crisis.

“The federal government has approved the import of wheat to meet the country’s demand but still no efforts have been made to begin the process,” he said.

He added that Pakistan is an agricultural country having the capability to meet the local demand of wheat however, mismanagement in procurement coupled with flawed planning placed the country at the brink of a wheat crisis

He lamented that to date the Ministry of National Food Security has not begun importing wheat while it has also restrained the private sector from doing so.

“Supply of essential items should be ensured especially during the present difficult times where the world is suffering from a pandemic and Pakistan’s economy is going through a tough time,” he added.

He urged the federal government to expedite the process of wheat import to avoid a food crisis.

Sindh Abadgar Board Senior Vice President Mehmood Nawaz Shah said that back in 2019, the government of Sindh failed to procure wheat due to which farmers had to sell their produce at discounted price of Rs1,100-1,200 in the open market.

Farmers fell in a tight spot again this year due to the lockdown, which restricted inter and intra-provincial movement and forced them to sell wheat at a low price of Rs1,250-1,350 in the open market, he said.

He added that the government of Sindh delayed procurement of wheat to an extent that at the end of the harvesting period, only about 50% of the crop was procured, the official lamented.

“Rest of the target of the government was met through cheap buying from open market,” he said. “The government itself made the situation difficult for farmers so it could procure wheat at cheap prices.”

Now, due to the shortage the government will spend about $370 million for one million tons of wheat.

According to the official, Pakistan needed to import more than one million tons of wheat because the next harvest will take place in March 2021, which is quite late.

“If government had facilitated growers, surplus wheat would have been available in the local market,” he said. “The shortage occurred due to mismanagement from provinces and their disregard of rupee devaluation, which has hiked import cost.”

He regretted that provincial governments were not working on improving productivity, upgrading seeds and tackling climate change which will emerge as a significant threat in the future.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 19^th, 2020.

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