‘Flawed planning’ triggered hike in prices

Absence of effective coordination between centre, provincial departments has led to the crisis

LAHORE:

Owing to the government’s flawed planning and the lack of timely decision making, the prices of edible items have soared across the country. Per sources, the absence of effective coordination between the federal and provincial ministries and departments, together with serious maladministration, is the root cause of the problem.

The ambiguity in calculation and contradiction in the local production of agricultural items and their imports have also played a crucial role in the unchecked inflation. At present, Pakistan is importing wheat, pulses, onions, ginger, garlic, and various herbs.

Despite the submission of written demands and repeatedly issued warnings by the business community and provincial governments, the federal government authorities unnecessarily delayed the decision-making process. With the ongoing situation, it has become impossible for the federal and provincial governments to artificially reduce the costs of imported edible items. Sources say that the imports will further boost inflation.

To alleviate the situation, and ward off the criticism of the opposition parties, the government has started taking steps to reduce inflation across the countries. However, the government cannot do anything about the prices of imported items as they are dependent on dollar rates.

To this end, a high-level meeting was convened by the Punjab government on Monday, October 12, in which authorities were informed that tomatoes were imported because of the destruction of the local produce because of the torrential rains. Nonetheless, the import was abruptly halted due to which the cost of tomatoes in the open market has reached as high as Rs130 to Rs140 per kilogramme (kg). As compared to that, the cost of tomato was only Rs67 and Rs55 last year.

During the meeting, the special agriculture secretary apprised the authorities that the Punjab government has repeatedly written about the open market situation to the federal government. He said that he also spoke to the Federal Minister for National Food Security and Research, Syed Fakhar Imam, but no response has been received yet.

Apart from limited tomatoes grown in Balochistan, they are being imported from Tajikistan, Iran, and Afghanistan. Pakistani onions are being exported to Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and gulf countries in huge quantities. The Punjab government has repeatedly demanded imposing restrictions on the import. For the years, the cost of onions had remained stagnant at Rs25 per kg, but last year, prices rose to Rs60 per kg. Currently, onions are being sold for more than Rs68 per kg.

Flawed planning and delayed decisions of the government authorities during the last 1.5 years has also led to a surge in the prices of wheat. This year, the private sector was barred from procuring wheat during the procurement drive, due to which flour mills were unable to keep the stock in the open market. Meanwhile, the food department also missed its target.

Moreover, the stats shared by the Punjab agriculture department about wheat production were inaccurate. The government also failed to realise that the wheat production had reduced by 30,000,00 ton in Punjab.

The food department had informed the federal government in January and February this year to import wheat to meet the local demands, while the flour mills association had also written to the centre regarding the issue, but the authorities took no action and began importing wheat only after the prices skyrocketed. Meanwhile, ample time was wasted during the process.

Punjab Flour Mills Association’s Chairman Asim Raza said that the government did not allow them to procure wheat and delayed the import.

“We had a meeting with the food director and Lahore deputy commissioner recently and informed them of the entire situation and demanded them to increase the wheat quote. Moreover, we convened an emergency meeting with flour mill owners and asked them to sell flour for Rs860 in the market following the wheat being provided by the government and prepare a 15-kg bag from private wheat,” he said.

When approached, the Punjab Agriculture Marketing Department’s special agriculture secretary Waqar Hussain said he has repeatedly informed the federal government in writing to halt the export of onions and restore the import of tomatoes to decrease inflation.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 14^th, 2020.