PIDE plans to boost farmer gains
“When our costs are Rs3,400, how can we sell for cheaper? The policies punish us for surviving,” Khokhar said. photo: file
The Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE) has released a game-changing policy blueprint titled "Towards a Free Market: A Blueprint for Wheat Sector Deregulation," authored by Dr Muhammad Faisal Ali and Dr Sobia Rose.
Published as a policy viewpoint, the document calls for the full and structured deregulation of Pakistan's wheat sector, arguing that the long-standing MSP policy has failed to stabilise markets, protect farmers, or ensure consumer welfare.
Instead, it has led to unintended consequences benefiting large landholders, flour millers, and middlemen while accumulating a circular debt of Rs680 billion in Punjab by 2023, said a statement issued in Islamabad on Sunday