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 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 consequencesbenefiting large landholders, flour millers, and middlemenwhile accumulating a circular debt of Rs680 billion in Punjab by 2023, said a statement issued in Islamabad on Sunday