Need for a food policy

RAWALPINDI: Since independence, Pakistani policymakers have not been able to chalk out one of the most important policies — a national food policy.

Agriculture is the mainstay of our economy, our land being one of the best for agriculture. The policies made over the years for our staple grain, wheat, have always been ad hoc. Every new government experiments with this policy, at the expense of the people, and there is no consistency at all. At times we have surplus wheat which rots away in open storages.

The government must look into the vacuum and ensure that a well-suited policy is formulated which allows optimum production and allocation of the country’s food resources.

Waheed Manzoor

Published in The Express Tribune, June 24^th, 2014.

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