Agriculture is the mainstay of Pakistan's economy, accounting for over 23% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) employing about 50% of the labour force, and comprising about 70% of export earnings, including processed agricultural exports. Over the last two decades, agriculture has advanced rapidly and has maintained an average growth rate of 3.3% per year.
In spite of this progress, the fact remains that the farmers in general and the small farmers in particular, who makeup for nearly three fourth of the rural community, are not getting their money's worth because the marketing of agriculture produce is in the hands of the middlemen. It was way back in 1938 that the Royal Commission on agriculture recommended the establishment of regulated markets in order to overcome some of the evils which deprived the farmer of a fair price.
The Agriculture Produce Markets Act (APM Act) was enforced in 1939, to provide for the better regulation of the purchase and sale of agricultural produce, establish markets and make rules for their proper administration in a notified area. It has a panel of nominated members from growers and traders, with an elected chairman to enforce the provisions of this act and the rules and bylaws made there-in.
Punjab being an important agricultural province was selected to carryout this exercise first. The APM Act was enforced in Sindh in 1967 and the market committees were established under the supervision of the Department of Agriculture. But the committees did not maintain their representative character for long and thus no substantial development work was carried out, hence the farmers and the honest traders did not feel its impact on their economy.
Amendments
It was in 1978 that the Bureau of Supply and Prices was constituted and market committees were put under it. Necessary amendments were made in the APM Act and representative panels of market committees were notified in 1982.
This step revolutionised the whole system and for the first time a tempo of various developmental activities was set in Sindh with the participation of growers and traders. Markets were established, funds released for improvement and setting up of facilities in the fruits and grains and cattle markets. Thus, the usefulness of market committees was felt for the first time by the farmers, traders, and consumers.
The committees functioned successfully for about 11 years, upto 1993, when the panels of 1982 were dissolved. At the same time, the committees were again put under the Department of Agriculture. The working of the committees suffered badly. Firstly, because of the absence of a Public Chairman and secondly, because of a new organisational set-up where most of the supervising staff was not abreast the APM Act and various development programmes. Thus it came to a standstill. Regret to say that instead of maintaining the pace of development, these important institutions are on the decline, at a rapid pace, to the frustration of farmers, traders and consumers.
NO SERVICE RULES:
Another startling and painful fact is that the staff of the committees is without any proper service rules for more than 25 years. There are no rules for pension, retirement benefits, provident fund, medical allowances etc. The cases of 'moveover' to higher grades and promotions are pending.
There is no security of service. Many staff members have died and their families are passing a hard life without any benefits. Many senior staff members are on the verge of retirement and feel insecure about their post-retirement life. In spite of these hardships and fluid conditions of service, the staff run the committees in an exemplary manner.
A fruit and vegetable marketing and storage project, with special reference to the creation of modern wholesale markets in major cities, creation of a market information system was prepared by the BSP, and the Asian Development Bank sanctioned loans for the project but the desired progress has not been made so far.
What efficiency and improvement can be expected from an institution which is running without an elected chairman as Chief Executive, and staff without any sense of security of service? The present position is very alarming as petty day-to-day decisions are pending for assistant direction or Deputy Director's visit.
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