'The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world' so goes the proverb and so is probably true, under the given situation in Pakistan, that the farmer who ploughs the field ensures food security for the country, to feed the poor and the resourceful, alike.
But Pakistani farmer is in a dismal position as he is currently paying a very heavy price for ensuring the food security as prices of all the important items, ie fertiliser, diesel, water, seeds and pesticides have increased substantially to his utter disenchantment. Being an agriculture economy, industry sources say Pakistani government should seriously address genuine problems of the farmers who grow important crops to feed the countrymen as well as prevent the government from expensive imports.
This is how he is being drubbed. Diesel cost has increased from an average of Rs 93 per litre in October 2011 to Rs 113 per litre in October, 2012 which is 22 percent increase in one year. Due to unwise distribution of gas amongst different important sectors of economy, urea which was available at Rs 800 per bag in 2010 is currently being sold at Rs 1559 per bag which has put a burden of over Rs 100 billion on poor Pakistani farmers.
Sources said that food security is a multi-dimensional concept which, as per its definition, revolves around adequacy of food supply, access to food, and equity of food distribution. Considering the price stability and availability of basic foodstuffs in Pakistan, there are many news reports and researches suggesting that current food crises in Pakistan are rapidly leading us towards multiplied levels of malnutrition and widespread hunger, especially among the poor people living in both rural and urban areas of the country. Above all, the rate of under nourishment is higher amongst lactating mothers and children.
According to the World Food Program (WFP) of United Nations (UN), almost half of the total populations in Pakistan remain food insecure, as figures of malnutrition are rising to an alarming level mostly due to higher frequency of natural disasters like floods and heavy rains including various man-made crises. Despite sufficient national food production to feed the 170 million people in the country, according to WFP, some 83 million (50 percent) people in Pakistan were food insecure by 2010, which was 38 percent in 2003.
Now in 2012, this figure is expected to grow to nearly 90 million people, as a majority of people do not have an access to nutritionally-enriched food items and products, and are at high risk of developing many physical and mental disorders. We have recorded -39 percent production of sugarcane, -44% of cotton, -8 percent of rice and -21 percent production of wheat this year, compared with last year.
According to the Food Security Assessment Report 2001 published by WFP, Pakistan, "As per the Government's calorie consumption threshold of 2350 kcal/adult/day, the number of undernourished people in Pakistan increased from 78 million in 2005/06 to 96 million by the end of 2010. This increase of about 18 million is attributed to price inflation (13 million people) as well as the massive flood disaster in August 2010 (an additional 5 million people).
"When applying a relatively more strict minimum per capita consumption standard of 2100 kcal/person/day, the number of undernourished increases by 17 million to 99 million people. Using the bare minimum dietary energy requirement of 1730 kcal/person/day, the number of undernourished people in Pakistan has increased by 21 million to 65 million people".
According to the recent report on food security issued by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), each year Pakistan is facing issues related with food security, and the government spends foreign exchange over imports of basic food items like sugar, wheat, palm oil and many others.
To adequately feed the country, according to SBP, here local farmers and peasants must be provided the required resources by the state so that they can produce surplus food using sustainable agricultural practices. "Being the main source of providing food to the fast-growing population of the country with a growth rate of 2.23 percent, agriculture is considered the mainstay of Pakistan's economy, as it contributes nearly one-fourth of the GDP and 44 percent of total employment and, directly or indirectly, more than 67 percent of the rural population depends on agriculture for their livelihood", according to State Bank of Pakistan.
SBP had recommended establishing a farmer-friendly policy and regulatory environment that encourages the development of a 'sustainable agricultural sector', so that we may see economic growth, poverty alleviation and food security. As revealed by the SBP's report, the main cause behind prevailing food crisis in Pakistan is due to lack of sustainable agricultural practices, as despite being an agro-based economy government is heavily importing urea from other countries which is quite expensive compared with the urea and fertilisers manufactured by local fertiliser companies. Ceaseless import of urea in Pakistan is not only causing losses worth Rs 60 billion to national exchequer, but also multiplying inflation ratio to further degrees.
As compared with domestic demand of 6.2 million tons, total production capacity of fertiliser companies in Pakistan is 6.8 million tons per annum but local fertilizers, on the other hand, are unable to work up to their full capacity due to irregular gas supply, whereas many fertiliser units have been forced to shut down due to suspension of gas. In India, government gives guaranteed subsidy to new and expanded urea plants for eight years but in Pakistan, local fertiliser factories severely suffer from the insufficient gas supply to carry on their routine operations, so what to talk about provision of any subsidy, sources said.
The four fertiliser plants on SNGPL network including Pakarab, DH Fertilisers, Agritech and Engro's new plant remained without gas for over nine months out of 11 months in 2012. These plants could produce up to over two million tons of urea in the country to bring down the urea prices substantially and to curb agriculture inflation. Sources believe that by bringing urea prices down to the level of 2010, government could ease the difficulties being faced by farming community in the country and its impact could be observed on food prices too.
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