LAHORE: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf central leader Jamshed Iqbal Cheema has claimed that the food inflation next year would remain at around 25 percent in Pakistan contrary to 3 percent in the rest of the world. During the month of October 2022, food inflation remained at 36.2 percent in October in Pakistan against 10 percent in other countries around the globe.
Cheema held the federal government responsible for the issues being faced by the farming community and the consumers and said policies of the rulers resulted in hikes in the production cost of various crops leading to inflation in food prices.
Addressing a press conference at the Lahore Press Club (LPC) flanked by leaders of some growers’ organisations, Cheema, who had performed as advisor to the former prime minister on food security and special initiatives, said the basic reason was an upsurge in the prices of farm inputs like fertilizers, pesticides, seeds, and tractors since the regime change in the month of April this year.
He said that di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) was used 48pc less, phosphorus compost 41pc, potash 36pc and urea 9pc less during the outgoing Kharif season as compared to the usage in the previous year’s same season. The reduced use of fertilizers and other inputs has led to a cut in crops’ overall production as well as per acre yield, he added.
He quoted the federal committee on agriculture as estimating a reduction of 35pc in cotton and rice, 10pc in moong, 3pc in maize, and 9pc in sugarcane yield. He said the agriculture and transport sectors both were hit by the high tariff of diesel, which was consumed 20pc less by the farmers for fear of a further increase in the production cost. Jamshed Cheema also alleged that the federal authorities did nothing to make the mills operational in time causing losses to sugarcane growers.
Abadur Rehman, representative of the Farmers Associate Pakistan, questioned the tax waiver on the import of a five-year-old tractor included in the PM’s package as details of the tax cut are not yet known. He said the import of machinery under the Kisan package is not feasible because an imported tractor will face issues with after-sales service and availability of spare parts.
He also said that an imported tractor costs $8,000-10,000. If four to five thousand farmers decided to import the machines the government would be unable to open their letters of credit because of the non-availability of the greenback.
Chaudhry Yasin, head of Kisan Bachao Tehreek, termed the prime minister’s agriculture relief package as a mere lip service as the farming community had yet to receive anything.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022