April 28, 2008	Monday	Rabi-us-Sani 21, 1429

The Economic Committee of the Cabinet (ECC) has decided to import 1.5 million tonnes of wheat to meet its shortage. It also has decided to procure five million tonnes of home-grown wheat from the domestic growers.

The extent of shortage is not known and will not be known until the new crop reaches the market and the prices get somewhat stabilised. If more wheat is required that too will be imported at a high cost as the world price of wheat has nearly doubled within a year and is rising.

The cabinet has also abolished the high-powered food or wheat committee and created a more practical task force that will deal with day-to- day problems. Meanwhile, the Punjab government raised the distribution price of wheat

Pakistan has to increase wheat production as it is being imported at a time when the current account deficit for the first nine months of the financial year has recorded $9.6 billion- a record for all times. It cannot strain its foreign exchange resources any further.

Meanwhile, the financial experts and economists of the Food And Agricultural Organization (FAO) meeting under the auspices of the World Bank have identified 36 countries with a acute food problem and among them are India and Pakistan with over 2.2 billion people. The FAO has also sent an official to visit Pakistan to assess its real shortage and help it to the extent it can.

The UN officials are no longer talking of famine or lasting hunger but of narrowing access to food resources to countries like Pakistan. In fact, this is happening at a time when under the UN millennium programme, the number of hungry people in the world is scheduled to be reduced by a half by 2012. But now it appears according to the experts, this target may not be achieved until 2015, if it is achieved at all.

The World Bank president says the people in the cites of the West are crazy over the soaring world oil prices to drive their cars while the poor of the developing countries are running after the scarce food.

The world food situation has been getting tough for the last four years and may not be better for some more years because of the high price of food which shows no sigh of abating. The food prices continue to soar. Not only of wheat but also of other items.

In Pakistan, however the government has been sensible enough to decide to exempt canned food from the high sales tax. But in countries like Pakistan the extent of canned food used is small compared to the developed countries.

The problem is not only of the scarce wheat but the cement whose production has also achieved record heights. The malpractices of so many in the industry in spite of its large profits has forced the government to intervene and now it has been forced to raid the head offices of the cement manufacturers association.

The malpractices in trade inclusive of mass evasion of taxation is so heavy in spite of the profits earned and the government is forced to act from time to time, which is much too embarrassing.

On the one hand, there is a shortage of many essential items in the face of rising demand and on the other hand, there is a malpractice galore which makes the situation very painful for the consumers.

If despite the current deficit of $9.6 billion on account of less exports and far more imports, the malpractices will thrive and make the situation worse, the government has to act to check the rot.

An import of 1.5 million tonnes is a huge quantity procured at a high cost but care should be taken to ensure that some of it is not smuggled to Afghanistan or to India for the petty gains of the smugglers. There is not enough land and water for cultivating wheat and the answer lies in boosting yield per acre of the crop which is currently very low.