LAHORE, Oct 28: Farmer bodies on Sunday slammed the Ministry for Food, Agriculture and Livestock (Minfal) for proposing wheat price Rs465 per 40kg, and said it should be equal to the price in the international market.

At a meeting attended by all farmer bodies, participants said the government was setting wheat price at Rs465 per 40kg, whereas it was around Rs600 per 40kg in the international market. They said this disparity was unacceptable.

Last year, when the government was procuring wheat for Rs425 per 40kg, the wheat price in the international market was Rs550 per 40kg. The price difference cost farmers over Rs80 billion. Who should be held responsible for this loss to farmers? If official policy preferences require farmers to purchase all inputs at international prices, why the cost of output is being kept low, they said.

Currently, the wheat price has gone up to Rs600 per 40kg, whereas the government is planning to set it at Rs465 for the next year. The tenders invited by the Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) reflect the international reality, they said. “The price response it received for international tender was more than Rs1,100 per 40kg, but it planned to pay only Rs465 to its own farmers. Why it is benefiting foreign farmers at the cost of its own.”

The meeting proposed the government should set a “reasonable price” for wheat and devise a strategy for the urban poor to offset the price impact. But it should not keep the overwhelming rural majority poor to save a vocal urban minority, it added.

It said a reasonable wheat price would pump extra money into the rural economy and help the government alleviate poverty. By keeping the wheat price half the price in its neighbouring countries, the government would encourage smuggling of wheat and upset its own food calculations. The government should come clean on its basic priorities and strategies, especially when it comes to basic staple food like wheat.

It said by depressing the wheat price to an ‘unreasonable level’ the government should be sure that 80 per cent of farmers would remain bogged in poverty.

Representatives from the Farmers Associates Pakistan, the Kissan Board Pakistan, Punjab Water Council, Basmati Growers Association, Livestock Farmers and Breeders Association, Mango Growers Association and Kinoo Growers Association attended the meeting.