Islamabad The wheat crisis, or what is known in Pakistan as the “wheat import scandal,” is still at its worst. It has brought the government and farmers face to face amid a wave of anger and protests in several areas of the Punjab province, in addition to the support of a number of opposition parties for farmers.
This crisis dealt a blow to the wheat sector in Pakistan after it caused a huge loss to farmers who were unable to sell their wheat crops after the Punjab government refused to buy the crops due to importing large quantities of it.
The agricultural sector is of great importance in the Pakistani economy, as it constitutes more than 24% of the gross domestic product, employs half of the working workforce, and is the largest source of foreign exchange earnings, which makes this crisis a threat not only to the agricultural sector, but to the country’s economy in general, in a country It has a high population growth rate and an agricultural production rate that rises slowly as a result of urban sprawl and floods.
Wheat is the main grain crop and occupies the largest cultivated area in Pakistan, as the crop represents 7.8% of the value added in agriculture and about 1.9% of the country’s gross domestic product.
The roots of the crisis
The roots of the crisis go back to the previous interim government, which took power in August 2023 and ended its term at the end of the general elections held last February, as it imported 3.4 million metric tons of wheat, which cost more than 300 billion rupees ($1.07 billion). To the Pakistani treasury.
The move led to a glut of wheat in the market, causing its prices to fall, directly affecting local producers and leaving farmers struggling to sell their products.
The government reduced the procurement target from more than 4 million tons to just over 2 million tons, which prompted farmers in different areas of the Punjab province to organize protests in which they demanded that their grain be purchased at a support price of 3,900 rupees ($14.08) per 40 kg.
Farmers filed petitions in a Lahore court Supreme (Punjab Center), which is still considering the decision, as formed by the Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif An investigation committee into the case.
On May 9, the Sindh Abadgarh Union Assembly decided, It is a body for farmers to resort to the judiciary against the wheat import scandal.
According to the Pakistani Business Recorder newspaper, about 2.8 million metric tons of wheat worth 250 billion rupees ($898 million) were imported during the period of the previous caretaker federal government headed by Anwarul Haq Kakar, while the current federal government led by Shehbaz Sharif imported 700,000 metric tons of wheat worth 80 billion rupees ($287 million), according to the preliminary findings of the investigation committee.
According to the newspaper, the first of a total of 70 shipments of wheat arrived in Pakistan on September 20 of last year, while the last shipment arrived on March 31 of this year.
Party support
In an attempt to salvage the situation, Punjab Prime Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif announced on May 16 that the provincial government would provide an aid package worth 400 billion rupees ($1.4 million) to farmers in the next four months, with each farmer receiving 150,000 rupees ($540). dollars).
The protests found support from the main opposition parties in the country, as some parties demanded the formation of judicial committees to investigate the “wheat import” issue, while other parties called for participation in the protests to support farmers.
A few days ago, the Pakistan Insaf Party called for the formation of a high-level judicial committee to investigate the “wheat import scandal” and prosecute the real perpetrators, saying that the investigation committee formed by the federal government is nothing but a rescue of those truly involved.
Opposition leader in Punjab Parliament Ahmad Khan Bhashar also called for the arrest of former Prime Minister Anwarul Haq Kakar due to the wheat crisis in the province.
On May 16, at the invitation of the group’s emir, Hafiz Naeem Rahman, the Jamaat-e-Islami organized a protest demonstration in Lahore to express solidarity with the farmers who are protesting against the government.
In a new speech two days ago, Naimur Rahman criticized the government’s rescue package for farmers and described it as showing double standards, saying that Punjab Prime Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif had refused to buy wheat from farmers, expressing his concern that the proposed package would likely To fall prey to corruption.
Early last week, the opposition Central Muslim League party warned of nationwide protests if farmers’ demands in the wheat crisis were not met, and condemned the mistreatment of the agricultural community.
Lack of policies
Speaking about this crisis, economic affairs expert Osama Rizvi says that the root causes remain primarily the lack of policy making, the lack of data collection, or the lack of information systems or data modeling systems that can determine the difference between the expected product, price and other things. Like this.
Osama Rizvi said, in an interview with Al Jazeera Net, that the repercussions of this crisis and its main causes could be very dangerous for Pakistan.
Rizvi explains this by saying that Pakistan is the second most vulnerable country to rising food prices around the world, and given the fact that food prices have been rising since 2022, the World Food Price Index issued by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) shows this. .
Rizvi continues by saying that if this crisis worsens, there may be a real problem for ordinary citizens who are already suffering from high and unprecedented energy prices.
For his part, journalist Saber Hussein said that the recent revelations about unnecessary imports, along with systemic mismanagement and regulatory gaps, have all exacerbated existing challenges within the agricultural sector and raised urgent questions about the country’s food security.
In an opinion article in the Pakistani newspaper The Express Tribune, Hussain said that the “wheat import scandal” not only drained the state’s coffers, but also undermined the livelihoods of its farmers and the well-being of its citizens, and caused great harm to the Pakistani economy and the country’s agricultural community.
Environmental factors
Pakistan produces an amount of wheat in a cultivation area of 9.6 million hectares of land, but what it produces often does not fully cover its needs, so it is forced to import from abroad.
During the past few years, Pakistan’s domestic consumption of wheat ranged between 30 and 32.2 million metric tons of wheat, while production ranged between 24 and 29.6 million metric tons.
For example, in the 2023-2024 season, domestic wheat production reached 29.69 million metric tons, against the target of 32.2 million metric tons. While annual wheat production reached between 26 and 27.6 million metric tons annually in the period 2020-2023.
The floods that struck Pakistan in 2022 affected the two main wheat-producing provinces in Pakistan (Punjab and Sindh), with Punjab producing 77% and Sindh 15% of the country’s wheat production.
The wheat deficit that Pakistan faced in 2022 coincided with the Russian-Ukrainian war and the country’s inability to purchase wheat from Ukraine, which was the largest exporter of wheat to Pakistan. Pakistani imports of Ukrainian wheat in the year 2021-2022 reached 1.3 million metric tons, which prompted Islam Abad to import approximately 1.5 million metric tons from Russia.
Total wheat consumption in Pakistan increased year-on-year to 29.2 million metric tons in 2023, while domestic production decreased to 24.4 million metric tons.
