Islamabad, Pakistan – Tens of thousands of Pakistani farmers are protesting in several cities against the government's decision not to buy wheat, resulting in huge losses in income.
Farmers in Punjab, Pakistan's largest province and also known as Pakistan's “breadbasket'', are demanding the government halt imports of wheat that have flooded the market at a time when they are expected to have a bumper harvest.
On Monday, police violently pushed back farmers with batons and arrested dozens of people during a protest in the provincial capital Lahore.
Here's what we know so far about this issue:
What sparked the protests?
Farmers were furious over wheat imports in the second half of last year and the first half of this year, resulting in a surplus of wheat on the market and a fall in prices.
Agriculture is one of the most important income sectors in Pakistan, accounting for almost 23% of the country's gross domestic product (GDP). Wheat accounts for 2% of the total.
After devastating floods in Pakistan in 2022, the impact on wheat cultivation led to a wheat shortage in early 2023. Pakistan consumes about 30 million tonnes of wheat annually, but produced only 26.2 million tonnes in 2022, due to rising prices and extended wheat supplies. A line of people in the city trying to buy wheat. In some cases, people were crushed by crowds trying to obtain wheat.
![Farmers blame recent wheat import policies for their financial woes. [Bilawal Arbab/EPA]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/11451300-1714651705.jpg?w=770&resize=770%2C513)
The Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), the ruling coalition at the time, decided to allow the private sector to import wheat in July 2023, just one month before the end of the government's term.
According to statistics from the Ministry of National Food Security and Research, from September 2023 to March 2024, more than 3.5 million tonnes of wheat was imported into Pakistan from international markets, where prices are much lower.
As a result of the glut, the country's national and provincial food storage departments had more than 4.3 million tonnes of wheat in stock in early April this year, when Pakistani farmers began harvesting wheat.
Typically, the government purchases about 20% of all wheat produced by local farmers (about 5.6 million tonnes, based on a 2023 harvest of 28 million tonnes) at a fixed price. This market intervention will ensure price stability, prevent panic buying and maintain supply chains. However, it has announced that it will only buy 2 million tonnes of wheat from Pakistani farmers this year.
They say that even if farmers produce the same amount of wheat this year as last year, they actually expect to produce more, but it will only be about 7 percent of total production and the cost to farmers will be zero. says.
Khalid Mehmood Khokhar, chairman of the farmers' organization Pakistan Kisan Ittehad (PKI) and a farmer from Multan, Punjab, said that last year's decision to allow private importers to bring in unlimited wheat into the country meant that farmers would He said it meant he would have to sell his wheat. They end up incurring huge losses when supplies could be offered to other sources at greatly reduced prices.
“The bumper harvest is expected to produce nearly 32 million tonnes of wheat this year, but only 50 per cent of the harvest can be sold as government coffers are already full of wheat. There could be losses of close to 380 billion rupees ($1.4 billion),” Kohar told Al Jazeera.
Why does it matter how much wheat the government buys?
Adil Mansoor, a Karachi-based food security analyst and researcher, said the government's annual purchase of domestic wheat reduces the price at which farmers' leftover wheat can be sold to millers and other markets. It is said that it will be decided.
“When everyone knows they are the single biggest buyer, [the government] “Buying wheat at a specific price means that the government sets a reference price and sells the product at that price, so the rest of the market acts accordingly,” he explained.
What do the farmers say?
Ishfaq Jat, a wheat and cotton farmer who owns 4.8 hectares (12 acres) of land in Khanewal, Punjab, said he has been unable to grow wheat due to rising prices for fertilizer, water and other necessities needed to grow it. He said production costs are rising rapidly.
“Currently, we farmers are also incurring losses as we have to sell our wheat to middlemen at a significantly reduced rate,” Jat told Al Jazeera. “I have a small farm. I don't have space to store the wheat I grow. What will I do with it? And if I don't make money from the harvest, how will I be able to sow the next crop?”
He added that many farmers may choose to avoid planting wheat in the coming years if they feel they “can't trust the government anymore.”
What does the government say?
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has ordered an investigation into the wheat crisis.
Punjab's Food Minister Bilal Yassin told the provincial parliament earlier this week that the crisis was caused by decisions taken by the caretaker government that took over last August after the term of the previous elected government ended. Ta. The elections, which were supposed to be held within three months, were postponed because electoral districts needed to be redrawn after the latest census. It was finally held in February of this year.
“Those who allowed wheat imports close to the wheat harvest season are to blame for this crisis. But nevertheless, the government fully supports small farmers,” the minister said.
Al Jazeera contacted the food minister for further comment but did not receive a response.
How will consumers be affected?
Mansour said the government's decision not to buy this year's surplus wheat “reeks of poor planning and management” but will ultimately benefit consumers who have been hit hard by the cost of living crisis. He pointed out that it would bring about The wheat falls.
“Farmers will naturally be very upset, and some will incur huge losses. But if consumers are profiting, is that a bad situation?” Mansour asked.
Pakistan has been hit by soaring prices for the past two years. The inflation rate peaked at nearly 38% in May 2023.
However, government actions to tackle inflation, along with loans from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), have brought relative stability, with inflation falling to 17% in April, the lowest in more than two years. Ta.
Mr Mansour also welcomed the government's effective withdrawal from market intervention.
“The government should have communicated better to farmers about its plan not to buy wheat. But in the long run, it is good for the government to exit the market,” he said. “This won’t happen overnight, but we need to gradually phase out our involvement over the next few years.”
