The fight of farmers is complicated, multifaceted, but extremely important. They fight to secure food and future of humanity. They should be treated as hero, especially in a country where 58. 8pc population is food insecure. But, Pakistan is not recognizing this, rather moving in other direction. The insensitive behavior of the state has broken the back of farming community. They have been left with no choice but to protest. On the contrary, farmers in developed world are considered backbone of their country and guarantee of food security. They are treated well by the states and get subsidies. A study was published recently on the state of subsidies provided to farmers in 12 countries. It revealed these countries give 700 billion to farmers on annual basis.
A healthy amount is being provided as direct transfer to farmers. In addition, these countries are investing heavily on research, development and agriculture-related infrastructure. The breakdown of data showed China provided 185 billion, EU 101. 3 billion, US 48. 9 billion, Japan 37. 6 billion, Indonesia 29. 4 billion and South Korea 20. 9 billion as subsidy to farming community. They deem it necessary to secure food, create jobs and eliminate poverty. Besides, farming community is organized in these countries and they do not allow leadership to work against their interests. Keeping in mind these facts, let’s analyze state of farming community of Pakistan. First of all, Pakistan provides meager subsidies to farmers and agriculture sector. Second, Pakistan has adopted blanket subsidy policy without distinction of big or small farmers.
Its a wrong policy choice as it leads to exploitation of subsidies by big farmers. Small farmers are used as dummy to allocate subsidies. There is need to revise this policy and come up with a new one with a focus on small and resource poor farmers.
Third, agriculture-related infrastructure is extremely poor. Supply chain management presents a pathetic picture. Roads are in bad shape. Agriculture commodities like fresh vegetables and fruits are being transported by ordinary loaders which impact the quality of commodities. There are very few cold storages which cannot cater the needs of farmers. Lack of refrigerated transportation further complicates the situation. Fourth, agriculture market structure is anti-farmer. They have to buy expensive inputs like fertilizer, seed and pesticides. Quality of inputs is another issue which is impacting productivity and production.
Original Link: https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/1016905-exploitation-of-farmers