Frequent and sizeable imports of cheaper vegetables from India hurt Pakistani farmers while the idea behind imports is to ensure the availability of vegetables at affordable prices for urban consumers.Critics argue that the strategy for import/export is demand-driven when the interests of both growers and urban consumers need to be protected.
Owing to heavy subsidy for farmers in India, Pakistani growers say they simply can’t compete with Indian produce, if their hands remain tied. They argue that in absence of the government subsidy and support, they cannot make inroads into Indian markets.
“Besides receiving commodities, we need to seriously consider what we can send to India. It’s acceptable that the market should be free and consumers should be facilitated too, but does that mean that one competitor has all government assistance whereas other is left high and dry. Take the case of garlic. We are dependent on Chinese garlic nowadays as local production has gone down since we started buying it from China given its cheap price”, says Mahmood Nawaz Shah, vice president Sindh Abadgar Board (SAB). He fears this way Pakistani market will become dependent on imports and local production would continue to suffer.
The government fixes indicative prices of two crops — wheat and sugarcane — every year although farmers demand that minimum prices of rice and cotton should be set too. Owing to a weak regulatory mechanism, farmers complain that they usually don’t even get the subsidised farm inputs.
