The government has earlier this month, taken two important measures to provide much-awaited relief to wheat growers from the rising costs of farm inputs.
Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, who had initially rejected the farmers’ plea for an increase in wheat support price in March this year, suddenly announced a raise in the support price for the year 2014-15 from Rs1,200 to Rs1,300 per 40kg. He took the decision, an official statement said, in his capacity as chairman of the Economic Coordination Committee of the cabinet (ECC). But he did so without convening a formal meeting of the committee, showing a need for urgency.
It is the first increase in wheat support price by the incumbent government. In its five-year tenure, the PPP government had increased support price nearly three folds, raising it up from Rs425 per 40 kg in 2008 to Rs1,200 kg in 2012.
The second measure is the levy of a 20pc regulatory duty on import of wheat to, what the finance ministry spokesman says, promote local crops and discourage wheat imports. The duty applies to wheat imports for the current crop season. But the ministry of commerce was quick to slate the duty, arguing it would increase the price of flour in the domestic market and would not, as claimed, promote local crops as an estimated half of the season is already over and the wheat stock is now either with brokers or flour mill owners.
