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Despite being an ostensibly agrarian economy, years of mismanagement and inefficiency have created a perfect storm of food shortages across Pakistan, hiking prices of available commodities beyond the reach of the common man.
Over the weekend, Punjab Chief Minister Parvez Elahi took notice of the nationwide crisis, doubling the official quota for wheat provided to flour mills daily to ensure the dietary staple’s availability in the province. Prior to his decision to provide more than the 26,000 tons of wheat demanded by the mills, the price of flour had climbed to Rs. 160/kg, while a 15kg bag was fetching Rs. 2,155. The rapid price increase has had a knock-on effect, with rotis and naans—an ostensible cheap source of nutrition for the impoverished—retailing for Rs. 25 and Rs. 35, respectively.
Announcing his decision, Elahi said 1.84 million bags of 10kg flour would be available daily across the province at the official rate. He said the government was also facilitating the public through the Ehsaas program, adding that efforts were underway to ensure the availability of flour to the public at a fixed price at both provincial and district levels.
But Punjab isn’t the only area suffering. In Sindh capital Karachi, flour is being sold from Rs. 140-160/kg, prompting large queues of people hoping to secure the dietary necessity. On Saturday, a laborer in Mirpur Khas was crushed to death and several others were injured during a stampede of people on a food department consignment of wheat flour at subsidized rates. The government has ordered an inquiry into the incident.
In Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, a 20kg bag of wheat flour is now retailing for Rs. 3,100, with the prices of all bakery items consequently also increasing. In a bid to save money, tens of thousands spend hours queued up daily for subsidized bags, which are in short supply, leaving many empty-handed and forced to return the next day in the hopes of success.
Adding to the public’s woes are rumors of mills selling subsidized bags to “preferred” people, who then re-sell them at higher prices in the black market, furthering the inflationary pressures on the common man.
Balochistan has also sounded the alarm over the wheat shortage, with the provincial food minister lamenting that the food department has no more wheat stock and needs the aid of other provinces and the center to ensure supplies for the public. Zamarak Khan Piralizai said 600,000 bags of wheat were needed on an emergency basis to facilitate the public, as he lashed out at the Punjab chief minister for failing to provide a single bag to the province despite promising to send 600,000. “Islamabad, Punjab and Sindh have refused to provide wheat to Balochistan,” he claimed, adding that security forces had also barred the private sector from transporting wheat across provincial borders.
Urging the prime minister, as well as the chief ministers of Punjab and Sindh, to not leave the people of Balochistan at risk of starvation, he regretted that the provincial government lacked the resources to provide subsidized flour. “The federal government has given 400,000 flour bags to utility stores but no share was given to Balochistan,” he added.
Who’s at fault?
The center is blaming the Punjab Food Department, which had initially demanded 500,000 tons of wheat, before increasing it to one million tons. However, despite vowing to provide the one million tons, the center never delivered on its commitment and also delayed the release of 500,000 tons.
While the provincial and federal governments are trading blame over who is to blame for the wheat shortage, observers say it is a combination of factors where no one can escape responsibility. The federal government’s delay in importing the commodity—despite multiple reports of looming shortages—has triggered several price hikes over the past six months, with farmers warning that this year’s floods, coupled with rising input costs, have made it very difficult for them to reach the production target of 28.4 million tons.
Further adding to the woes is the government’s inability to provide any general subsidy, as this would endanger the stalled bailout with the International Monetary Fund, which is seen as key to shoring up foreign exchange reserves that are now barely sufficient for one month of imports.
As a snapshot of the rampant rise in flour prices, a 20kg bag of flour from mills in Punjab was fetching Rs. 800 a little over two years ago. It has since climbed to more than Rs. 3,000.