Pakistani farmers on Sunday announced a nationwide protest over the wheat import crisis from May 10, a day after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif promised to address their grievances.
Farmers in Pakistan’s Punjab province, which produces most of the wheat crop, are demanding the government stop wheat imports that have flooded the market at a time when they expect bumper crop.
“On the 10th [of May], after the Friday prayers, we are initiating protest from Multan and this protest will be expanded to the whole of Pakistan,” Khalid Khokhar, who heads the Kissan Ittehad Pakistan, said at a press conference.
“Thousands of farmers will come, there will be hundreds of tractors, trailers. Animals, cattle and children and women will also be accompanied.”
What triggered farmers’ protests?
The farmers are enraged by the import of wheat in the latter half of 2023 and the first three months of this year, leading to an excess of wheat in the market and reduction in prices.
The shortage stemmed from devastating floods in 2022, crippling wheat farming and resulting in a deficit in early 2023. To address the shortage, the then-ruling Pakistan Democratic Movement government allowed private wheat imports in July 2023, shortly before the end of its term.
Over 3.5 million tonnes of wheat were imported between September 2023 and March 2024, lowering prices compared to the local market. As a result of the excess, at the start of April, when Pakistan’s farmers started harvesting their wheat, government reserves were holding over 4.3 million tonnes of wheat in its stocks.
Usually, the government purchases 20% of local wheat at fixed rates to stabilize prices and prevent hoarding. However, this year, it plans to buy only 2 million tonnes, leaving farmers distressed. With expectations of increased production, farmers fear significant losses, estimating their share of total produce to be just 7%.
Khalid Mehmood Khokhar, president of Pakistan Kissan Ittehad (PKI) and a farmer from Multan, Punjab, stated that the decision to permit unrestricted wheat imports last year forces farmers to sell their produce to other buyers at significantly lower prices, resulting in substantial losses.
“With a bumper crop, we are expected to grow nearly 32 million metric tonnes of wheat this year, but with the government’s coffers already full of wheat, we will be able to sell not more than 50 percent of our crop. This could result in losses of nearly 380 billion rupees ($1.4bn),” Khokhar told Al Jazeera.
Why does it matter?
According to Adil Mansoor, a Karachi-based food security analyst and researcher, the government’s purchase of domestic wheat each year helps to set the price at which the rest of the farmers’ wheat is sold to flour millers and others in the market.
“When everybody knows that the single largest buyer [the government] will purchase the wheat at a certain price, it means that the rest of the market functions accordingly as the government has set a reference price, and sells goods on that price,” he explained.
What do the farmers say?
Ishfaq Jatt, a wheat and cotton farmer who owns 4.8 hectares (12 acres) of land in Khanewal, Punjab, said the production cost for wheat rose sharply due to the high price of fertilizer, water and other requirements for growing wheat.
“Now we farmers also have to sell the wheat to middlemen at a much-reduced rate, incurring losses for us,” Jatt told Al Jazeera. “I have a small farm. I do not have any space to store the wheat I have grown. What will I do with it? And if I don’t earn from my harvest, how can I sow my next crops?”
He said that many farmers may stop planting wheat in coming years if they felt they “cannot trust the government anymore”.
PM Shehbaz Sharif orders investigation
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has ordered an investigation into the wheat crisis.
Bilal Yasin, Punjab’s provincial food minister, informed the provincial assembly this week that the crisis stemmed from decisions made by the caretaker government that assumed power in August last year, following the conclusion of the previous elected government’s tenure. The delay in elections, which should have occurred within three months, was due to the necessity of revising constituencies following the latest census. Eventually, the elections were held in February this year.
“Those people who allowed the import of the wheat close to wheat harvest season are responsible for this crisis. However, despite this, the government will fully support the small farmers,” the minister said.