Asia Times: Cash-strapped Pakistani farmers delay wheat-sowing



	December 3, 1999	atimes.com

India/Pakistan

Cash-strapped Pakistani farmers delay wheat-sowing
By Muddassir Rizvi

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan's food security interests could be affected by huge losses suffered by cotton growers, particularly small farmers who have been wiped out by the sharp decline in global prices, and recent cotton imports.

Millions of farmers in the cotton-belt of Sindh and Punjab provinces were forced to sell bumper harvests at prices well beyond the cost of production in a market squeezed by a glut in locally-grown and imported cotton.

''Small growers are knee-deep in a financial mess, and desperately looking for buyers of their belongings,'' said Sardar Mohammad, a cotton farmer in the southern Punjab district of Muzaffargarh. Since the cotton picking season began in September, the price of farm land, tractors, livestock have plummeted.

''Farmers are even thinking of switching to other crops from cotton, which was once considered very lucrative,'' he explained in a phone interview. Cotton is the mainstay of Pakistan's agrarian economy.

Farmers, particularly small growers, use the money from sales to maintain their credit cycle for the purchase of agricultural inputs like seed, fertilizers and pesticides. ''Even farm machinery is hired on credit, which is paid after the produce is sold. This time there are no buyers - how would we return our loans and get credit for inputs for wheat which has to be sown this month?'' he asked.

The majority of cotton growers grow wheat in the winter, which has to be sown by November 15 for better produce. However, this year's crisis has delayed the third cotton picking in Multan and Muzaffargarh areas of southern Punjab.

''Since wheat is not being cultivated on time, we should not rule out the possibility of a wheat shortfall next year,'' warns Rehan Hafiz, agriculture coordinator of the Pattan Development Foundation, a non-governmental group based in southern Punjab.

This year's cotton harvest of 11.5 million bales has been the highest in the nineties after the record 12.8 million bales harvested in 1991-92. ''Although the country was expecting a good yield, the deposed government of Nawaz Sharif allowed textile mills to import two million bales of cotton - a decision that is beyond our understanding,'' said Dr Shahid Zia, research fellow at the Islamabad-based Sustainable Development Policy Institute.

This, and the Sharif government's decision to fix the price at 825 rupees (about $15) for 40kg of unprocessed cotton and 1,936 rupees (roughly $35) per bale of lint have been the ruin of small farmers across the cotton belt.

Protests by farmers erupted in the last week of September after the first of the three rounds of pickings saw a slide in prices. Sporadic protests continue with groups representing agriculturists demanding that prices should be stabilized. ''Growers are not recovering the cost of production. Many have set stocks of cotton on fire in protest ... not even the government, is coming to the rescue of those who are major contributors of the economy,'' said a spokesperson for the Pakistan Kissan (Farmers) Board that represents small growers.

The Board called a successful three-day hunger protest, from November 14-16, in the southern cotton-growing areas of farm-rich Punjab province.

Pakistan is a major exporter of cotton. ''Cotton and cotton-based products alone accounted for 60 percent of export earnings during 1990-98,'' the Pakistan Economic Survey for 1998-99 released by the government said.

Within the country, the textile industry has been the major buyer. The All Pakistan Textile Mills Association is of the view that the current cotton crisis is artificial and is being used by the strong feudal farm lobby to pressure the government to claim unfair incentives.

The military government intervened, on November 12, to announce that the state-owned Trading Corporation of Pakistan would act as a second buyer to stabilize the cotton prices since the country's cotton policy disallows monopolistic purchase.

But the farmers want an upward revision of the procurement prices - to $19 for unprocessed cotton and $44 for lint. The Trading Corporation is paying only 20 percent of the money in advance, and not committing itself for the rest of the money owed, said Hafeez of the Pattan Development Foundation.

Cash-strapped growers need immediate payments to bankroll the wheat crop, the sowing of which has already been delayed in the cotton belt, observed Shah Mehmood Quereshi, president of the Farmer Association of Pakistan of Rich Farmers in a press release.

Farm experts are seeing a link between Pakistan's cotton crisis and the World Trade Organization agreements, which enable industry to purchase raw material at competitive rates without government permission. ''What we need are safety valves and cushions for the farming community so that it can enjoy the benefits of free trade rather than become a victim to the new trade regime,'' commented Dr Shahid Zia, a well-known expert.

''The government,'' he added, ''should devise long-term policies to make the agricultural sector cost effective and efficient - only then can we survive the tough international trade competition.''

(Inter Press Service)