High food prices and the hapless grower

THIS is with reference to the UN Food Relief Agencies report 'Food prices in Pakistan too high: UN official' (March 24). I agree that food prices in Pakistan are high but I have reservations about the United Nation official's remarks that the government is nice to farmers when fixing the support prices of foodgrains. In fact, farmers are selling foodgrains at cheap prices, if compared to commodities which are imported by the government from the international market. The UN agency should also keep in view the price of DAP (Rs4,000 a bag), urea (Rs1,300 a bag) and the cost of diesel and electricity that are the main inputs for agriculture. Moreover, we, the farmers, have also to bear the expenses of school fees, medical bills, expenses on clothing, shelter, etc. UN officials are also requested that before commenting on 'favourable treatment' of the government, their representative must visit rural areas and see the antediluvian surroundings the 'food growers' are living in; and how mercilessly they are being exploited by government agencies like the police, revenue, food, agriculture and irrigation departments who treat them as subhumans. The benefit of increase in food support prices — which the UN official has quoted — which otherwise would have enlarged the income of the grower, has mostly filled the pockets of corrupt-to-the-core government officials and fattened the coffers of ambitious middlemen. M. ARIF RIYAR Tando Ghulam Ali Malnutrition in Sindh FOOD is a basic necessity for all human beings to survive. But in Pakistan it has become a 'luxury'. The poor are becoming poorer and the rich richer. It is getting difficult to make both ends meet due to the high rate of inflation. According to Wolfgang Herbinger, the director of the World Food Programme in Pakistan, food emergency or crisis is due to the high prices of wheat, etc. Owing to exorbitant food prices the poor of the country are struggling for survival. It has been declared that in Sindh malnutrition rates are even more than those of African countries. It is an alarming situation for the people, the government and civil society. The increasing inflation has given birth to a number of social evils in the shape of extremism, terrorism, etc. For this all of us are responsible and we should do our best to resolve the problem. SHAHBAZ ALI GOPANG Khairpur