The government’s involvement in fixing the agriculture products’ prices on the pretext of protecting the interest of farmers and preventing buyers from taking undue advantage in the case of bumper crops is against the spirit of free market mechanism.
As the world economy is becoming unilateral and Pakistan has signed the protocol of WTO, it is time that the government should decide whether it wants to move forward and improve its economy with the direct investment or stick with the old policies of protecting the vested interests.
The rules of business have changed as the world is becoming a global village. A country cannot prosper in isolation having its own role model of economic growth without direct investment from other countries. The government has been advised rightly by the IMF to get rid off various subsidies provided by the government to various sectors. The government policy should follow fully the free market principles and should not involve itself in the business of trading and management of the industry.
It has been observed that the government is fixes the prices of agricultural products but then is unable to maintain fixed prices. Why the government has to subsidise when the support prices are not sustainable? The government should not protect the powerful lobby of land owners, who control the rural vote banks, and are sitting in the national and provincial assemblies to protect their personal interests.
We have seen that our farmers, who harvested cotton crop in Pakistan, earned windfall profits last year due to record cotton price prevailing in both domestic and international markets. Let the farmers associations and domestic and international buyers decide the sales and purchase price. The government should only play the role of a regulator.
S T HUSSAIN
Lahore