The breakdown in food security monitoring following devolution at the ministry of food and agriculture is just another example of simple government neglect compromising national security. Transferring agriculture to provincial jurisdiction has so far been an abject failure, with no apparent mechanism streamlining coordination between different departments – planning commission, ministry of science and technology, ministry of commerce, etc.
It bears noting that agriculture is not the only concern since the 18th amendment empowered provinces, a process that failed to generate a reciprocal show of responsibility from peripheral authorities. Tax authorities’ ambitious targets, too, banked on increased efficiency on part of provincial governments which, unfortunately, has not been forthcoming. But while lack of adequate tax revenues restricts the centre’s fiscal space and compromises necessary financial expansion, agriculture troubles have a much more direct bearing on food prices. In times of already uncomfortable inflation levels, imminent agflation can quickly become cause for unnerving mob revolts, something the government should keep a very serious eye on.
It is unacceptable that relevant authorities have failed to set a support price for wheat so far. And with urea prices skyrocketing 133 per cent in the last year, gas shortage is pressuring already low inventories, clearly signaling further food price rises around the corner. The way this problem has grown makes it difficult to ascertain whether feedstock gas shortage has made the problem worse or gross government neglect. Still, the matter has yet to be taken up at the federal level, reflecting disturbing indifference towards national food self-sufficiency, even as we drift back to food importing status.
At the risk of repetition, it is stressed that if the highest authorities do not take notice of deteriorating food security immediately, they will soon have to cave in to the inevitable – angry rioting featuring austerity-paralysed middle and lower income groups unable to afford food.