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Pakistan could become a wheat
basket!
Dr Samiullah Koreshi
Email: koreshi@sat.net.pk
These days the Atta scarcity in the country has become a national
calamity. Bread and onion are the last items of food for poor to become
unavailable. No Pakistani laborers can be without them when he has
nothing to eat. If they become unavailable it is not a hardship but an
agony of a hungry stomach Poor people are angry these days that food
prices have gone so high that it is no longer the case of how to have
two meals a day but how to have one meal each day and not sleep hungry.
Any historian would recall that the main cause of the French Revolution
was hunger of the poor. When they were not getting bread Marie
Antoinette’s had asked some courtier why those people are agitating.
When she was told that they cannot get the bread she replied ” Why don’t
they eat cake”. Our overfed wadera politicians, with bulging tummies can
now make this very observation. What remarks I hear among the poor
people particularly among Pathans and Baluchi workers on food becoming
out of their reach is unmentionable.
Wheat shortage in Pakistan have taken place three times if my memory
does not fail Causes of the shortage have been the same that is
smuggling to neighboring countries. But none of those shortages were as
acute as now. First time acute food shortage hit the country it happened
in 1953 during Khawaja Nazimuddin’s Prime ministership. We borrowed $ 10
million from the World Bank and purchased wheat from Canada on loan. The
total cost of wheat imported from Canada was $ 35 million. ( See pages
48 & 49 of my book “Diplomats and Diplomacy, Story of An Era ). Next
wheat shortage took place in 1967 during Ayub Khan’s days, when we
purchased wheat worth Rs 110 million ( in those days , one crore Rupees
used to be equal to $ two million, whereas now one million dollar is
equal to Pak Rupees three million. Next time it hit Pakistan in Ziaul
Haq’s Presidency. Smuggling out of our wheat to India, Afghanistan, Iran
and Central Asia was the cause of second wheat shortage.
The question to ask, when we face such shortages is why Pakistan cannot
device a wheat / agriculture policy to become a wheat basket in the
region. We have all the elements for it. Pakistan has one of the largest
alluvial land in the world, all of which can be used for cultivation if
this possibility is given serious thought. Pakistan had made many
studies in the past of this possibility. When I was Ambassador to Egypt
my next door neighbor was Dr Gibballi who had been Egypt’s Agriculture
Ministe. He told me that he was invited to Pakistan to advice on this
possibility and had recommended that instead of so much of Indus water
falling into Arabian Sea, Pakistan utilize some of this water by not
letting Indus water go waste in the Arabian Sea.
Before I was Ambassador to Lebanon, I read in the Financial Times of
London that although Pakistan had improved its agriculture considerably
during Ayub Era ,– may be with IRRI rice and other new type of seeds –
but its yield of many crops was still many time lower than that of Egypt
which produced same crops from four to eight times higher than
Pakistan’s As luck had it, I was transferred from Beirut to Cairo and I
had the opportunity to check on this information through two Pakistani
FAO big guns Dr A Hafiz, Director of FAO and his assistant Dr Rana, I
requested them to study the facts in this respect and suggest in a
report how we could copy Egyptian experience to use in Pakistan. I
wanted the report to be given to the President. Dr Hafiz was incharge of
Food and Agriculture projects for the region from Iran to Tunis and down
to Sudan. The two experts did a remarkable research on the theme. They
also indicated how we could utilize Egyptian experience in Pakistan.
Egypt like Pakistan is a water scarcity area, it is mostly desert,
except seven miles on this side and seven miles on that side of the
banks of the Nile except the Nile Delta. On the other hand Pakistan has
one of the biggest alluvial land in the world and has the largest canal
system in the world. Their research identified what was common and what
was uncommon in Egypt and Pakistan in respect of agriculture and from
what we could benefit by copying the Egyptian experience. This technical
study, in non technical terms, had suggested what could be learnt from
the Egyptian experience.
I presentation this research at the Envoys Conference presided over by
the President from 6th Jan 1979 to 1980 After two days discussions on
foreign policy and strategic issues each ambassador made a brief
presentation on the contents of that country’s relations with Pakistan,
what give and take was possible, to mutual advantage. I suggested that
Pakistan should establish modern farming in Sindh and cattle farming in
Baluchistan as joint ventures with Gulf Shaikhs, establish hospitals in
Karachi in which highest level experts and specialist provide medical
treatment and make Karachi a medical center for the region. In those
days it was said that many Arab patients used to secretly go to Israel
for their complicated operations and treatment. I suggested that we
should improve our educational centers and make Karachi a medical and
educational center for the Middle East and Africa. region “ (In those
days Pakistanis had reputation as good medical doctors and Pakistani
experts in many fields were in great demand in the Middle East and
Africa) “At that time the West was considering food blockade of Arab
countries if they (again) applied oil weapon against them I proposed
that Pakistan could profit from Egypt’s agricultural methods as the
latter’s yield in several crops, wheat. Rice, fruits was from four to
eight times greater than Pakistan’s per unit of acre. We could use
Egyptian methods of utilization of water for irrigation.
I suggested that by developing its agricultural out put several fold, by
coping Egyptian methods, we could become a food exporting country , a
mini Canada” ( Canada was one of the biggest exporters of wheat)).”
Entire Middle East was then food scarcity area ( in those days) To
counter Western blockade of food to the Middle East , Arabs were
thinking of making Iraq and Sudan as their food basket. I suggested that
we could also think of joint ventures with Arabs in cattle farming and
collective farming.
It was also suggested ( in 1979) that Pakistan could establish
co-operative relationship with Arab like Arms Industry in Egypt. Egypt
seemed to be interested to the idea, as my Military Attach Col Fatimi
had made preliminary soundings with appropriate Egyptians. I suggested
in the Envoys Conference that we consider developing our Wah Defence
Industries to the level where we can sell arms to the Asian and African
countries. There was a big market in selling arms to the developing
countries, We could finance our Wah arms industry by earning money
through arms export and plough back the income into increasing our
defence production.
Export of arms and wheat were the two field we should explore.” I might
add that a criticism of this suggestion was that we would than shift our
emphasis from industrialization to agricultural production which was
countered by pleading for agricultural development policy by saying that
it was not being suggested that we adopt “either agriculture or
industrialization” approach, but Pakistan should consider becoming a
food basket for the food starving Middle East and Africa.” Had we
adopted this approach and quadrupled our wheat production or eight times
our fruit production, we could have been earning considerable foreign
exchange. It was clarified that time that this suggestion did not imply
reducing emphasis on Industrialization of the country , but to ask that
we should not neglect this possibility too. At this moment of scarcity
of wheat in Pakistan I thought it might be useful to refer to that
proposal in case it is still of some use to Pakistan. Some people tell
me that if Pakistan was to collect all the reports made by various
experts in the past on improving this field of activity or the other,
several rooms will be filled to make a grave yard of ideas which
remained unattended by those who asked those studies to be prepared.
