The current mini budget while protecting the farmer by keeping fertilizer, tractors and agrochemical GST at Their previous status has impacted the agriculture input sector by levying 17%gst on imported seed and agriculture implements. This step shall make these inputs about 21% more expensive for the farmers.
Seed is the basic item necessary for any crop to grow. Pakistan has seen increase in crop yields due to the imported Hybrid seeds in all horticulture crops as well as rice crop where these seeds are giving a yield impact of about 20-40% more than the conventional seeds that were previously used.
A case in example may be the tomato crop which has seen massive shortages and price hikes during the last few years despite the increasing yields due to hybrid seeds, If only 5-10 percent of farmers shift away from these hybrids and move to conventional seeds the yield loss will cause the Tomato price to jump and the consumer of Pakistan will be the ultimate loser.
This is applicable to almost all horticulture crops as the imported hybrid seed is a necessity to maintain crop yields and to ensure the food security of Pakistan.
In case of shift away from SSG or imported corn seed, the livestock and poultry feed rates will jump, causing the meat, milk, poultry and eggs market prices to increase. At the same time grain shortage for feed will put pressure on wheat and rice as alternate feed grains, causing shortages for human consumption.
