WB suggests putting place Early Warning System in Pak to save the population from adverse changes in prices & availability of food items

ISLAMABAD, Feb 21 (SABAH): World Bank (WB) has suggested putting place the Early Warning System in Pakistan to save the population from adverse changes in the prices and availability of food items across the country.  

If the production of main food categories fell short of national needs, a timely decision for their imports is ensured, and exports decision in case the production remains above national demand. Reduction in commodities prices international markets, should be utilized for imports for Strategic reserves, and saving of precious foreign exchange at a time when prices are on their high side.  

World Bank in it’s Policy Note on Agriculture sector in Pakistan, food prices are also volatile, triggered by different market and non-market factors and exacerbated by systematic weaknesses like market fragmentation and information asymmetry. Market factors include speculative behaviors like hoarding that can drive up prices, and non-market factors include events like a pandemic or climate change. Pakistan is one of the most. The WPI not only includes intermediate goods but also some finished goods, it has a greater proportion of imports (mostly raw materials), and does not include services (which are included in the CPI).

A variety of agricultural and non-agricultural commodities is traded illegally at the Pakistan-Afghanistan and the Pakistan-Iran borders. Due to a lack of cold storage and proper marketing of perishable goods, if there is an increase in demand or a shortage in supply, prices will increase. Recent locust attacks resulted in major losses of agricultural produce. Early warnings of attacks and better coordination mechanisms across provinces to act quickly could help minimize such losses in the future. Vulnerable countries to the impact of climate change and has experienced an increased frequency of shocks like floods, locust attacks, and droughts. However, with agriculture as a devolved subject, there are insufficient synergies across provinces to increase resilience against shocks.

Insufficient coordination across federal and provincial governments and across institutions constrains the government’s ability to forecast production and make timely and least-distortive policy choices (including public procurement, support prices, trade policy, etc.). Therefore, the sector is unable to reduce its losses from leakage, post-harvest losses, and pest attacks. A resilient food system requires investments in research on making crops and livestock resilient to disease, infrastructure to efficiently produce, process, store, and supply produce to consumers, and early warning systems for timely decision making.