But this decision by the government to import tomatoes from Iran in the hopes that it will help remedy the current shortage is no epiphany on part of the nation’s policymakers
Traders in Pakistan had been calling upon the government for the past few days to turn to Pakistan’s neighbours in the west for some possible assistance in this matter
It has been reported that the tomatoes Pakistan has been importing from Afghanistan have helped tackle the demand in the northern region of the country, however, other parts of Pakistan continue to face shortages and steep prices
The government has allowed the import of tomatoes from Iran to take place for a period of one month, but it is unclear as to how effective this policy will be in alleviating the current quandary the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government finds itself in on the economic front
The simple truth of the matter is that tomato harvests in Sindh and Balochistan have been insufficient, as a result of which the produce from Punjab experienced a rise in demand
Hence, this meant that the supply simply could not match the demand, making the skyrocketing of tomato prices and inevitability
Additionally, rising tensions with India have meant that tomato imports from there have crawled to a standstill, thus only further exacerbating an already complicated problem
Although the government has stated that a fresh crop of tomatoes from Sindh will provide some much needed relief in the coming weeks and lead to the lowering of prices, the current tomato predicament brings to the fore some rather alarming concerns
Evidently, how gloriously ill-informed Shaikh is about the economic woes plaguing the country is emblematic of a government which is clearly unaware of just how much the masses are suffering at the hands of poor economic policies which rely on reactionary measures to curb long festering issues
If our policymakers are so far removed from the realities which confront the citizens of the nation on a daily basis, what hope is there of them being able to identify and remedy these problems? The economic gulf which currently exists between the people of the country and those who claim to represent them in the corridors of power has resulted in a complete lapse in communication
For many in the country, the largest chunk of their disposable income is spent on the procurement of food, which is why increasing food prices further eat into their already limited income
Evidently, Pakistan’s policymakers face no such hardships in their households, thus allowing them to turn a blind eye towards the plight of the masses
If Iranian tomatoes can temporarily come to Pakistan’ s rescue and whether or not an influx of tomatoes will actually emerge from Sindh remains to be seen, but the entire tomato fiasco has shown that the PTI government is wholly unaware of the crisis currently confronting the common man
Given their obliviousness, it is unlikely that they can adequately identify the nations’s problems, let alone solve them
| Date: | 15-Nov-2019 | Reference: | View Original Link |
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