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Role of food
marketing agencies
By Siraj-ul-Hasan
Despite experiencing phenomenal industrial development,
Pakistan is still a predominantly agrarian economy.
Agriculture still accounts for 29.2 per cent of the GNP, and
is the largest single sector of the national economy.
Pakistan supports a population of 140 million in a
geographical area of 804,000 sq. kilometres. Twenty-four per
cent of Pakistan's total area is under cultivation, 3 per cent
is under forest and range-land, and 14 per cent is classified
as culturable waste.
Wheat and rice are the main food grains produced in the
country. Wheat is Pakistan's staple and rice doubles as a
supplementary food stuff and as the second richest cash crop
after cotton. Pakistan's agriculture sector produces large
varieties of fruits and vegetables, as well as minor grain
like maize and millet.
The main food marketing organisations in the public sector are
Directorate General of Food (DGF) Pakistan Agricultural Supply
and Storage Corporation (PASSCO) and Trading Corporation of
Pakistan (TCP), which each handles a specific food stuff and
its marketing strategy.
The Department of Agricultural and Livestock Products
Marketing and Grading (DALPNG) is responsible for agricultural
and food marketing in the country. The Agricultural and
Livestock Marketing Adviser (ALMA) is the main department and
advises both federal government, and the provincial
governments on marketing concerns. The ALMA grades
agricultural commodities for export, and conducts grading of
research an agriculture.
Marketing intelligence services are being rendered to keep the
producers, traders, consumers and planners abreast of the
price movements of important agricultural commodities and
livestock products. Data is compiled from sampling commodities
from markets across Pakistan. Information is then passed on
though the different media press, radio, newspapers and
periodicals.
Every province in Pakistan has a directorate which is
responsible for carrying out surveys, collecting price
statistics and enforcing market laws, rules and regulations
according to the Agricultural Produce (Markets) Act'.
The Act has established regulation of 120 wholesale markets in
Punjab, 64 in Sindh and one in NWFP Balochistan is developing
its first regulated wholesale market. The purpose of
regulation is to curb illegal practices and reduce costs for
farmers.
Training: Facilities for providing practical training or
in-service training in agricultural marketing are presently
inadequate in Pakistan. Academic courses are however available
in educational institutions/universities but these need to be
backed up with field studies, research and training
facilities. The Agricultural extension staff (provincial
govt.) also provide guidance to farmers on the harvesting and
picking.
In addition, the transfer of technology and education this is
slow and the system cannot adapt a techno-driven agricultural
framework. Even the modified training and visit (T&V) system
that is in vogue in several districts and is being extended to
others, falls short of requirements.
During the mid-seventies an attempt to introduce modern
techniques to farmers, and improve marketing strategies began
under the Food and Agriculture Organization. This programme
linked university based training programmes, with field work
and research. The project fell through, however, due to a lack
of foreign exchange.
However, the government is still anxious to improve the
marketing conditions of agricultural produce, particularly of
fruits and vegetables, with this end in view a project for
streamlining the marketing of fruits and vegetables,
financially assisted by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), is
being set up along the lines of a similar, successful venture
in the late 1920s.
In-service marketing training in foreign developed countries
should be fully taken advantage of by the federal government.
The fellowships, scholarships, travel grants etc. offered by
various donor countries and under various programmes such as
Colombo Plan, Common-wealth, USA Aid etc, are adequately
availed of under various marketing development projects,
Government also makes its own arrangements for overseas
training. IT is estimated that about 5-10 persons obtain such
training each year.
Extension: Over the past several years, a visible shift has
occurred in Agricultural education, and there is no a greater
demand for professionals with Agricultural Marketing degrees.
As a result more agriculture students are studying marketing
than before. Three courses one expensive however, and few can
avail of them. There is a need for marketing research and
training institutes to be established across the four
provinces in connection Federal Marketing Department.
Beside local field work efforts must be made to gain more
training from friendly foreign countries. The federal
government should find such initiatives. The FAO and other
international/ regional organizations should be encouraged to
set up seminars and workshops on agricultural marketing
research and training, using local and foreign experts.
Courtesy Dawn May
28, 2002
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