Miller Magazine Issue: 126 June 2020

32 NEWS MILLER / JUNE 2020 President of Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum Mian Zahid Hussain said the country is on the brink of a destabilising wheat crisis. part of the Global COVID-19 Humanitarian Response Plan. Additional funding is urgently required to address new needs emerging from COVID-19. New activities will build upon critical livelihood-saving support cur- rently being delivered, including: In South Sudan, FAO carried out its largest seed dist- ribution so that farmers do not miss the main planting season. To date, FAO has distributed over 4 million ki- lograms of the procured and pre-positioned 8 million kilograms of crop and vegetable seeds, and over 100 000 agricultural hand tools to about 1.8 million people. This means that each family can grow enough food for at least 6 months and sell some surplus. In addition, nearly 50 000 people received fishing kits. In Somalia, FAO fully transitioned its cash assistan- ce to mobile cash delivery, and, over the last 60 days, transferred over 4 million dollars in mobile money to help 200 000 Somalis access food and other basic nee- ds. FAO has registered more than 2.1 million people on its Mobile Money Platform. In addition, 240 000 Somalis are receiving e-vouc- hers via SMS to get seeds, farm tools, irrigation service and storage bags from local traders. This way, FAO re- injects money into the local economy and avoids supply chain delays due to COVID-19. In Syria, FAO suppor- ted vegetable producers to set up nurseries, which are estimated to bring farmers an additional income of al- most $2 000 per year. In Pakistan, FAO carried out an online campaign, en- gaging 160 000 people to learn about preventing food waste; and raised awareness, including through its far- mer field schools, on how to stay safe of COVID-19 transmission. In Haiti, FAO distributed seeds and other inputs to nearly 50 000 people ahead of the main agri- cultural campaign. Overall, FAO's humanitarian response to COVID-19 impacts will focus on: improving hunger data collec- tion and analysis so that organisations can respond more effectively; maintaining food production, inclu- ding through scaling up activities so that farmers can take advantage of coming plating seasons; ramping up support to post-production activities, like harvesting, storage, small-scale food processing and conservation, and linking producers to markets to ensure food supply chains stay functional; and, awareness raising so that people keeping food supply chains alive are not at risk of COVID-19 transmission. Pakistan on the brink of a wheat crisis President of Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum, Mian Zahid Hussain, has said that the country is on the brink of a wheat crisis. The price of wheat and flour had been increasing steadily which called for an urgent intervention by the federal or provincial go- vernments, or the crisis would make the country pay a heavy political cost, he said. Mian Zahid Hussain said that the people had already been pushed to the wall due to the coronavirus and lockdown, and they were not prepared to face ano- ther crisis. He said that the wheat procurement drive had been unsatisfactory so far while reports of cor- ruption, incompetence and mismanagement were rife. He noted that not even half of the amount of wheat could be purchased while the private sector was being discouraged from buying wheat which amounted to preparing a ground for another crisis. He said that hoarders were piling up stocks of whe- at without any fear which could only be countered by importing five million tons of wheat. Mian Zahid Hussain noted that last year the private sector had re- peatedly warned the government about the crisis, but its warnings were ignored which helped the "mafia to take billions out of the pockets of the poor people". "Only import can force the hoarders into bringing their wheat into the market to stabilize prices as the price of wheat has increased by Rs7 per kg in Karachi, and it is set to rise further," he said. He said that the situation in Sindh and Punjab was far from being satisfactory, and the government must take notice of it. Mian Zahid Hussain