Early last week, agricultural trade in Pakistan came to a grinding halt. Overnight, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) arrested nine inspectors of the Department of Plant Protection, which is a department of the Ministry for National Food Security and Research.
The raid, by some accounts, was given the final green light by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif himself. With nine of their inspectors in custody, the remaining DPP inspectors stationed at Pakistan’s ports became reluctant to inspect and clear shipments leaving and entering Pakistan, afraid they could get caught up in the situation.
So what was going on? Behind the scenes, a government committee had been investigating issues in consignments of Basmati Rice going from Pakistan to the European Union this year. Many of these consignments had been stopped at the ports because they had certain contaminants in them.
This is a bigger deal than it sounds. Over the past few years, Pakistan has become the dominant exporter of Basmati to the EU precisely because Pakistani consignments have been cleaner and contaminant free compared to rice shipped out from India. This year’s export, at a time when India is already reopening its export of rice, may be detrimental to Pakistan’s foothold in the EU’s Basmati market. The content in this publication is expensive to produce. But unlike other journalistic outfits, business publications have to cover the very organizations that directly give them advertisements. Hence, this large source of revenue, which is the lifeblood of other media houses, is severely compromised on account of Profit’s no-compromise policy when it comes to our reporting. No wonder, Profit has lost multiple ad deals, worth tens of millions of rupees, due to stories that held big businesses to account. Hence, for our work to continue unfettered, it must be supported by discerning readers who know the value of quality business journalism, not just for the economy but for the society as a whole.To read the full article, subscribe and support independent business journalism in Pakistan
