10/28/2001 (Business Recorder) - Pakistan and the US signed an agreementlast Saturday, for the supply of 60,000 tonnes of soybean oil worth over$30 million. The US supplies which are scheduled to commence in Januarynext year, will be sold by the government to the private sector inaccordance with the standard practice. It may be recalled that Pakistanwas given last year a donation of 75,000 tonnes of soybean oil and 165,000tonnes of soybean, worth $80 million.While 62,500 tonnes of the soybean oil is reported to have already arrivedin Pakistan by September, the first instalment of 165,000 tonnes ofsoybean was expected this month. It will thus be noted that the USsupplies could prove instrumental in averting a serious shortage of edibleoil in the country that was feared since July this year, as the situationwas further aggravated by the stalled shipments of palm oil from Malaysiawith the dislocation of shipping services to Pakistan, in anticipationanti-terrorism operations in the aftermath of the 11 September terroristattacks on the United States.The soybean and soybean oil gifts would benefit Pakistan in another way aswell. This has reference to the standard practice in such deals, unlikeunder the PL-480 Programme, allowing the government to freely use the saleproceeds in local currency for funding rural development and povertyalleviation programmes in accordance with the country's long-term socialand economic goals. The areas of such funding, including food security andpromotion of broad-based development, will mean a contribution also to theongoing challenging effort for economic restructuring of the country.Another significant feature of this programme is that as the cost ofshipment of the commodities is borne by the United States, it will meanlessening of pressure on the country's limited foreign exchange resourcestoo.It will thus be noted that there is a great deal more to the US commodityoffers than meets the eye. However, it may be noted that together with thequick restoration of palm oil supplies from Malaysia, the import of edibleoil from other sources, including United States, has proved of littleavail in ensuring the expected relief to the consumer from a cut in theprices of vanaspati and cooking oil. Not only the slash in prices hasremained elusive, but a great deal more has continued to add to the woesof the baffled consumer from the unabated price hike. This is a trend thathas come to stay in this country since prices once gone up seldomstabilise at lower levels. For, the remedial measures taking care of oneaspect of price rise are soon found negated by another problem or a set ofthem to keep prices perched at higher levels. The worst part of thisunwelcome tendency is painfully discernible in food items, hitting thelower income groups the most. Thus it invariably serves a sad reminder ofthe sorry state of agriculture that happens to be the predominating sectorof the economy. An idea of the predicament of this vital sector,development of which could have helped the country's economic growth, maybe had in the grim fact that Pakistan has become increasingly dependent onimports for a widening range of food items with the passage of time sinceindependence way back in 1947.In so far as edible oil is concerned, the dependence on its import hascome to affect oilseed too which the country can produce in enoughquantities not only to meet the domestic need but also to earn valuableforeign exchange from exports as well. And as repeatedly pointed out inthese columns, it should serve as a serious reminder of the need of anemergency plan to redouble efforts for boosting edible oil production inthe country from a serious thrust on correcting the situation in ascientifically planned manner. Trying to achieve self-reliance in edibleoil over the past several years, the effort can be seen as having provedcounter productive in a number of ways. This should beckon the governmentand the private sector to a bold new thrust to break the vicious circle ofshortages.