The time has come for the government to move from talking about how its policies are going to improve the economy to actually doing it. Agriculture, for example, has been suffering for the longest time and finally the government has started to take it seriously. That is a welcome step but it should be remembered that unless things actually improve on the ground, farmers notice an increase in their production and earnings, and above all the people notice prices of essential edible items going down, nothing is going to change no matter how many impressive press conferences are held about it. So it’s a good sign that everybody is turning agriculture around, now it remains to be seen how effectively it is done. First the finance minister made a lot of fuss about it at the time of the budget, stressing how this sector is eventually going to lead the growth of the entire economy. Then the prime minister promised to double the income of farmers so that the whole country could progress along with them. And now the speaker of the national assembly has also chipped in with his two pennies worth, lamenting that Pakistan’s 0.3pc share in the $1.6 trillion global food and agriculture trade did not live up to the country’s natural agriculture potential. Surely nobody needs to be reminded that it is a matter of great national shame that an agri-driven economy like ours has been reduced to importing basic food stuffs, like wheat, sugar and pulses, because of nothing more than the utter neglect with which this sector has been treated over the years. From a food-surplus country, one which could also earn foreign exchange by exporting what was left over, we have turned into one which has to step into the international market quite regularly and buy expensive emergency food supplies. And since our export industry also depends primarily on agriculture output for its products, we get squeezed from both sides and it’s no surprise that tall this is reflected in the sad state of the national reserves. Therefore it’s about time that some administration in Islamabad took up this matter with some sense of urgency. And this government now seems to be doing just that. Hopefully it has also calculated and prepared for the many pitfalls that are going to emerge on the way. For example, one big reason for sudden shortages of certain very important commodities is the ugly role played by some producers as well as middlemen, a lot of whom also personally roam the halls of power in the federal and provincial capitals, so it’s going to take a lot more than making spirited speeches and blaming previous rulers to make this work. This is going to be one of those processes that will surely ruffle some feathers, and things like that have been known to shake alliances, so it will take a lot of political will to see it through to the end. *