STAFF REPORT
KARACHI: While the federal government is yet to finalize the much-anticipated inquiry into the wheat scandal, the Prime Minister has now constituted another high-level inquiry committee to probe issues related to the increasing interceptions of rice consignments in European Union (EU) and repeated complaints of a commercial fumigator & clearing agent M/s Ahmad & Kamran Traders.
Chaired by former Federal Secretary Shahid Khan, the committee includes several key officials, such as the Secretary of MNFSR, Chairman of the Federal Board of Revenue, the Special Secretary of the Ministry of Commerce, the Chairman of the Rice Export Association of Pakistan, the Secretaries of the Agriculture Departments from Punjab and Sindh, Abbas Ahsan (Additional Director General of the Federal Investigation Agency), and Khan Faisal (Director of the Intelligence Bureau). The committee also holds the authority to co-opt additional members as necessary.
The committee has been tasked with investigating the reasons behind the non-compliance with food safety measures that have led to rice consignment interceptions in EU countries. It will also assess the Department of Plant Protection’s (DPP) failure to enforce the necessary regulations, which has impacted Pakistan’s external trade. The committee will identify responsible officers and officials within the DPP who issued inaccurate phytosanitary certificates and investigate allegations of monopolies created by DPP employees who allegedly licensed only a select few private firms for fumigation services for personal gain.
Additionally, the committee will review why the Ministry did not act on recommendations made during a previous inquiry into the DPP, conducted in 2021. A thorough analysis of the systemic shortcomings in rice export processes and administrative oversight will be conducted. The committee is expected to recommend both short-term and long-term reforms to establish a more reliable inspection and certification system, in line with international standards. The committee is required to submit its findings and recommendations to the Prime Minister within two weeks.
GMO Contamination Issue:
A more recent and alarming development is interception of Pakistani rice shipment contaminated with genetically modified organisms (GMO) by member country of EU. This has raised serious questions about the procedure and performance of Federal Seed Certification and Registration Department (FSCRD) and Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (PARC) that conduct test and trials for registration of rice varieties for cultivation and import on large scale in Pakistan under Ministry of National Food Security and Research. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under Ministry of Climate Change (MoCC) are empowered to regulate GMO seeds in Pakistan under Pakistan Biosafety Rules and Environmental Protection Act.
The EU served a notification stating that an organic Basmati rice consignment imported from Pakistan by Netherlands was found to contain unauthorized GMOs. The contamination, discovered on July 31, 2024, was flagged by the EU’s Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) on August 2, 2024. Industry sources revealed that this is not the first time such an issue has occurred. In June 2021, a shipment of 500 tonnes of GMO rice from India was detected. GMO contamination has the potential to jeopardize Pakistan’s rice exports to Europe, a critical market as well as to any country without proper risk analysis and food safety measures. The industry believes that the contamination might have originated from Chinese seeds grown in the field and use of that fields for growing aromatic Basmati rice in following year, leading to cross-contamination.
The Punjab government also raised similar concerns in April 2018, expressing reservations about the sale and distribution of GMO rice. In 2018, Pakistan blocked the import of a Chinese rice seed shipment, which later led to diplomatic discussions between Islamabad and Beijing.
Analysis of data from RASFF Window of EU
Pakistan is major exporter of Basmati rice in EU markets. Rapid Alert System for food & feed (RASFF) portal of EU for its exporting countries reveals that Pakistan has much less interceptions (vary from 17 to 77) in EU as compared to India, China, USA, Turkey, Vietnam, Thailand (vary from 11 to 328) during last five years regarding food safety including Pesticides Maximum Residues Limit (MRL) despite of implementing even most stringent regime of MRL i.e., 0.01 ug/kg by EU even below than the limit prescribed by Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) i.e., (from 0.01 to 50 ug/Kg).
The analysis of RASFF window data unearths this fact that such food safety interceptions are common in huge and rapid international trade of food due to number of reasons. The concerned authorities of trading partners take corrective measures in consultation of each other as per guidelines of CAC and their domestically developed food safety standard to minimize non-compliances but the action on such kinds of non-compliances do not fall within mandate of intelligence agencies.
Unfortunately, there is neither any food safety authority or department nor any appropriate legislation at federal level to regulate transboundary movement of food with respect to foods safety measures in Pakistan. No federal government paid attention to address these issues since creation of Pakistan.
Pesticides MRL issues in food arise due to indiscriminate spray of pesticides or application of banned pesticides on crop and its subsequent harvesting by the farmers prior to prescribed post-harvest interval. After entry of pesticides residues in food chain at any particular limit, there is no procedure to reduce it in food from that level. Thus, it can only be best managed in farmer’s rice field by judicious use of registered pesticides.
The extension and plant protection services for farmers with respect to production of crops including rice fall within jurisdiction of provinces agriculture department after 18th constitutional amendment. Likewise, the provinces particularly Punjab, Sindh and KPK have constituted their own food safety authorities and somehow legislations and are regulating food in their respective precincts. However, composition and legislations of provinces in Pakistan are not harmonized even with each other as well as with standard of CAC and neighboring or regional or developed nations.
Department of Plant Protection (DPP) regulates import and export of agro commodities with respect to plant health as National Plant Protection Organization (NPPO) of Pakistan though Pakistan Plant Quarantine Act and standards of international Plant Protection Convention (IPPC). It was not earlier empowered to implement food safety measures on traded foods. Recently, in view of growing interceptions of rice with food safety and lack of any separate and specific food safety authority or department at Federal level, the Federal Government after consultation with MoCC, MoC, MoF, MoFA, and law & Justice division on the recommended draft of MNFSR, has finally made much awaited and long standing little amendments in Pakistan Plant Quarantine Rules after one year by SRO 1291(1)/2024 dated 23rd August 2024 and has empowered inspectors of DPP for food safety inspections at ports but appropriate food safety legislation is yet to draft and promulgate. This function falls within mandate of the recently constituted food safety committee under MNFSR. Let us see when this committee meets and take up this burning issue and prescribe food safety measures and regulations to control interceptions in EU or first some officers are made scapegoat.
The composition of the committee in Pakistan to find out reasons of failure by DPP and its officers indicates that that the federal government seems absolutely unaware about this fact that food safety interception is not due DPP instead it is due to lack of food safety department and legislation.
Probing reasons of food safety interceptions through this high level committee including members from intelligence agencies but without any technical member and expert on plant quarantine and food safety just on the wish of a clearing agent will definitely make mockery of Pakistan among counterparts of trading countries and it will damage the Pakistan’s system more by scaring technical experts for performance of these duties because there is no such precedent in any developed countries (in USA, China, India, Thailand, Turkey, Vietnam) for investigating reasons of food safety interceptions by intelligence and law enforcement agencies. Glory to PM and its advisers for such kinds of unwise actions and advice.
Inquiry Report of 2021:
The recent inquiry committee is also expected to revisit the findings of a 2021 report made by one of member of this committee, Mr. Rashid Mehmood Langrial as additional Secretary, MNFSR regarding the DPP, though, it was not approved and agreed by Mr. Tahir Khurshid, then Secretary and Mr. Fakhar Imam, then Federal Minister for MNFSR. However, Mr. Zaffar Hassan, the following Secretary and federal minister, Mr. Tariq Bashir of MNFSR implemented doable recommendations and accordingly informed the PM house in July 2023.
The inquiry report was general in nature, targeting all technical directors, deputy directors, Entomologists and even non-technical officials on self-assertion to post them out of DPP on technical posts having no regulatory powers like quarantine inspection and issuance of risk based permit and biosecurity clearance for import of plant and plant products and foods and phytosanitary certificates for exported goods and appointment of retired army officers as regulators for such works without knowledge and considering of international bindings and standards of trading countries for trade of plant and plant products and foods that provides appointment of particularly technical persons for quarantine and food safety inspection and accordingly issuance of certifications. The report also highlights that this business involves financial transactions through DPP against facts because businesses are at liberty to choose treatment providers for disinfestation of goods and DPP has no role in it. Moreover, the interceptions are not due to fumigations of food at ports. However, DPP earns and collects huge revenues for the government in terms of specified inspection fees and issuance of official certificates paid by importers and exporters in departmental official accounts in Banks.
Absence of required manpower at DPP:
Currently, DPP has 17 regular technical officers of BS-17 to BS-20 and around 50 contract technical officers in DPP to conduct plant quarantine related inspections and official certification at all ports of Pakistan that includes seaport of Karachi and Gwadar, international airports, land terminals at borders and pesticides registration and import of scores of cases and locust surveillance and control of locust in scheduled deserts of Pakistan which is far less than the countries like USA, China, Thailand, Korea, Japan that have more than 400 technical inspectors only for food safety and plant quarantine inspections and certifications at ports in addition to other allied research institutions, universities and GLP laboratories.
The Honourable Sindh Hight Court at Karachi has ordered to Secretary, MNFSR on 30 September 2024 to ensure placement of Contract Entomologist in locust surveillance and control section on quo warranto petition filed by Mr. Daniyal and allegedly arranged by Mr. Muhammad Qasim Khan Kakar, director admin on deputation in DPP from Balochistan Agriculture Research Institute and suspended non-technical officials of the DPP previously working at lucrative posts of quarantine and London based clearing agent Mr. Israr Khan Kakar to get appointed his non-technical officials again on lucrative posts through PM office.
Contract employees has been appointed against 100 seats created in emergency by the Federal Government in 2021 to fulfill shortage of technical staff in DPP and future attacks of migratory locusts from African countries in Pakistan under National Action Plan and National Locust Emergency during 2019 and 2020 due to attack of ever harshest migratory locust plague hit Pakistan and subsequent huge financial loss of around 100 billions and unmeasurable loss to natural resources and environment due to control measures by indiscriminate use of pesticides. Around 50 technical officers have left DPP and joined other agricultural departments and went out of country due to job insecurity in DPP. Others are being humiliated by few non-technical and deputationist to compel them to leave DPP and let them enjoy such lucrative posts. These non-technical officials have hired highly paid learned counsels for these cases.
