Impact of WTO’s Trade Liberalisation on Selected Food Crops in Pakistan

WTO has major implications for almost all the sectors of economy but agriculture sector is the one which is more prone to the implementation of its agreements, particularly the Agreement on Agriculture (AoA). The study intended to evaluate the impact of WTO on domestic ma rket and farm-level prices, production and consumption of major food commodities like wheat and rice and ultimately their impact on the producer’s and consumer’s surpluses. The farm level impact was also evaluated to chalk out the eventual position at farm level with the purpose to identify necessary policies and actions to cope with the new world situation. The study tries to provide a useful guide to the likely impacts of agricultural trade liberalisation. It was found that openness of the economy would affect the domestic demand, supply and consumption along with affecting the producer and consumer surpluses. It was estimated that increased prices would have increased production of wheat which would have generated a gain of producer’s surplus of Rs 10,682 million. On the other hand due to increased wholesale price of wheat, the domestic demand of wheat would have declined and caused a loss to consumer surplus of Rs 12,557 million. Similarly, the increased production of rice would have generated a gain of producer’s surplus of Rs 3,708 million. However, due to increase in the wholesale price of rice, its domestic demand would have declined thus causing a loss to consumers’ surplus. Overall the impact of the increase in the international price of wheat would have resulted in a net loss to Pakistan of Rs 1,875 million during 2004-05 while in case of rice it would have resulted in a gain of Rs 1,215 million in 2004-05.Trade Liberalisation, Food Crops, Export, Consumer Surplus, Comparative Advantage, Free Trade.

Impact of WTO’s Trade Liberalisation on Selected Food Crops in Pakistan

There is a great potential in Pakistan for production of all types of food commodities due to vast natural resource base, covering various ecological and climatic zones. Most of the agricultural commodities produced in the country are consumed by the local population while the rest is exported in the form of primary products and some value added products. Previously, Pakistani products had a good market overseas with no restrictions of quality and quantity but under the changing environment affected by WTO, it is expected that Pakistan will face a strong competition in the agriculture sector from its competitors in the world market. According to the neoclassical trade theory, trade flows and pattern will develop along the lines of comparative advantage and competitiveness that can act as indicators of trade potential and direction. There has been extensive government involvement in the determination of the overall structure of agriculture and its patterns of production, employment and trade. Pakistani government has been intervening in agriculture sector in the past in order to support agricultural production, income supports, ensure food security, improve the balance of trade, reduce consumer prices, address environmental and regional concerns and to pursue sanitary and phyto-sanitary objectives [Hassan (1995)]. Pakistan is a founding member of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) since its creation. Following the Uruguay Round negotiations, all agricultural products were brought under multinational trade rules by WTO, under the Agreement on Agriculture. This established a framework to begin liberalising agricultural trade through the reduction of import duties (tariffs), trade-distorting production subsidies and export subsidies. Prior to the Uruguay Round, trade in agriculture was highly distorted. Market access for agricultural products was limited as most markets were restricted by physical import barriers. The presence of massive domestic subsidies led to overproduction of temperate crops in the developed countries that led to excess supply, and export subsidies were used to dump the surplus agricultural output in international markets. This resulted in depressed market prices and, in spite of being low-cost producers of agricultural products; developing countries could not compete with the subsidised exports from developed countries

GENERAL OVERVIEW OF PHYTOCHEMISTRY AND PHARMACOLOGICAL POTENTIAL OF RHEUM PALMATUM (CHINESE RHUBARB)

Recent probe of medicinal plants incorporated in traditional systems for curing infection and sustaining holistic health, has exposed good sum of therapeutic efficiency against deleterious infections and chronic illnesses. Rheum palmatum (Chinese Rhubarb, family Polygonaceae) is a significant medicinal herb, which finds an extensive use in Unani (Traditional) system of medicine. It has been traditionally employed as antiseptic, liver stimulant, diuretic, diabetes, stomachic, purgative/cathartic, anticholesterolemic, antitumor, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, tonic, antidiabetic, and wound healer. The most vital components from Rheum palmatum are the phenolics, flavonoids, terpenoids, saponins, and anthraquinone derivatives such as aloe-emodin, chrysophanol, physcion, rhein, emodin and its glucorhein, and glycoside. Rhubarb also contains tannins which include hydrolysable-tannins, containing glycosidic or ester bonds composed of glucose, gallic acid, and other monosaccharide’s and condensed tannins, resulting principally from the flavone derivatives leukocyanidin and catechin. In recent years, new components such asrevandchinone-1, revandchinone-2, revandchinone-3, revandchinone-4, sulfemodin8-O-b-Dglucoside, and 6-methyl-rhein and aloe-emodin have been reported from the same class. It also encompasses some macro and micro mineral elements such as Ca, K, Mn, Fe, Co, Zn, Na, Cu, and Li. Anthraquinone derivatives demonstrate evidence of anti-microbial, antifungal, anti-proliferative, anti-Parkinson’s, immune enhancing, anticancer, antiulcer, antioxidant, and antiviral activities. This review article covers published study on therapeutic uses of different constituents from rhubarb

2-(4-Acetamido­benzene­sulfonamido)­benzoic acid

In the title compound, C15H14N2O5S, two similar mol­ecules comprise the asymmetric unit, which are linked by strong inter­molecular C—H⋯π inter­actions. Both mol­ecules are bent, with dihedral angles of 71.94 (16) and 74.62 (15)° between the benzene rings. An intra­molecular N—H⋯O hydrogen bond occurs in each mol­ecule. In the crystal, inter­molecular N—H⋯O and O—H⋯O hydrogen bonds link the mol­ecules into a three-dimensional network

Bis(1,3-dibutylthiourea)dicyanido­mercury(II)

In the title compound, [Hg(CN)2(C9H20N2S)2], the Hg atom lies on a twofold rotation axis. There is only half a mol­ecule in the asymmetric unit. The Hg atom has a distorted tetra­hedral coordination involving the S atoms of two 1-butyl-3-propyl­thio­urea groups and the C atoms of the two CN− anions. In the crystal packing, adjacent mol­ecules are connected by inter­molecular N—H⋯N and N—H⋯S hydrogen bonds, forming infinite chains in three dimensions

N-(4-Meth­oxy­phen­yl)-4-methyl­benzene­sulfonamide

In the title compound, C14H15NO3S, the dihedral angle between the aromatic rings is 59.39 (14)° and the C—S—N—C torsion angle is −71.4 (2)°. In the crystal, a supra­molecular chain running along the b axis with a C(4) graph set is formed via N—H⋯O hydrogen bonds

Enhancing Hate Speech Detection in the Digital Age : A Novel Model Fusion Approach Leveraging a Comprehensive Dataset

The authors extend their appreciation to the Arab Open Uni-versity for funding this work through AOU research fund No.(AOUKSA-524008)Peer reviewe

2-(4-Acetamido­benzene­sulfonamido)-3-methyl­butanoic acid

In the title compound, C13H18N2O5S, the benzene ring and the acetamide group are almost coplanar [dihedral angle = 5.6 (3)°], and the amine group projects almost vertically from this plane [C—C—S—N = −84.5 (7)°]. A short intra­molecular C—H⋯O contact occurs. In the crystal, O—H⋯O, N—H⋯O and N—H⋯(O,O) hydrogen bonds lead to a three-dimensional network. One of the methyl groups of the isopropyl residue is disordered over two orientations in a 0.747 (16):0.253 (16) ratio

2-(4-Methyl­benzene­sulfonamido)-2-phenyl­acetic acid

In the title compound, C15H15NO4S, the dihedral angle between the phenyl and benzene rings is 46.0 (3)° and a weak intra­molecular N—H⋯O inter­action is present. The crystal structure is stabilized by inter­molecular O—H⋯O, N—H⋯O and C—H⋯O hydrogen bonds

(2R)-2-Benzene­sulfonamido-2-phenyl­ethanoic acid: a new monoclinic polymorph

In the title compound, C14H13NO4S, a sulfonamide derivative of phenyl glycine, the aromatic rings are inclined at a dihedral angle of 28.03 (12)°. In the crystal, O—H⋯O hydrogen bonds link the molecules into chains propagating in [100] and a weak C—H⋯O interaction cross-links the chains in the c-axis direction. In the previously published polymorph, the dihedral angle between the aromatic rings is 45.52 (18)° and the structure is stabilized by three different types of ring motif