‘Wheat exports adjourn because of floods’…

Pakistan being an agro-based country, highly dependent upon its agricultural sector is under-going a rough time. While the colossal floods have caused destruction in terms of loss of life and property, which is upsetting, it has severely caused shortage of food in the country. Massive demolition has been caused to agricultural infrastructure, thus the seeds for the next year’s crop has been washed away.

We know that wheat plays an important role in Pakistan’s production and consumption. It is are major and the richest crop. However, with the calamity of floods, productions of crops have been majorly affected. Our exports that rely on agricultural products are now being deferred by the government. The government is holding back from exporting wheat surplus. I believe, our nation over all is suffering badly from economic and food crises in substantial proportions, immediate emergency measures are required or else it is observed that our nation will be undergoing a major shortage of food for the next two years. This is something which should be the key concern of the authorities. The rich, the poor rely on wheat in fact the whole nation relies on wheat. Pakistan, Asia’s third-largest wheat producer, said in April it would export 2 million tons of wheat after a bumper crop of 23.86 million tons in 2009-10, and a carryover of 4.2 million tons from the previous crop. Now we have to wait and look at the condition and then take a decision, says the food Minister Nazr Muhammad Gondal. Wheat is sown from late October to December,. “We need to see over how much area we can plant wheat,” Gondal said.

A nation-wide food shortage threatens our country, with rising food inflation and catastrophic consequences on food and dairy security. Not to mention the fact that the farming community could lose up to two years of income, because of no crop production. We are a developing nation, almost 70 percent dependent upon our agricultural products, our most demanded crops worldwide wheat, and rice and maize have been damaged. There are enough strategic reserves that are laying in the public sector to meet the local needs. It is said by the government that they would help and assist the worst hit farmers of the country to enable them in reviving the agriculture sector. Let us just hope and pray for improving conditions, because promises made by our government are not meant to be trusted upon.

"Luxury brands and customer Psychology"!

   Women all around the world are seen carrying luxurious branded bags, but why is there just so much significance placed on carrying branded bags? Well, in today’s society most people have become fashion conscious, designer clothes and clothing are fully fashioned and patterned according to the latest trends. They are made with high quality material which gives them durability. Fashion designers accessorize their products with bags, women and men handbags, purses and wallets along with their own personal style that creates a fashion statement. So it can be said that, many of us carry branded products in order to stand out in the crowd and uphold a social status in the society for prominence.

   However we can classify that there are different types of luxury-good consumers and their respective needs. Not every on the street can be found wearing Gucci, Prada or carrying Louis Vuitton bags. An article in the latest issue of ‘Journal of Marketing’ examines consumer psychology of luxurious brand names. Amongst us there is a set of people who are ‘patricians’; these are wealthy consumers who pay a premium for unnoticeably branded goods, such products which do not have outer logos. These are recognized by others within their own elite groups. Furthermore there are those people the ‘parvenus’, who desire status and use “loud” luxury goods to differentiate themselves from the masses while associating themselves with patricians and other parvenus. These people are conspicuous and prefer buying Chanel or Louis Vuitton.

   In order to be like the patricians, there is another group of people in our society who are the ‘poseurs’. Many of them crave luxury brand candies, however since they cannot afford them, they buy imitation products to follow the wealthy and thus become a party of the chic society! Then there is a major set of people in the society, ‘the proletariats’. These set of non-affluent consumers, however disassociate themselves from luxurious brands and neither favor it. The above categorization, thus gives me an idea about how consumers all around the world have become so aware with brands, how dependant we all have become on designer brands. The above mentioned brand prominence is a fantastic study to disclose such exact results. I think many people nowadays fall under one of those categories, and it's interesting to know there's something that drives a person towards buying luxury goods. However, "Parvenus" would apply to many shoppers in the Gulf!!

"Women endure special challenges during the flood calamity"…

Our country has been hit by the worst disaster of its time. It has affected almost 14million people, one-tenth of our population. The flood has bought with it difficult social challenges for the people. The survival has become very difficult. The food, clothing, shelter insecurities have been worsened by the floods. A seminar held on Monday in Islamabad’ Impact of Food Inflation on Women and Girls’ emphasized the need to make relief operations more ‘women-friendly’ and expressed concern about the negative impact of food insecurity over women and girls in particular. The seminar was organized by Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) in collaboration with Women s Organization for Rights and Development (WORD). I truly believe that women suffer from gender inequality in every part of the world, but in situations where there are heavy crises they should be provided with equal amount resources. Rising floods have indeed worsened their miseries.

According to the Ministry Of Health reports 45000 women will be giving birth in the relief camps. These women should be supplied with better medical facilities, good health services and nutritious food supply. It is observed that the flood affected women lacked proper knowledge about nutrition and child birth, which resulted in their children being malnourished. I believe the government is urged at this point to offer unaccountable health services to the flood victims, especially women who are about to give birth. However I consider women in flood affected areas should be acknowledged about health securities and also be a part of revitalization of the concerned areas. Along with this the there is an increasing number of crime rate found in the relief camps, which is a major cause of concern. There should be proper and security arrangements, especially for young girls and the women. There is no doubt the floods have caused many obstacles for the people, but for women it has brought great communal challenges, in form of increase violence and household level tension accompanied by food insecurities. Being a young woman myself I can understand the pain and the tremendous difficulties that women in those areas are suffering on gender biases. It is time to wake up and realize that men and women are both afflicted; at least at this point we should forget gender differences.