Minister for National Food Security and Research Syed Fakhar Imam on Tuesday said around 430,000 tons of imported wheat had arrived and the rest would reach Pakistan soon to meet shortfall of the commodity.
He informed the National Assembly Standing Committee on National Food Security and Research that this year the country was short of the target by 1.5 million tons of wheat and to meet the shortfall, the government allowed private entities to import wheat. During the meeting held at the Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (PARC) under the chairmanship of Rao Muhammad Ajmal, the committee was briefed about the current wheat and cotton position in the country.
Imam said the major factor behind the low output of crops was the outdated seed technology. The minister apprised the committee that climate change had damaged agricultural production this year.
He said Punjab and Sindh were the most affected provinces due to the recent rains, which were also a reason that targets of some crops could not be achieved. The committee gave directives that the ministry should ensure the availability of quality hybrid seeds of cotton in markets to enhance its per acre yield.
It stressed that the ministry should announce support price of wheat to encourage growers, and avoid unnecessary delay in the sowing of cotton. Imam said the federal government was in constant contact with provinces to fix the minimum support price of wheat for the upcoming season.
Meanwhile, the committee unanimously recommended that the Chamber of Agriculture Bill 2019 (a private member bill) should be passed.
The committee emphasised that the agriculture sector was the backbone of country but unfortunately successive governments failed to pay due attention to it, consequently the condition of growers deteriorated due to mismanagement and lack of coordination between the federal and provincial governments.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 30th, 2020.
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