Wheat seed stock nearly 0.5m short

It appears the country’s wheat and flour crisis will get much worse before it starts to get better. As things stand, there seems to be severe shortage of quality seeds for wheat cultivation.

According to a report prepared by the federal food security ministry’s committee on agriculture, there are only 513,000 metric tonnes of standard wheat seeds available in the country. It pointed out that around a million tonnes of seeds are required to meet the wheat production target set for the 2020-21 Rabi season, meaning the country faces a shortfall of roughly 43%.

Of the over half a million seeds available, the public sector only accounts for 68,000 tonnes or 6% of the needed supply, the report revealed. The remaining 444,000 metric tonnes fall in the private sector, it added.

The report highlighted that the supply of certified wheat seeds in the country has increased by only 20,000 metric tonnes this year. There were only 479,000 tonnes of seeds available in 2019 - 55,000 tonnes in the public sector and 424,000 tonnes in the private sector - signalling the issue may be a chronic one.

Sharing statistics, officials also revealed that only 20% to 25% of seeds available in the market were obtained from authorised sources. The bulk of the supply is arranged through village vendors, middlemen or fellow farmers. The bulk of the country’s seed supply is concentrated in Punjab, which also accounts for much of the demand. According to official data, the province needs 800,000 tonnes of standard wheat seeds this year but only has a little more than half of that quantity at its disposal.

Around 387,000 tonnes of seeds are held by the private sector in Punjab, with the public sector only able to offer 64,000 tonnes.

Sindh, which requires 130,000 tonnes of seeds, only has 52,000 tonnes at its disposal while Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, which needs 92,000 tonnes, has a paltry 6,000 tonnes available at present. Balochistan, meanwhile, only has 2,000 tonnes of seeds available against a demand for 50,000 tonnes.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, farmers complained that the seeds available to them were of poor quality. They also complained that compared to private seed companies, the government agencies concerned have a rather poor seed delivery and promotion mechanism.

When contacted, Punjab Agriculture Task Force Additional Secretary Ali Arshad said the biggest issue they face pertains to seed regulation, which is a federal subject.

Under the 2015 Seed Act, the federation has the authority to monitor and process standard seeds. Provinces have no monitoring and inspection structure. Provinces cannot collect samples or check records, prices, stocks and invoices.

Arshad said the biggest contributor to seed regulation issues is the low number of inspectors. “The capacity of Seed Corporation in Punjab needs to be enhanced. For the world, seeds are a science. We, on the other hand, are three centuries behind,” he added.

Arshad urged the government to encourage the private sector and increase allocations for seed research centres. “Research institutes are not to blame for the wheat seed crisis. The only problem is availability,” he stressed.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 17^th, 2020.

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