NFRCC rules out food shortage

The National Flood Response Coordination Centre (NFRCC) moved on Friday to allay fears of food shortage in the wake of devastating floods up and down the country, saying that sufficient stocks of various commodities were available.

The NFRCC, the nerve centre of the country’s flood response, said that enough quantity of wheat, rice, tomato etc was available in the stocks, while potatoes, onions, pulses and grains were being imported to meet the domestic demand.

“The country does not face any food shortage,” the NFRCC said. “A huge stock of wheat for the next six months is available along with a strategic reserve of 2 million tons which will be sufficient till the next harvest,” it added.

In terms of perishable food items, the NFRCC clarified that a bumper crop of tomato was harvested last year which was enough to fulfil the current requirement, adding that potatoes and onions were being imported from Iran and Afghanistan.

About pulses and grains, the NFRCC said that imports from Canada, Australia and Myanmar were in the process, which will easily meet the domestic requirement.

Moreover, it added, the rice requirement could easily be met through the available stock till December.

The NFRCC statement came as officials of the National Food Security Ministry had said earlier that crops, including fruits and vegetables, were the most-affected because of the devastating floods and rains in the country.

The province that suffered the most because of the floods was Sindh, they said. The floods devastated crops worth Rs364 billion in Sindh, Rs39 billion in Punjab, Rs61 billion in Balochistan and Rs16 billion in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.