Farmers should switch from wheat to other crops

Govt’s suggestion comes after price crash in wheat markets

ISLAMABAD: Following the price crash in local and international wheat markets due to excessive production, the federal government has asked provincial agriculture departments to push farmers to switch to other cash crops to reap rich dividends.

The suggestion came in a meeting of the Wheat Review Committee, which met here to assess the stock situation and future prospects of the crop.

The meeting was chaired by National Food Security and Research Secretary Sirat Asghar and attended by representatives of the provincial agriculture departments, officials of the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Finance.

Committee members pointed out that higher production and lower prices of wheat were a hurdle in the way of exporting the surplus produce, though a host of measures had been taken at the federal and provincial levels including the subsidy on export.

Provinces have managed to export nearly 300,000 tons so far out of the target of 1.2 million tons set in January this year when the subsidy was announced in a bid to match international prices of wheat.



An official, who attended the meeting, said the secretary asked the provincial agriculture departments to encourage the farmers to shift to other crops like potato, pulses, oilseeds, etc to ensure a balance in the demand and supply of commodities and earn profit on their produce on time.

It was noted that wheat sowing by a majority of growers and consecutive bumper crops have helped supply exceed demand. Consequently, the farmers are suffering since their produce is not being purchased.

Owing to the glut, the wheat price has crashed in the domestic market, reflecting the international trend due to harvesting of bumper crops in the region.

The secretary asked the provinces to prepare a new strategy for disposing of surplus commodity so that storage capacity could be available for the purchase of next crop.

Additionally, the meeting participants cautioned that if wheat was not exported before the arrival of next crop, it would prove to be another blow to the prices and farmers would take to the streets to protest against the government.

A representative of the Punjab government said at present the province had five million tons of wheat stock and Sindh had 1.5 million tons. The former requires 3.5 million tons whereas Sindh needs 0.5 million tons, meaning the remaining quantity could be exported.

The committee asked the provinces to come up with fresh recommendations in the next meeting to deal with the matter of surplus stock.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 10^th,  2015.

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