Wheat output 24m tonnes: The News

By Aftab Maken

ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Food and Agriculture has revised down its forecast for wheat production to 23-24 million tonnes this year against earlier estimate of 25 million tonnes.

“Federal Food & Agriculture Minister Nazar Mohammad Gondal in discussions in official meetings has slashed wheat crop estimate from a bumper 25 million tonnes to between 23 and 24 million tonnes,” an official source, who is expert in dealing with commodities particularly wheat, told The News.

Similarly, the food ministry had conveyed to policy-makers that shortage of urea fertiliser, due to issuance of quotas to handpicked workers, would dampen government’s efforts to produce a record wheat crop of 25 million tonnes after timely announcement of minimum guaranteed price, the official said.

The food ministry held a meeting with procurement agencies ie provincial food departments and Pakistan Agriculture Storage and Supplies Corporation, in the federal capital to chalk out the procurement plan and assigned them the target of only 6.5 million tonnes, he added.

“No one is paying heed to the fact that if the private sector remained out of the market, farmers would be compelled to sell the commodity at throwaway prices,” said the official.

“Farmers will be punished again for growing surplus grain for the countrymen and they at the time of procurement will be complaining about government’s inefficiency and it being a mere spectator in the market. Farmers will be running from pillar to post to sell their produce at the announced price,” Rabia Sultan, a progressive farmer and member of Farmers Association of Pakistan (FAP) said.

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