Minister for National Food Security Syed Fakhar Imam on Monday said that owing to policy interventions and incentivizing local farming communities, the country had achieved a bumper crop of rice, estimated at over 9 million tons during the current season as compared to the output of 8.4 million tons of same period of last year. Addressing a press conference, he said that last year rice output was recorded at 8.4 million tons as against the domestic consumption of 3.5 million tons, adding that there were carryover stocks of over 2.5 million tons from the last year’s crop. The carryover stocks of rice have further augmented the local rice output to 11.5 million tons as against the local requirements of 3.5 million tons, hence creating an export surplus of about 8 million tons of rice during the next year. According to a market survey, Pakistan has the potential to fetch $4.75 billion by exporting its surplus produce, he said adding that the last year country earned $2.11 billion by exporting rice including basmati and others, which contributed to enhancing the farm income of growers and encouraged them to grow more. Despite having a huge export potential, Pakistan was mostly exporting rice to five countries including China, UAE, Afghanistan, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia during the last three to five years, he said adding that the efforts would be made to enhance rice exports to other countries of Africa and Latin America. The minister said that Pakistan could achieve the exports targets of $4.75 billion by overcoming the challenges, and to achieve this task, coordinated efforts of both public and private sectors are needed, adding that it would also help in sustainable economic growth and development of the farming community. Imam said that the government’s efforts were bringing significant results as an output of all major crops like wheat, rice, cotton, maize and sugarcane had touched the historic high during the last three years, adding that over 87 million tons of sugarcane output was also expected during the current season. Due to the provision of subsidy on cotton crop, cotton arrival during the current month reached 6.8 million bales as against 4.1 million bales of the same period last year, he said that the targets set for cotton production would be achieved, which would have a positive impact on allied sectors as well. We were importing about 90pc of edible oil to tackle with local requirements and the enhanced output of cotton would help to produce cottonseed oil and reduce the reliance on imported oil, he remarked.