Sir: Wheat is the most important staple food crop of Pakistan. Although grown on a large area, there have been crises of short crop in the country whenever the support prices fixed were not considered profitable by the farmers. Media reports say that Pakistan’s wheat yield rose to 2.8 tonnes per hectare during the past decade due to the use of high yielding seed varieties and an increase use of fertilizers and farm machinery. Also, the government is committed to ensuring an adequate provision of food items through well-defined and targeted interventions to improve food security in the country.
According to Pakistan Economy Watch (PEW), the country is heading towards a severe wheat crisis on account of managing the wheat stocks. Stocks with different government departments have crossed an alarming level of five million tonnes due to failure in exports, despite repeated efforts which included jacking up export subsidy many times.
It is to be mentioned that wheat support price doubled by the last government had provided considerable incentive for wheat growers. Area under wheat cultivation has reached a record high level and production continues to climb while there is no way to tackle surpluses. It merits a mention that global wheat stocks are already at record level which will grow further due to better crop, making it difficult for government to dispose of growing stocks. The situation might emerge in favour of the middlemen who will buy wheat at reduced rates as sowing of wheat has already been started.
Therefore, the federal government is requested to take notice of the situation and resolve the issue amicably.
KHAN FARAZ
Peshawar