Ministry eyes 5 million tonnes wheat yield
By Khalid Amin

ISLAMABAD—Ministry of Food & Agriculture has fixed wheat production target for the current year at 5.0 million tonnes.
This wad told during a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Food, Agriculture & Livestock held under the Chairmanship of Senator Muhammad Amjad Abbas.
The meeting was cautioned that if the farmers were not given right support price, they would lose all incentive to grow wheat since profitability and lure of competing crops like Canola / Sunflower etc was simply too high for them to resist.
The Committee was apprised of the role of PASSCO and Provincial Departments authorized to procure Wheat in the country with particular reference to the mal-practices in these organizations previously pointed out in the last meeting of the Committee and the National Policy to protect the interests of the growers without shifting the burden to the consumers.
The meeting commended the Government’s recent decision to enhance the support price of wheat raising it to Rs. 625/- (per 40 kg) and termed it as a step in the right direction, which will encourage farmers to grow more wheat.
It was informed that the first batch of 50 bulldozers, (out of total 300) would arrive from China in July this year and these would be put on trial for two months in difficult terrain of NWFP and Balochistan.
The chairman hoped this incentive would lead to major increase in the production of wheat in the country and benefit the growers’ community.
“Historically, increase in support price has always given boost to production”, observed the Committee Members. “Whereas lower prices have always led to a surge in smuggling, black-marketing etc as the market follows its own inherent dynamics”, they argued.
The Committee directed PASSCO to ensure that the procurement operations remains smooth all over the country and farmers be paid the price swiftly.
It was observed that whenever the price differential is high between Pakistan and the neighboring countries (as was the case a few months back), smuggling and hoarding was the logical outcome.
“In a globalized world, we cannot operate in isolation. If right policies are not adopted and pursued back home, we will end up no where and our farmers would be ruined as wheat is selling at a much higher price in Afghanistan, India, Iran and CARs etc,” said the Members.
They said crop has to be economically viable so that farmers keep growing it.
The Committee urged the Government to intensify efforts for lowering the prices of agri-inputs principally DAP, pesticides, quality seeds etc in addition to agricultural implements and tractors / bulldozers etc and setting up of more pesticide plants.
It called for complete elimination of the role of middle man, which is exploitative and detrimental to farmer’s interests.
The meeting was attended, among others, by Senators Shuja-ul-Mulk, Agha Pari Gul, Muhammad Abbas Komaili, Raza Muhammad Raza, Sahibzada Khalid Jan and Ratna Bhagwandas Chawla besides the senior officials of the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock & Chairman PASSCO.