Islamabad : On Thursday, Ministry of National Food Security and Research (NFSR) claimed that ample wheat stock is available with public sector and plenty is also coming in via import; resultantly there should be no wheat shortage. The wheat production for this year is 25.249 MMT.At the present total hand stocks of public sector are 4,929,716 tons. With Punjab having stocks of 2,89,021 tons, Sindh at 1,259,395 tons ,KPK having 88,045 tons, Balochistan having 65,082 and PASSCO contains 627,173 tons.
The Provincial Crop Reporting Services informed NFSR that there is shortage of 1.6MMT.Deficit was decided to be met through import of wheat through public, private and GTG basis. State-owned Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) is bringing 217,125 tons of wheat in October in 4 vessels. In November 180,000 tons of GTG wheat from Russia on to reach Pakistan in 3 ships.12 ships will be brought by TCP in Decmber, hauling 600,000 tons of wheat. Similarly in January, 13 more vessels of TCP will arrive at Pakistan with 680,000 tons. Therefore, public sector is bringing in 1,677,125 tons of imported staple.NFSR is also planning to augment strategic reserves of wheat to offset any future challenges
Giving breakup on upcoming cargoes from private sector, the ministry said the country has also received 437,078 tones of imported wheat by private sector in September. In October, 6 vessels with 360,000 tons of wheat will reach Pakistan. In November, Private sector will fetch 180,000 tons of wheat in 3 ships. In December, 2 ships carrying 120,000 tons of wheat will arrive at the country.Consequently, private sector will import more than 1 million tons of wheat. NFSR believes that the country will have more than sufficient wheat till January. And the claims of wheat shortage are being exploited by vested interest.
On the other hand, NFSR is planning to increase wheat yield through planning in coming years. For this it is focusing on giving better seed to the farmers. Farmers are advised to cultivate maximum area with approved seed to achieve higher yield per acre.NFSR has identified certified wheat seed for first time to make country wheat secure. The Federal Seed Certification and Registration Department (FSC&RD) has certified 5,15000 tones of seed for this year. For back up, FSC&RD has tested 200,000 tones seed from PASSCO.150,000 tones seed has been tested from Punjab Food Department for emergency. NFSR has also submitted summary of improved Minimum Support Price (MSP) of wheat at ECC.
Coupled with government’s efforts to curb hoarding and smuggling in recent months, the ministry views the situation to improve a lot in coming days.