LAHORE (March 02 2004): Kissan Board Pakistan (KBP) has asked the government to order probe to unearth elements responsible for on going wheat flour shortage.

Mirza Ibrahim Mughal Central Secretary General of KBP told Business Recorder here Monday that people of Pakistan are facing manifold problems due to failure of agriculture policies of present government.

He maintained that food departments blindly followed the conditions of international donor agencies and avoided purchasing wheat from the local growers at the rate of Rs 300 per 40 kg. But now the government is spending over Rs 500 per 40 kg for importing wheat from Australia.

Responding to a question he said that present wheat crop situation is satisfactory, which is still passing through vegetation growth period.

He suggested the federal agriculture ministry to set up wheat monitoring centers in all wheat growing areas. He recommended proper use of phosphorus fertiliser.

TRAINING PROGRAMME: Kissan Board Pakistan (KBP) will organise training programme for the growers of Sindh in a bid to update their knowledge about latest agriculture techniques.

The proposed programmes would be held in Lahore in which the participants would also be educated about slashing the cost of production.

A spokesman of KBP said here on Monday that as many as 70 farmers of NWFP have already successfully completed the training programme in which agriculture experts from private as well as public sectors gave lecturers on various agriculture issues.

Courtesy Business Recorder