By Ijaz Kakakhel

ISLAMABAD (February 04 2010): The government would take up the issue of proposed construction of four dams by India, which would affect the flow of water to Pakistan, damaging its agriculture production.

Minister for Food and Agriculture Nazar Muhammad Gondal expressed these views during a press conference on Wednesday over the droughty situation and its impact on wheat production.

He said construction of four dams by India would be discussed at expert level and after finding its solution, it would be taken up at top government-to-government level. He expressed the hope that the Foreign Office would resolve the issue in the best
interest of the country.

About wheat situation, the minister said long droughty spell would definitely affect overall agriculture production including wheat crop for the year 2009-10. “But due to better arrangement on part of the government, its affects will be minimized. The
government has already surplus quantity of wheat,” he said. The minister claimed that 18 percent of wheat sowing areas was not brought under cultivation in rain-fed areas but three percent sowing in irrigated areas had increased.

“Farmers used nine percent extra DAP fertilizer and 0.2 million tons of certified wheat seed was completely used. There was no shortage of urea fertilizer across the country. Despite water shortage in irrigated area, water was properly provided to the
wheat crop,” he said.

He claimed that there would be no shortage of wheat in the coming season. According to estimates, the minister said about 2.5 to 3 million tons stock would be available in the country that would cover all deficiencies in wheat production.

He said the country harvested a record wheat production of 24 million tons from an area of 9.05 hectares (22.36 million acres) during 2008-09, an increment of 14 percent over the previous year achievement of 21 million tons. This was made possible to
a great extent by the timely decision of fixing attractive wheat procurement price of Rs 950 per 40 kg, he said.
 

The government lent further support by procuring 9.2 million tons of wheat through Pakistan Agriculture Services and Storage Corporation (PASSCO) and the provincial food departments against last year’s procurement of 3.9 million tons. The public
sector procurement touched a record level of 10.06 million tons including carry-forward of 0.828 million tonnes, said the minister.

The government allowed export of wheat products, including wheat flour to the tune of 0.2 million tons, and removed restrictions over wheat movement across the federating units, he said.

The public sector releases in the provinces commenced in August 2009 and releases till date were 4.15 million tons. The comparable stock position of wheat in provinces and PASSCO on February 1 was 5.90 million tons while last year in the same
period it was 1.68 million tons.

In view of the increased public sector procurement target, it was estimated that on April 30, there would be a carry-forward of approximately three million tons of wheat.

The current prevailing average price of wheat flour in the market was about Rs 30 per kg and there was no complaints of any shortage of wheat/flour in the country.

According to the reports received from the provinces, the minister said total cultivated area of wheat 2009-10 crop was 22.1 million acres. Due to canal water shortage and drought forecast in certain areas, it was estimated that the wheat production
target of 25 million tons would be difficult to achieve, he said.

The public sector procurement target for 2009-10 wheat crop had been fixed as 7.5 million tons and guaranteed minimum price (GMP) had been fixed at Rs 950 per kg with the approval of ECC, he said.

About sugar crises, the minister said about 3.2 million tons of sugar production was expected this year and the TCP would import about 1.2 million tons. However, he warned that prices of sugar in international market was very high. “The government tries
its level best to stop smuggling of sugar to Afghanistan, where the commodity was sold at higher price,” he said.

Answering another question, the minister said that three projects were in pipeline for enhancing wheat storage capacity in the country.

Courtesy: CSS Forum