Islamabad
About 3.9 61 million tons of wheat procured so far under the grains procurement campaign for the year 2019-20 as against the set targets of 8.25 million tons in order to fulfill the domestic requirements as well as for exporting.
So far about 48.02 % of set target was achieved as the procurement drive was in full swing, said Food Security Commissioner in the Ministry of National Food Security and Research Dr Imtiaz Ali Gopang.
He said that Economic Coordination Committee of the Cabinet had approved wheat procurement targets of the public sector at the level of 8.25 million tons for the period under review for tackling the local needs as well as keeping the strategic reserves.
The Punjab Province has so far procured about 2.382 million tons of wheat as against the set targets of 4.500 million tons, he said adding that the province had achieved 52.94% of the set targets.
Meanwhile, Sindh Province had completed 55.53% of its set targets as it procured about 777,440 tons of wheat, he added.
However, he said that procurement campaign was also started in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces, as the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had procured about 1,536 metric tons of wheat against 450 metric tons and completed 0.34% of its set task.
The Balochistan province had so far procured about 300 metric tons of grains as compared the set targets of 100 metric tons and completed the task by 0.0034%, he added.
The Pakistan Agricultural Storage and Service Corporation (PASSCO had also procured about 800,126 metric tons of wheat and achieved about 44.45% of its set task, he added.
Dr Imtiaz further informed that 1,162 wheat purchase centers had also been established across the country to facilitate the growers for selling their produce on official fixed rates.
The food security Commissioner further informed that sufficient wheat stocks were available in the country to tackle with the domestic consumption whereas new crop has also started to arrive in the local markets.
The minimum support price (MSP) was approved at Rs 1400 per 40 kg in order to provide better rates of return.
He said that Federal Minister had directed to devise daily or weekly monitoring procedure to evaluate procurement targets. The commissioner further informed that there was sufficient supply of wheat and flour in the country and government was also going to procure extra wheat as compared to last year during this season.—APP
