Staff Reporter Islamabad
Federal Minister for National Food Security and Research Syed Fakhar Imam says the country has sufficient availability of basic food commodities.
In a statement issued on Friday, Syed Fakhar Imam said that this year under the leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan Pakistan has achieved the highest ever production of sugarcane, rice, maize, mung beans, and onion.
The federal government is paying special attention to enhance production of main food commodities in the country.
The government has allocated Rs. 277 billion under the Prime Minister’s Agriculture Emergency Program. Moreover, the government has provided over Rs. 50 billion for fertilizer, seed, and pesticide subsidies.
He said that the Kisaan Card and relief on agricultural credit mark-up have also supported investments in farm production.
These timely initiatives have helped generate all time record production of many commodities.
The minister informed that the production of sugarcane, rice, maize, mung beans, and onion for 2021-22 is estimated to be highest ever. Sugarcane production is estimated at 87.67 million tons which is 8% higher than that of last year. The Rice production is estimated at 8.84 million tons which is 5% higher than that of last year.
He said that the Maize production is estimated at 9.0 million tons. Mung bean production is estimated at 268 thousand tons from an area of 295 thousand hectares showing an increase of 27% and 31% in area and production respectively over the last year.
The production of onion has also been the highest ever at 2.4 million tons. The government has formed a high-level national price monitoring committee to keep a close eye on the availability and price stability of essential food items.
