SUPPORTING the agriculture sector especially the small farmers to achieve higher yield of crops to ensure food security in these difficult times is of immense significance. There is, however, not a good news vis-à-vis wheat production this year as the country is likely to miss the 27 million production target after heavy rains ravaged the crop in parts of the country. The latest estimates suggest that the wheat output will slash down by 1 to 1.5 million tons.
This possible reduction in wheat production will not only have far reaching negative impact on the overall GDP growth of the country but the wheat flour crisis once can surface again if the authorities concerned did not take the requisite steps. Firstly it is important that all the four provinces and PASSCO ensure timely procurement of wheat from the farmers in order to foil attempt of the hoarders to exploit the future situation of creating artificial shortage. Then strict vigilance must be ensured in bordering areas to curb any bid of its smuggling. In fact if we manage to check the smuggling, the estimated wheat production of 25.5 to 26 million tons will be adequate to meet the domestic demand as we understand the country has also wheat reserves from the previous year whilst our small farmers also maintain such stocks for what is called the rainy days. Government has so far done good to provide relief to the poor families and daily wagers plus bringing sector-based packages. Agriculture has long been neglected but to successfully meet the challenge posed by Coronavirus, the government is obliged to give special emphasis to this important sector of the economy to keep our people feeding. A special compensation package should immediately be announced for the small farmers who suffered losses due to recent rains. Then it should immediately and substantially cut the input cost of the farmers. This indeed will encourage them to bring more area under cultivation. Providing them genuine relief is important to survive these difficult days, which nobody knows when will come to an end.
