ISLAMABAD, Jan 5: The government has missed this season’s wheat sowing target by a massive 200,000 hectares due to water shortage and high input costs.
Now there are little chances of reaching the 23.3 million tons wheat production of last year, let alone this year’s target of 24 million tons, sources in the Ministry of Food, Agriculture told Dawn on Saturday.
The ministry has informed the caretaker federal government that no immediate respite is expected in the countrywide flour crisis before March when the new wheat crop will be ready for harvest in parts of Sindh.
The flour price that hovered around Rs15-17 per kg a couple of months back has now touched Rs38 per kg in many parts of the country as hoarders and smuggles are enjoying a free ride because the “white gold” has vanished from the market.
The government has set 8.5million hectares wheat sowing target for this season. But figures available with Minfal at the end of the season (Dec 20-25) show that wheat has been sown on 8.3 million hectares which is 96 per cent of the target.
Sowing in Sindh, the second largest wheat producer after Punjab, and the NWFP remained lower than expected as farmers preferred to switch over to cash crops, the sources said.
Last year, the country had sown wheat on almost the same area but with relatively better availability of water. However, this Rabi, farmers are unable to provide the first vital water to the crop as they are facing 22 per cent irrigation water shortage amidst reports of massive damage by termite in Barani areas.
DAP fertiliser prices reached Rs1,600 per bag this season compared to Rs1,200 last year.
“We hope that farmers will utilise dampness in the soil provided by ongoing rains and will sow more wheat,” Qadir Bakhsh Baloch, Agriculture Development Commissioner, Minfal, told Dawn.
He said keeping in view the prevailing conditions it was still a success to reach the last year’s sowing target.
“Yes, we have missed this year’s target by 200,000 hectares. But, I am sure wheat is still being sown in some areas,” he observed.
FLOUR CRISIS: The sources said the caretaker government lacked any plan to streamline supply to Afghanistan despite a Minfal’s warning that 2.1 million tons of flour would be exported to that country this season compared to 0.6 million of last year.
The paramilitary forces and Sindh-based flour millers have submitted two separate reports to Minfal indicating that 1.5 million tons additional flour would be smuggled to Afghanistan. Minfal has shared this information with the federal government, but very little has been done so far.
