WASHINGTON, July 17: The United States has agreed in principle to meet Pakistan’s request for 500,000 tons of wheat to deal with the food crisis which is threatening to get out of control, US and diplomatic sources told Dawn.

Pakistan is facing a shortage of 2.5 to three million tons of wheat this year and is seeking 500,000 tons from the United States while it is also buying hundreds thousands of tons from the market.

The Trading Corporation of Pakistan has so far awarded contracts for the supply of 656,000 metric tons of wheat to eight firms under two tenders.

Pakistani formally appealed for food assistance early last month when special envoy M.B. Abbasi and Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture Shahid Raja visited Washington.

They discussed the possibility of seeking US assistance for dealing with the food crisis when they met members of the US Senate Committee on Agriculture. They also discussed the possibility of concessionary credit facility with the committee’s chairman Senator Tom Harkin.

The delegation brought a letter from PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari for Senator Harkin, requesting 500,000 tons of wheat.

Since this was not the appropriate forum, Pakistan later submitted a formal request for assistance under the PL-480 programme to the US administration.

Sources in Washington told Dawn that the administration was now looking at various options to meet Pakistan’s request. The US Congress has placed certain restrictions on the PL-480 programme, forbidding general appropriations, so the administration has to look for other options.

Although the US president has a special programme for providing food assistance for 22 vulnerable countries, Pakistan is not among them.

Last week, when Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi met US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Washington, she assured him that the United States wanted to help Pakistan deal with the food crisis.