November 17, 2008	Monday	Ziqa'ad 18, 1429

PESHAWAR, Nov 16: With only two weeks left for sowing wheat crop, the NWFP Agriculture Department could not ensure supply of seeds to farmers owing to delay in its procurement, growers complained.

Farmers said that sowing season for wheat crop in Peshawar valley was up to November 30 but certified seed was still not available at prescribed storehouses of the agriculture department. Farmers complained that sowing season was about to end particularly in plain areas of the province and further delay in supply of seeds would affect the next year’s produce.

Peshawar valley is considered the “food basket” of NWFP due to its land fertility and irrigation system. The valley comprising five districts grows variety of crops including wheat, sugarcane, tobacco, vegetables and fruits.

Officials in the agriculture department said that the province total seed requirement for the current sowing season was over 8,000 metric tons while the government could arrange 6,000 metric tons of certified seed. The government sells 50 kilogram seed to the farmer at Rs1,650.

The government had sent officials of the agriculture department for purchasing seeds at various agriculture farms of Punjab Seeds Corporation. NWFP Agriculture Department also supplies seeds to the directorate of agriculture Fata. They said that the issue surfaced after the government placed ban on private seed supply companies following reports that those companies supplied poor quality of seeds and pesticides to the farmers.

NWFP with over 22 million population largely depends on Punjab and imports wheat and pays about Rs2 billion subsidy. The province total wheat consumption is 3.1 million tons annually. The shortage of seed has surfaced at a time when the province drastically needs bumper crop of wheat to overcome food shortage and end dependency on Punjab province.

Minister for Agriculture Arbab Ayub Jan said that his department had dispatched senior officials to Punjab for the procurement of certified seeds. He said that the province had produced only 1,500 metric tons of seed this year which could not meet local growers’ requirement.

He said that 20,000 bags of seed, each bag containing 50 kilograms wheat, were likely to arrive in the province on Monday. He said that the department had made arrangements to dispatch seeds to the prescribed warehouses for onward distribution among the farmers in all 24 districts. He said that the department would supply different varieties of seed that could be sown till December 10.

The minister said that though farmers also produced seeds for own requirements, yet one of the reasons of the growing demand of seed was increase in wheat support price which had encouraged local farmers to grow more wheat. The federal government had increased wheat support price from Rs625 per 40 kilogram to Rs950 in a bid to make the country self sufficient in food grain.