ISLAMABAD: The government is devising a strategy to boost the production of pulses, Minister for National Food Security and Research Sikandar Hayat Khan Bosan said at a news conference on Friday.

The low production of pulses is in contrast with the record production of major crops like rice, sugarcane and potatoes.

The strategy will cost Rs2 billion and will involve the development of seeds of various kinds of pulses with incentives for farmers. Mr Bosan said the record production of moong this year has given hope that farmers will eliminate the pulses’ demand-supply gap.

Mr Bosan said wheat production will exceed the target of 26.1 million tonnes over an area of 22.2m acres. With the last year’s leftover stock of 4.3m tonnes, total availability of wheat will be about 30.43m tonnes, which is more than the national requirement, he said.

Meanwhile, the Federal Committee on Agriculture (FCA), which oversees strategic measures to ensure food security, set the production targets for the upcoming Kharif crops.

The national production target for sugarcane in 2017-18 has been set at 6.85m tonnes over an area of 1.16m acres.

The production target for maize will be 5.6m tonnes, moong 120,600 tonnes, mash 11,300 tonnes, chillies 118,000 tonnes and tomatoes 154,400 tonnes. Kharif tomatoes are produced in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan only.

The snow cover this year was 17pc above normal, although the rainfall in April-June will be below normal, he said, adding that the temperature in the Kharif season is expected to remain one to two degrees Celsius warmer than usual. This means that melting of snow will provide sufficient water for the Kharif crops, Mr Bosan said.

For 2017-18 Kharif crops, water availability in canal heads will remain 68.12m acre-feet (MAF) against the average usage of 67.1 MAF. At present, all provinces are getting their indented supplies in the system.

Mr Bosan said the availability of rice and maize seeds will be 96.45pc and 96pc of the total seed requirements, respectively. The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) informed the FCA that allocations of institutional credit for agriculture were Rs700bn for the current year and the disbursement was Rs409bn, which was 58.4pc of the target.

The minister said the government is continuing with the fertiliser subsidy scheme, although it expired in January. Punjab and Balochistan have agreed to provide funds for the scheme while Sindh will soon be on board, he added. However, the KP government remains noncommittal.

“Subsidy is not required in the new Pakistan,” Mr Bosan said while noting that he already held a meeting with the KP chief minister that yielded no result.

Mr Bosan said the area under cotton cultivation has shown a reduction owing to declining profitability.

The government has given a good rate to farmers due to which the price of cotton remained strong, he added.

The minister said the population census will establish the actual number of small farmers in the country. He said 97.5pc growers fall in the category of small farmers with five to 10 acres of land. The census will also establish the migration of farmers from rural to urban areas, he said.

Published in Dawn, April 22nd, 2017