PESHAWAR: The annual wheat deficit of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is 3.6 million metric tonnes, officials told the provincial assembly’s standing committee on food on Wednesday.

They said the province required five million tonnes of wheat every year but its annual wheat production totalled around 1.4 million tonnes, according to an official statement.

The committee met here with its head, Malik Wajidullah, in the chair.

The other participants included MPAs Zubair Khan and Sardar Khan, deputy secretaries of the food and law departments, deputy and assistant secretaries of the provincial assembly, provincial food director, Peshawar’s ration controller, assistant advocate general, and secretary of the Pakistan Flour Mills Association.

Participants discussed the growing wheat production in the province and decided to take the issues about flour transportation from Punjab to KP to the provincial assembly, read the statement.

Officials said effective steps were being adopted to control flour crisis and cultivate more wheat in the province.

They said the province had a population of 40 million, while its average per capita wheat consumption was 124kg.

The participants decided that the chief minister would be formally informed about the problems related to the transportation of wheat flour from Punjab to KP, while a resolution about it would be presented in the provincial assembly for approval.

The committee chairman directed authorities to improve the quality of flour and urged the food and agriculture departments to work together to achieve goals.

Published in Dawn, December 8th, 2022