LAHORE: Giving credit to his government for a “bumper wheat crop” this season, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has directed strict action against hoarders, fearing they might create a shortage leading to panic buying in the market.

With wheat harvesting still in progress, Mr Sharif claimed in a tweet on Sunday the country had achieved the highest output this season in a decade. He attributed the production of 27.5 million tonnes of wheat crop to the government’s efforts to ensure timely decisions, provision of quality seed, uninterrupted supply of fertiliser and Kissan package.

“The government’s future goal is to make Pakistan a wheat-exporting country again after meeting domestic needs,” he said.

The prime minister also chaired a meeting to review the official wheat procurement drive. He was told that there were 2.1m tonnes of grain carryover stocks, taking the overall availability of the commodity during the year 2023-24 to 29.6m tonnes, reducing the import requirement to around 1m tonnes.

He was quoted as directing the federal and provincial wheat procurement departments to procure maximum grain directly from farmers instead of intermediaries.

He also sought an increase in the procurement target of all the agencies concerned and availing the required financial resources from the commercial banks.

The meeting was attended by federal minister for national food security Tariq Bashir Cheema, prime minister’s adviser Ahad Cheema, special assistant Tariq Bajwa, provincial minister for industries S.M. Tanveer and officers of relevant departments.

Published in Dawn, May 1st, 2023