ISLAMABAD, Feb 2: President Pervez Musharraf on Saturday asked the Federal Food Committee to plug loopholes in the system to avoid shortage of flour and other food items in the country and ensure that no such scarcity happened again.

Presiding over a high-level meeting at his camp office held to review food items availability in the country, the president took serious notice of the worst-ever wheat and flour crisis and said there was no justification for the shortage in an agricultural country.

The Minister for Food, Agriculture and Livestock, Mohammad Isa Jan Baloch, told reporters after the meeting that all routes of wheat and flour smuggling had been plugged.

The president attributed the shortage to “lack of proper management” and said it had exposed loopholes in the system. He ordered an immediate review of the availability of various commodities and strategy to ensure their provision across the country.

He expressed concern over dependence on imported edible oil as it involved heavy foreign exchange and called for efforts to increase local production.

He said that after the completion of Mirani and Subakzai dams and Thal and Kachi canals, a large area would come under cultivation, adding that there was a need to explore the possibility of cultivation of oilseeds in these areas.

He said there was no shortage of wheat and flour and 1.2 million bags of 20kg flour were available in the country.

Later talking to the media, Federal Food Committee chairman Lt-Gen (retd) Farooq Ahmad Khan said that prime minister’s inspection teams would monitor and assist the provincial administrations in implementing the government’s decision.

Talking about the availability of food items in the country, he said the production of rice was 5.5 million tons while its consumption was around 2.2 million tons.

He said that 1.3 million tons of sugar was available which was more than enough for the requirement. Similarly, a sufficient quantity of pulses — chana and moong — was available in the country.

About reports of a looming shortage of edible oil and its rising prices, the FFC chief said that international prices of the commodity were on the rise, but millers had assured the government that there would be no shortage of edible oil.

The meeting was attended by the federal minister for food and agriculture, Planning Commission deputy chairman and Minfal secretary.