ISLAMABAD, March 6: The federal government is set to refix wheat target in the wake of acute water shortage in the country and also to streamline the strategy for its procurement in the coming harvest. The wheat target had been fixed around 20 million tons but it could be brought down by about 25 to 40 per cent, officials said.

A meeting of the federal committee on agriculture (FCOA) will be held with the federal minister for food and agriculture Khair Mohammad Junejo in the chair on March 18 to take stock of the overall crops position and besides firming up the production targets, would take decisions on procurement of wheat strategy, official sources told Dawn on Wednesday.

The government continues to face the uphill task of disposing of some 4.1 million tons surplus wheat despite the claims of food department that it would get rid of at least 1.3 million tons by end of current fiscal through private sector export.

No foreign country has offered to purchase Pakistani wheat in bulk dooming the government’s effort of early disposing of the surplus wheat, as its quality had been declared substandard by some countries like Iran and Iraq, sources told Dawn.

Another factor hampering the export of wheat, the sources say, was the commerce ministry failure to introduce country’s food grains as exportable commodity at the right time nor had planners taken pains to maintain the international quality standards, officials said.

An official in the food department told Dawn that the government expects to adjust a carry-over of 2.8 million tons on May l, comparatively lesser then last year’s 3.5 million.