Wheat prices

Wheat is the most important staple food crop of Pakistan. Although grown on a large area, there have been crises of short crop in the country whenever the support prices were not considered profitable by the farmers. According to some media reports, Pakistan’s wheat yield rose to 2.8 tonnes per hectare during the past decade on usage of high yielding seed varieties and an increase use of fertilizers and farm machinery. Also, the government is committed to ensure an adequate provision of food items through well-defined and targeted interventions to improve food security in the country.

According to the Pakistan Economy Watch (PEW), the country is heading towards a severe wheat crisis on account of managing the wheat stocks. Stocks with different government departments have crossed an alarming level of 5 million tonnes due to failure in exports, despite repeated efforts which included jacking up export subsidy many times. It is to be mentioned that wheat support price doubled by the last government had provided considerable incentive for wheat growers. The area under wheat cultivation has reached a record high level and production continues to climb while there is no way to tackle surpluses. Global wheat stocks are already at record level which will grow further due to better crop, making it difficult for the government to dispose off growing stocks. The situation might emerge in the favour of the middlemen who will buy wheat at reduced rates as sowing of wheat has already been started. Therefore, the federal government is requested to take notice of the situation and resolve the issue amicably.

Khan Faraz

Peshawar