Pakistan has Sufficient Wheat Reserves to Meet Demand

A high-level meeting on food and agriculture was informed on Tuesday that there are sufficient strategic reserves of wheat in the country. The meeting of the Committee on food, agriculture, livestock and fisheries was chaired by Federal Minister for National Food Security and Research Tariq Bashir Cheema. Secretary Ministry of National Food Security and Research Zafar Hassan briefed the committee on the situation of wheat stock in the country. He informed the committee that there are sufficient strategic reserves of wheat in the country and the current public sector reserves are more than last year’s level. Managing Director of Pakistan Agricultural Storage and Services Corporation Ltd. (PASSCO) Saeed Ahmad told the participants that the rains and floods had caused damage to the wheat stock at the government warehouses. Wheat fit for human consumption has been successfully separated from the damaged stock and is being supplied, he said. Food Security Commissioner Waseem-ul-Hassan apprised the forum that subsidized free wheat seeds will be delivered to the farmers in the flood-affected farmers by 10th November. The forum was apprised that a digital application has been developed to deliver and distribute seeds among the flood-affected farmers. The minister appreciated the initiative and said that the same can be used in the future to provide direct subsidies to farmers. The committee members also directed to prepare an umbrella project for the livestock in the flood-affected areas to control diseases in animals and mitigate the shortage of fodder. The meeting was attended by provincial ministers for agriculture, livestock, and fisheries, and officials of the relevant departments from all provinces, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and Gilgit-Baltistan (GB).