Pakistan: PM Sharif directs Punjab govt to enhance wheat procurement

Islamabad [Pakistan], May 7 (ANI): Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has directed the Punjab government to enhance wheat procurement and asked food security officials to import the commodity if necessary, Pak media reported.
He gave these instructions while chairing a high level meeting in Islamabad on Friday regarding the wheat production, existing reserves and its consumption at the provincial and the national level, The Nation reported.
In the meeting, PM Sharif also issued directions for curbing smuggling of wheat. He also asked to make a comprehensive strategy to check the commodity theft and corruption in wheat case.
PM Sharif directed to present a strategy for the construction of silos to store the wheat. He further said that the construction of silos will help the country to eliminate the corruption and theft of wheat in the country, reported The Nation.
The political crossfire continued as Sharif blamed this on the previous Imran Khan-led government. He said it was unfortunate that even though Pakistan was an agricultural country, it was importing wheat due to "wrong decisions and delayed strategies".
Even delaying the announcement of the wheat support price had also led to the reduction in cultivation of the crop in an attempt to directly benefit hoarders. PM Sharif expressed the resolve to make Pakistan self-sufficient in wheat production through better strategy.
The meeting was told that the wheat production is projected to be 26.173 million tonnes against a target of 28.89m tonnes while the estimated consumption would be around 30.79m tonnes, as reported by The Nation.
Regarding wheat procurement target at the government level, the meeting was was told that Punjab had achieved 91.66 per cent of the procurement target, Sindh 49.68 per cent, Balochistan 15.29 per cent while the Pakistan Agriculture Supplies and Storage Corporation (Passco) had achieved 100 per cent of the target.
The Prime Minister was also briefed about public relief measures by the sitting government, which include provision of subsidized wheat to flour mills, availability of 10 kilogrammes of wheat flour bag at 400 rupees, supply of flour through Utility Stores in Balochistan and two metric tons of wheat to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The Prime Minister directed to identify wheat consumption of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in consultation with the provincial government to ensure supply of the required amount of the commodity, according to The Nation. (ANI)