Three more wheat cargoes due this month

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan would receive four cargoes of imported wheat in the current month as one has already reached on July 5.

This was revealed to a parliamentary panel on Friday. As per details, the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on National Food Security and Research met under its chairman Muhammad Ajmal Khan.

In a briefing to the members of the committee, an official of the ministry revealed that Pakistan received bids of 500,000 tons of wheat import out of a total of three million tons.

The official further said that the PASSCO would store the imported wheat and release it to the provinces according to their need.

He said that Sindh had demanded 200,000 tons of wheat, and the KP and Punjab demanded 1,000,000 tons each.

The first cargo of imported wheat reached Pakistan on July 5 and three more cargoes would reach in the ongoing month.

ECC takes step to forestall wheat shortage

In a briefing on loan disbursement by Zarai Taraqiati Bank, its president said that farmers who owned 12 acres of land could avail loan and 90 percent loans were disbursed to them. He further said that the bank also approved loans of Rs1.5 billion in the last six months in the livestock sector.

The chairman of the committee said that the bank should also finance owners of livestock who did not own any land. If solar technology is introduced to land owners, they would be able to produce 2,500 MW of electricity and tube-wells could be converted on solar, he added.

Secretary Food Punjab Rao Muhammad Ajmal said that his department was enhancing storage capacity to secure wheat. He further said that the storage facility of the province had the capacity to secure 50 percent of the procurement of wheat.

He said no complaint against the storage facility was filed so far. The target of wheat procurement of 24,000,000 tons in the current year was four million tons less than the estimates of last year. He said that wheat was also smuggled to Afghanistan and suggested the matter should be taken up by Foreign Office with the Afghan authorities.

He said around 4.5 million tons of wheat was procured in the last season. Mills were released wheat at Rs1,765 per maund. About four million tons of wheat was in stock, he added.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022