A meeting of the Federal Committee on Agriculture (FCA), scheduled for April 1 to fix production targets of crops for coming Kharif season and review those of outgoing Rabi season, has been put off, sources said on Tuesday.
The meeting was postponed due to Federal Agriculture Minister Sikandar Hayat Khan Bosan's engagement with the Sri Lankan president who is scheduled to visit Pakistan later this week.
The ministerial sources told Business Recorder that the Sri Lankan president would leave Pakistan on April 2 and as Bosan had been nominated to be the minister-in-waiting with him, the meeting was not possible before his return. The FCA is a high powered body that meets twice a year before the start of both Rabi and Kharif seasons to fix and review crops' production targets. The food minister chairs the meeting.
The meeting that was first scheduled for March 30 had already been postponed once due to "some unavoidable" reasons, the sources added. Meanwhile, it was learnt that the provincial governments have sent their estimates to be discussed at the FCA meeting for which new date would be announced later.