Worrisome, indeed, it is to learn from a Recorder news report, in the midst of persisting quandary on the wheat front, irrespective of the schedule of arrival of about 0.8 million tons of wheat from Ukraine in mid-February as intimated to Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock by the Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP), desperate inquiry from Gwadar port authorities, it was revealed that the vessel carrying the shipment was yet to set sail.
Naturally, as such, it gave rise to impending fears of shortage of wheat in the country, Sindh province, in particular. For, as it is this province happens to be already threatened by scarcity of the grain. Needless to point out, it was because of this predicament that Sindh government was, initially, reluctant to comply with the Federal government's decision of allowing Pakistan Agriculture Storage and Services Corporation (PASSCO) to procure wheat from Sindh, only to acquiesce in the wake of its seemingly well-considered directive to the provinces to procure wheat, proportionately, in accordance with a prescribed formula.
Evidently, assured of effectiveness of this approach, the Federal government lost no time in evolving a 'distribution plan' for the imported wheat, hoping that it would meet the desired result in averting a looming crisis so close to harvesting of the new crop wheat. However, as ill-luck might have it, the plan could face the dread of an avoidable crisis, or so it appears. Reference in this context may be made to preparations of the distribution, in the wake of the arrival schedule provided by TCP to Minfal, and which went awry.
It appears to have a serious error on the part of the government to have so heavily relied on the Corporation to yield the desired results. Small wonder, the government refused to learn the right lessons from TCP's recent fumbles in connection with similar assignments.
Be that as may, as for now, the government seems to be left with no option other than relying, for the time being, on the TCP. This should be all the more so, as a ban happens to be in place on the private import of wheat. It will thus be in the fitness of things for the government to prevail upon TCP to extend its co-operation to Minfal in the import of 1.5 million tons of wheat, as it seems to have assigned the task, in good faith, singularly to TCP.