The Federal Committee on Agriculture (FCA) will meet on October 12 to review the Kharif crop production and fix targets for the next Rabi crop production. The meeting would be held under the chairmanship of Federal Minister for Food and Agriculture, Nazar Muhammad Gondal. The FCA would also review the overall position of agriculture outputs and data in Rabi crops and set a target for the Karif
production of rice, cotton, maiz and sugar, Qadir Bux Baloch Agriculture Development Commissioner told APP on Wednesday. Baloch said that the Ministry of Food, Agriculture (MINFA) Minister would also brief the media at a press conference about the decisions of the FCA on October 12 at 3.30pm. He said that provincial minister for agriculture, secretaries and federal secretaries are likely to attend the meeting.
He added that FCA meeting would also be attended by representatives from Indus River System Authority (IRSA) and Ministry of Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) where the targets for the Kharif crops of cotton, rice, and sugar would be set.
Meanwhile, Baloch, to a question told APP that there were no chances of wheat shortage for next two years as the country was having sufficient stocks as well as favourable wheat crop prospects.
He said that currently there were stocks of 8.8 million tons of wheat procured by the government, which would be sufficient to cater to demands. Out of this total procurement, 2.5 million tons would be kept as strategic reserves, he said adding that the remaining 6.3 million tons would be more than sufficient for the next year.
He said that there were no chances of wheat smuggling to neighbouring countries including Afghanistan as the government has fixed Rs 950 per 40 kg wheat support price to facilitate farmers. Farmers would definitely prefer to sell their product and there are also less chances of benefit for smugglers to smuggle wheat to the next side of border, he remarked.