The wheat procurement departments in public sector have purchased 4 million tons of wheat against the target of 6.57 million tons for the current year, officials said. According to officials at the Federal Ministry for Food, Agriculture and Livestock (MINFA) the government has set wheat procurement target for the year at 6.57 million tons and so far all the public sector organisations including Pakistan Agriculture Storage and Services Corporation (Passco) and provincial food departments have procured 4 million tons.
Sources further said that the government allocated Rs 162 billions for the procurement of wheat in all the four provinces out of which so far an amount of Rs 95 billion has been spent. Giving the break-up of the wheat procurement drive in all the four provinces, sources maintained that the Sindh Food Department has procured over 1.181 million tons, which is 90 percent of the total target of 1.3 million tons, the Punjab government purchased over 2.122 million ton, which is nearly 61 percent of set target of 3.5 million tons, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government bought 44,000 tons and Balochistan government purchased 55,000 tons of wheat.
According to the sources this year per acre wheat production in Pakistan has increased from an average 30 muands per acre to 40 muands per acre and therefore country's overall wheat production would cross the estimated target of 25 million tons. The government has set wheat procurement target for Passco at 1.3 million tons while it has procured 0.6 million tons of the commodity, which is 45 percent of the set target. Passco has purchased 0.577 million ton of wheat in Punjab, 12,000 tons in Sindh and 1,000 tons in Balochistan so far.
The officials said that open market prices of the commodity in many parts of the country are ranging between Rs 850 to Rs 900 per 40 kg, while the public sector organisations are purchasing it on official rate ie Rs 950 per 40 kg. Potohar region has also produced record wheat over 2 million tons but still its price in the open market is over and above all the other parts of the country ie Rs 950 per 40 kg.
"Pakistan would be in a position to export more wheat in next season as we are expecting a bumper crop this year. Current year's total wheat output would be around 26 million tons while domestic requirement is 21.7 million tons per annum. Keeping in view the expected wheat production 4 million tons surplus wheat to be produced," official added.
The farmers across the country had brought nearly 9 million hectors under wheat cultivation which was 3.5 percent low as compared to last year's sowing area, but due to last year's devastating floods agriculture lands in the country has become more fertile which has resulted in increasing the per acre yield.
According to officials, Sindh province so far has recorded 4.2 million tons of wheat production, which is 0.6 million tons above the government set target of 3.6 million tons. Similarly in Punjab the government set wheat production target for 2011 at 19.2 million tons but total production would be around 20 million tons. Wheat crop was sown over 6.68 million hectares in Punjab, while in the Sindh Province about 1.08 million hectares. In Khyber Pakhtunkhawa, the wheat crop was sown over 0.73 million hectares and in Balochistan it was cultivated over 0.32 million hectares.