Minister for National Food Security and Research, Syed Fakhar Imam, has said record production of wheat, rice, and maize has been witnessed this year.

Addressing a news conference on Saturday, he said that production of the wheat crop has increased to 27.3 million tons, which is 2 million higher than the previous year.

He said this was due to the adoption of different initiatives of the government, adding that certified seeds were used that helped in achieving record wheat production.

The minister was of the view that the said this improvement will provide benefit to the country.

He said the production of rice amounted to 8.41 million tons, whereas an increase of 11pc has been witnessed in the exports of rice.

Imam said an upward trend in the export of mangoes, citrus and potato was also witnessed due to the farmer-friendly steps taken by the government.

As per the Ministry of Finance latest Monthly Economic Outlook, the agriculture sector grew by 2.8 percent during FY2021. Crops have witnessed a growth of 2.5% during FY2021 because of significant growth of 4.7% in important crops.

It said that the outlook of agriculture sector is encouraging on the basis of an uptick in input utilization. The production of farm tractors during Jul–Apr FY2021 has significantly increased to 41,327, an increase of 65.2%.

Data regarding fertilizers reveals that during Oct-Mar 2020-21, off-take was 3.2 million tons, showing an increase of 12.3% while DAP off-take stood 1,1 million tons, an increase of 2.4% over the same timeframe of previous year.