Strategic wheat stocks of the country are recorded at 8.644 million tonnes, which are sufficient to tackle with the domestic food requirements as well as maintaining smooth demand and supply in local markets during current food year.
The food year in the country starts from May 1 to April 30 every year and government has also allowed import of 3 million tonnes of wheat to bridge the gap, said Food Security Commissioner in the Ministry of National Food Security and Research Dr Imtiaz Ali Gopang. Talking to APP, he said that traditionally government was releasing average 46,300 metric tonnes per-day, including 25,000 metric tonnes by Punjab, 10,000 metric tonnes by Sindh, 5,000 metric tonnes by Khyber Pakthunkhwa, 1,000 metric tonnes by Balochistan and average release of 5,300 metric tonnes by Pakistan Agriculture Storage and Supply Corporation.
Out of the total stocks, about 5.143 million metric tonnes was available with Punjab, whereas Sindh has wheat stocks comprising on 933,006 metric tonnes, he added. He further informed that the provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan have grains’ reserves of 233,606 metric tonnes and 29,630 metric tonnes respectively, adding that over 2.498 metric tonnes of wheat were available with PASSCO. Food Security Commissioner said that besides the public sector, the private sector had also procured over 3.172 million metric tonnes of wheat, out of which about 2.003 million metric tonnes have been grinded, adding that private sector reserves were so far recorded at 1.139 million metric tonnes.
Dr Imtiaz said that government was taking measures to enhance area under wheat cultivation by ensuring availability of all agriculture inputs including certified seeds, fertilizers and access to credit.
