ISLAMABAD: Federal Committee on Agriculture (FCA) would meet on March 31 to review the performance of Rabi crops and set the production target of Kharif crops for season 2022-23.
The committee would take stock of the output of wheat, which is major cash crop of the country and vital source to fulfill the domestic requirements of staple food, said an official in the Ministry of National Food Security and Research.
The meeting which would be chaired by Federal Minister for National Food Security and Research Syed Fakhar Imam also be attended by the provincial ministers of agriculture, where as representative of other concerned department would also attend the meeting, he added.
He said that FCA would also review the output of other minor crops including pulses and oil seeds, besides it set the target for Kharif crop for season 2022-23.
The FCA would set the targets of major Kharif crops including cotton, rice, sugarcane and maize to fulfill the domestic requirements as well as exporting, he added.
The meeting would also take stock of the availability of major agriculture inputs including certified seeds, fertilizers, pesticides credit arrangements by the different lenders and micro-finance institutions throughout the season across the country.
Meanwhile, the government would procure about 6 million tons of wheat during current season in order to fulfill the domestic requirements as well as keeping the strategic reserves, besides keeping demand and supply at smooth level in local markets across the country, he added.
He further informed that provincial governments have also finalized their all arrangements to initiate procurement campaign for current season, adding that the respective governments have also established their procurement centers to facilitate the growers to sell their produces at official fixed rates
Besides, the Pakistan Agriculture Storage and Services Corporation (PASSCO) has also setup the procurement centers in different areas and distributed areas in zones, he said adding that arrangements for the distribution of gunny bags were also aligned to facilitate the farmers.
At present abundant wheat stocks of over 3.036 million tons were available to meet local consumption, adding that available stocks were sufficient to tackle with the needs of 77 days with average consumption of 40, 000 tons per-day, he added.
He further informed that local wheat consumption for current season were estimated at 30.97 million tons with an average per-capita consumption of 115 kg per annum.