Islamabad:
A panel of the National Assembly expressed its embarrassment on Thursday in the face of the supply of incorrect statistics concerning the production of cultures in the country by Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (Park).
The Standing Committee of the National Assembly on Food Security ordered an investigation to identify those responsible for providing them with incorrect information and those who have accepted the park report.
A member of the committee, Rana Muhammad Hayat, noted that by a Murabba of land – which is equivalent to 25 acres – 1,400 maunds of sugar cane are produced in Pakistan.
“However, park officials say that only 600 sugar cane maunds are produced from a murabba.
During the meeting, one of the members, the MNA MOIN WATTO, asked if the government had designed a wheat purchasing policy from farmers.
The food secretary replied that a summary concerning the wheat policy had been sent to the Prime Minister, who had trained a committee to work on wheat policy. This committee is currently working on recommendations concerning wheat policy.
He said that no wheat would be imported from any country this year and that neither the federal government nor the provinces will buy wheat this year. “The provinces are currently having enough wheat reserves. There will be no problems related to wheat in the country this year. To improve the storage capacity of wheat, the private sector will be involved,” he added .
Watto noted that in this case, the government must ensure that farmers are free to sell their wheat to whom they choose. “If wheat or potatoes are transported in other provinces, let this happen,” he said.
