STAFF REPORT ISB: The government has so far procured about 600,000 tons of wheat through its wheat procurement campaign for the year 2014-15 across the crop sowing areas in the country.
During the current crop season, the government will procure about 8 million tons of wheat to fulfill the domestic requirements as well as keep the strategic food reserves, said Deputy Food Security Commissioner, Dr. Imtaiz Ahmad Gopang.
“This year, the favorable weather conditions, timely sowing of crop and availability of agri-inputs contributed in healthy crop production as indicated by the crop outlook”, he added.
He said that during the current campaign, Punajb Province has so far procured about 22,626 tons of grains as against the set targets of 4.5 million tons.
He further informed that wheat crop sowing in the province had witnessed 2.75 percent increase during the last sowing season and it has achieved about 99 percent sowing targets.
He informed that the wheat crop was cultivated over 6.5 million hectares as compared to set targets of 6.69 million hectares for the period under review.
The Deputy Food Security Commissioner said that Sindh has procured over 485,000 tons of wheat against the set targets of 1.3 million tons for current crop season.
This year wheat cultivation in province has recorded 4 percent increase to reach over 1.122 million hectares against the set targets of 1.100 million hectares, he added.