Federal Minister for National Food Security and Research Syed Fakhar Imam said on Monday that surplus stock of rice would be exported and new international markets were being explored.
The minister made these remarks while addressing a ceremony at Agriculture University in Multan. He said that the country’s consumption of rice is 3.5 million tonnes but has a stock of over 8 million tonnes available right now.
The minister told media that he had held talks with Adviser to the Prime Minister on Commerce and Investment Abdul Razak Dawood for exploration of new global markets for rice.
Fakhar Imam also talked about the value-addition of agriculture and livestock products, saying that Pakistan was the seventh-largest producer of milk however, its value addition is only 30 percent. He said that value-addition in agriculture products could result in huge foreign exchange.
The country’s wheat production has increased by one to two maund per acre due to the efforts of the incumbent government, said the minister. He added that the government was striving to increase the production further and it was the first time that the federal and the provincial governments were monitoring wheat production on a weekly basis.
He revealed that 99 percent sowing (16.7 million acres) was completed on time in Punjab and a similar pattern was observed in other provinces as well.
Fakhar said that the government had maintained track and trace records of wheat varieties provided to the farmers. He also revealed that during the current season Pakistan had 6.25 million tonnes of certified wheat seeds and if the weather remains as expected the set target of 28.9 million tonnes of wheat would be easily achieved.
The minister accepted that there were some problems in the distribution and supply of the urea fertilizers which were being resolved by the Punjab government, however, there was no problem in the production of urea.
The production of urea was 6 million tonnes last year which has increased by 3 lac tonnes this year.
and after sometime will again import on higher prices.