ISLAMABAD
Minister for National Food Security and Research Sikandar Hayat Bosan has said the government has decided to support the cultivation of pulses and oilseeds crops in the country.
He said this while speaking at a seminar on the wheat productivity enhancement arranged by the United States Department of Agriculture and Pakistan Agriculture Research Council here on Wednesday.
The minister said the government is considering announcing a support price for oilseeds crops while it plans to cut production cost for pulses. Both these crops compete with wheat in the winter season but their area and production have massively declined during the last decade due to the government’s preference and support for the wheat crop.
Pakistan’s food group import bill ballooned to $ 6.1 billion during the last fiscal year 2016-17. The major imports were of edible oil which increased to $ 2.02 billion including $ 1.9 billion palm oil imports while import bill for pulses increased to $ 952 million during the last fiscal year. The country also imported tea worth $ 524 million during the last fiscal.
This rang alarm bells in the finance ministry and the ministry of national food security as over focus to wheat and sugarcane resulted in a surplus of over 6 million tons of wheat and over one million tons of sugar. The government is giving a rebate on the export of both the commodities but still, they have failed to make inroads in international markets due to the high local cost of production.
Bosan urged the scientists to give practical solutions to increase per acre yield of wheat to reduce it’s under cultivation acreage to other winter crops of oilseeds and pulses. “The new government realises that investment in agriculture is as beneficial as an investment in motorways.”
He said the new premier Shahid Khakan Abbasi, his junior at the Lawrence College, Murree, has assured him that the capacity issues of the ministry, arising from the devolution in 2010, will be completely addressed on fast track basis. The ministry has failed to induct professional human resource in many of its technical departments while some of its key legislation is struck in the approval process.
The minister said that the concessional package granted to the textile sector will deliver results in years as compared to agriculture sector that will produce positive results within six months. He meant that the pro-agriculture policy of the government will help yield positive results in upcoming general elections within next ten months.
