“Stop eating ‘poisonous’ chicken until GMO issue solved,” warns food minister 

ISLAMABAD: After the government announced that the food ministry would facilitate the import of soybean based poultry feed, Federal Minister for National Food Security and Research (MoFS&R) Tariq Bashir Cheema has said that non genetically modified organisms (GMO) oilseeds would be imported from now. 

The minister went so far as to say people should stop eating chicken as it was harmful to health, since currently poultry was being fed with meals made from GMO oilseeds. Addressing a press conference here on Wednesday he said that GMO soybeans are toxic causing diseases like cancer.

The months-long saga of the oilseeds stuck at Port Qasim, which had taken a number of ugly turns, had recently been solved with the government making special provisions to release the oilseeds stuck at the port due to bureaucratic red-taping. The issue had stung the poultry and livestock industry quite acutely since the residual material that is left after extracting oil from oilseeds, called ‘meal’, is used to feed poultry and cattle..

He said that before 2015, GMO soybeans were not included in poultry feed, after that the poultry mafia went around and imposed taxes on local soybeans, which made imported soybeans cheaper and local soybeans more expensive. After hampering local Soybean the mafia started importing GMOs soybean while earning around Rs 2 billion rupees against im-port of the product worth RS 1 billion. Imported soy-beans are harmful to health and spread disease. “My insistence has benefited that now non-GMO soybeans are being ordered which are not harmful to health,” he claimed.

Flour prices in Islamabad 

While talking about wheat/flour prices Cheema has said that there is no shortage of wheat in the country and the strategic reserves are satisfacto-ry. He said that he will propose to the Prime Minister to provide wheat to the flour mills in Islamabad through Pakistan Agricultural Storage & Services Corporation (PASSCO). 

“The daily requirement of the forty flour mills in Islamabad is 38,000 bags of 20kg. Punjab government is not providing enough to these flour mills and resultantly there is a shortage of 17,000 bags per day,” he added.

He said that since the millers are buying from the open market to meet the shortfall, the price of wheat flour is rising. He reminded that the Punjab failed to meet its wheat procurement target for the year and approached the Federal government to meet the shortfall. He stressed that the Punjab government should provide mills in Islamabad with the required amount. 

Federal Minister Tariq Bashir Cheema said that there are 38 points in Islamabad where the government is providing wheat flour at a low price to provide relief to the public. While talking about the delay in the announcement of the support price of wheat by the Federal Government, Federal Minister Tariq Bashir Cheema said that the Sindh government has set wheat support price at Rs 4,000 per 40kg, which is very high. He hoped that the issue would be settled soon in a meeting between Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.

He said that after the 18th Amendment, prices of the essential items were controlled by the provincial governments. He stressed that provincial governments should take responsibility and take measures to ensure food security of essential items and con-trol prices.

Federal Minister Tariq Bashir Cheema said that wheat flour mills are grinding less than their capacity across the country, which is resulting in artificially high prices. He stressed that the provincial governments should take action against them.

He emphasized that after the NFC award, provincial governments have the financial resources. “If they can enhance their procurement targets, then they should,” he said.

Federal Minister Tariq Bashir Cheema said that the import bill of oilseed import is expected to be $6 billion this year. He said that the provinces should promote oil seed cultivation to reduce the burden on the exchequer. 

Federal Minister Tariq Bashir Cheema said that there are enough strategic reserves to meet the demand of Afghanistan. He said that smuggling will not be allowed and if any country requires wheat, then it should approach the government.