2015 wheat production target: how to realize your dreams

Given the countrys per capita wheat consumption of 8.2 kilogram per month with the population growth of about 2 percent every year, Pakistan would be enjoying a comfortable surplus exportable stock of 9 million tons of wheat by 2015. This is, of course, if it achieves the production target of 30 million tons envisioned under the draft five-year agriculture strategy.
But since the gap between planning and implementation has mostly been yawning, one must highlight the steps the government must take to realize its wheat-ly dream. The growth in wheat output must come in tandem with better storage capacity, water availability, increased land utilization and smuggling-proof borders.
Total storage capacity of wheat in the country has been stagnant for the last five years - about 4.3 million tons in the public sector and nearly 1 million tons in the private sector. This is clearly insufficient to meet the needs and falls short of the quantity procured by the government. Resultantly, a significant part of the stock is left spoiling in the open at the whims of farm rats.
But while the government must increase its storage capacity to ensure the targeted produce isn wasted, it also has to ensure that it actually meets the targeted increment in annual output, which doesn seem very promising given current farm dynamics.
Since crop yield is more strongly correlated to total output than land area, the need of the hour is mainly to focus on increasing yield with the help of technological advancement for low cost seed and efficient farming techniques.
In addition, proper water supply should be restored because acute water shortage for wheat would make it impossible to achieve the target. Wheat crop requires ample water supply at all crucial stages of harvesting and sowing, so unless the issue of water shortage is resolved, wheat production target is bound to suffer.
Lastly, a vital factor that needs to be addressed is the smuggling of commodity which roughly accounts for more than 15 percent of the total wheat produced every year, according to BR Estimates. Surely, one doesn want all that excess produce being secretly sold outside the country leaving the government without exchequer and leaving consumers with costly bread.