LAHORE: Punjab Minister for Agriculture, Livestock and Dairy Development Syed Ashiq Hussain Kirmani has categorically stated that there is no shortage of wheat in the province, adding that the government has decided not to import wheat during the current sowing season. He said the provincial government will purchase wheat for its reserves at Rs3,500 per maund.
Kirmani, who hails from a farming family, said he believes the Rs3,500 per maund support price is fair and will ensure a reasonable profit for growers.
Talking to journalists, the minister said that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has sufficient wheat stocks in its reserves but has not released even a single maund so far. “Punjab cannot be blamed for their management decisions,” he remarked.
The minister said that recent floods had damaged crops on 12 million acres of land. To compensate the affected farmers, the government has begun providing Rs20,000 per acre as financial assistance.
Kirmani expressed confidence that Punjab would achieve its wheat cultivation target of 16.5 million acres this season. He reiterated that the province has sufficient stocks to meet its needs and that no wheat import will be allowed during the sowing period. He noted that farmers suffered losses last year due to an oversupply of wheat, which led to a decline in market prices.
Kirmani further said that the Punjab government had spent Rs10 billion on agricultural research and Rs15 billion on the purchase of modern farm machinery over the past two years. He added that by next year, 10,000 super seeders would be available across the province to help reduce incidents of stubble burning.
The minister said that Punjab faced unprecedented floods this year, affecting 2.16 million acres of land, out of which 1.19 million acres (55 percent) of standing crops were declared damaged. Major losses were reported in rice, sugarcane, cotton, fodder crops, orchards, and vegetables.
He said the government had provided interest-free loans worth Rs150 billion to farmers under the Kissan Card Programme for the purchase of seeds and fertilizers. About one million farmers owning up to 25 acres of land are benefiting from this initiative.
Kirmani announced that the price of certified wheat seed had been reduced from Rs6,500 to Rs5,500 per 50kg bag. Both the federal and provincial governments, he said, will procure wheat at Rs3,500 per maund, while 6.2 million metric tons will be purchased to maintain strategic reserves.
He added that Punjab’s Wheat Production Plan has been approved and divisional commissioners have been assigned their respective procurement and sowing targets. The minister said he is personally visiting divisional headquarters to accelerate the ongoing wheat sowing campaign.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
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