The Agriculture Commissioner, Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Dr Muhammad Hanif Hussain, said on Thursday the country has produced about 20 million tonnes of wheat which is enough to meet domestic requirements.
Speaking in a PTV programme, he said there was no shortage of wheat in the country, however, the decision to import one million tonnes wheat was made only to meet country's emergency reserved stocks.
He said the wheat procurement campaign is in full swing throughout the country, adding Punjab has procured two million tonnes of wheat, and it is hoped that the set target of 3.5 million tonnes will easily be achieved.
Responding to a question, Dr Hanif said the reserved buffer wheat stock in the country will help maintain the price of flour.
To another question, he said last year the country exported about 300,000 tonnes of wheat, which indicated that last year the country produced more than its consumption.
Dr Hanif said last year, the private sector procured wheat worth Rs 200 billion, which helped the country meet domestic requirements, adding the government is encouraging the private sector to procure wheat which will hopefully bring very positive effects.
He said during the current year, farmers the received good price of the wheat due to farmer-friendly policy announced by the government.
The cultivation area of wheat was about 19.8 million acres in the country, he said, adding the province-wise production of wheat is: Punjab 16.1 million tonnes, Sindh 2.2 million tonnes, NWFP 1.1 million tonnes, and Balochistan 0.7 million tonnes. At present, Punjab produces country's 80 percent wheat and other provinces depend on it, he said.
When asked about the wheat stock capacity, Dr Hanif said last year, the government procured about 8 million tonnes of wheat which reflected that it has the capacity to store the wheat in large quantity.