Food Minister holds Provinces responsible for Wheat Flour Crisis

The food minister on Friday held the provinces responsible for wheat flour crisis, saying, they were not providing wheat in their own areas.

He further said that putting the blame on the federal government for the lack of wheat and wheat flour was just a politically motivated move.

At the same time as he spoke at a news conference here on Friday, the minister also said that the soybean and canola shipments held at the ports were non-GMO and safe for people to eat.

“Now that we have the certificates from the importers and the original exporters that the seeds held at the ports were not GMO, we have released the consignments,” Mr. Cheema said, and he blamed the poultry industry for the recent rise in the price of broiler chicken meat.

Regarding the country’s wheat supply, he said that the federal government was in charge of meeting the needs of the armed forces, the GB, and the AJK.

“After the 18th Amendment, it is the provinces’ job to make sure there is enough food in their areas. Provincial cabinets finish their assessments and buy wheat at harvest time,” the minister said.

He also said that this is the third year in a row that the country is facing a wheat crisis, and the people to blame have been found.

He blamed the Punjab government for not releasing the needed amounts from the stockpiles, which led to artificial shortages.

“The officials of the food department were selling wheat illegally in open markets through flour mills and smuggling it into Afghanistan through KPK and Balochistan,” he said.

He also said that this was not the case in the provinces and that the price of wheat on the market was too high in the country.

“But nobody is asking one simple question: who has to check it? What do these magistrates, ACs, and DCs do? Why are they not able to run their districts, especially the ones next to each other?” said Mr. Cheema.

He also said that the bordering districts are prone to smuggling and stockpiling, and “what are the checkpoints there doing?” But the provinces were pointing the finger at the federal government.ECC approves 0.3m wheat import from Russia

He also said that the report of wheat flour being smuggled out of the country was not a secret and that it was up to Balochistan and KPK provinces to run their own areas.

He was upset that Pakistan was now a wheat- and cotton-importing country and that around $2 billion had been spent on wheat imports this year.

“We had thought that this year’s wheat shortage would be around 3 million tonnes, but the review committee asked provinces about their stock levels, and an order was placed to import 2.6 million tonnes of wheat,” Mr. Cheema said.

He said that 1.37 million tonnes of this amount had already been sent out, that 400,000 tonnes were being unloaded, and that the provinces were picking it up directly from the ports.

The rest will be delivered by the end of February, and then fresh crops from Sindh and Punjab will hit the markets.

We had 1.8 million tonnes of strategic reserves from last year’s crop, but it’s not fair to blame the federal government for any shortages or bad management of wheat reserves, the minister said.

“The whole mechanism, including relevant manpower and checkpoints to stop smuggling, is under the control of the provinces, so they must also take responsibility.”
He said that the situation was starting to get better because the provinces were giving out more wheat from their stocks.

“We have wheat stocks, and I’m openly asking all provinces, ‘If you need more wheat, why don’t you put in a request?'” said a federal minister. “But strangely, all provinces are holding on to their stocks for unknown reasons.”

“The provincial governments should understand and do something about agri-products. We even import oil seeds worth $4.2 billion.”

He slammed the provinces for not doing enough to promote agricultural products, saying that they should find new places to grow oil seeds, and wheat.

He even said that mafias and corrupt officials were using Pakistan’s food security system to help themselves.