Shafaqna Pakistan: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government on Saturday blamed the federal and Punjab governments for the country’s worsening wheat crisis, alleging that flawed policies under the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N)-led administration had caused the third major wheat crisis in four years.
In a statement, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Finance Adviser Muzammil Aslam claimed that wheat and flour prices had reached record levels just three months after the wheat harvest, while farmers were struggling with rising production costs.
He alleged that attention was being diverted from the wheat crisis by focusing on the petroleum levy, adding that wheat was selling at around Rs11,600 per 100 kilograms from Karachi to Peshawar. According to Aslam, wheat was retailing at approximately Rs115 per kilogram, while flour prices ranged between Rs130 and Rs150 per kilogram.
Aslam attributed the price surge to higher electricity tariffs, increased fertiliser prices and rising diesel costs. He also alleged that Punjab had imposed an undeclared restriction on the movement of wheat and flour into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, adding that efforts to transport wheat from Sindh through Balochistan had also encountered obstacles.
He said Chief Minister Sohail Afridi, the chief secretary and he had repeatedly raised the issue with the federal and Punjab governments. The CM adviser said the provincial finance department had released Rs15.6 billion to the Food Department for wheat procurement. He added that the supply of 150,000 metric tonnes of wheat from the Pakistan Agricultural Storage and Services Corporation (PASSCO) to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa would begin shortly, while an agreement had also been finalised for the supply of an additional 50,000 metric tonnes.
The CM aide said Khyber Pakhtunkhwa produced only about 25 per cent of its wheat requirement and therefore relied heavily on supplies from Punjab. He added that the province’s wheat stocks were expected to exceed 350,000 metric tonnes, which he described as the highest reserves in the province’s history.
He said the provincial government was also supplying 70,000 metric tonnes of wheat to the private sector in an effort to stabilise prices.
Concluding his statement, he claimed Pakistan had never experienced such a severe wheat crisis within the first three months of the wheat season in its 78-year history.
Source: The News
