New Wheat Rate In Punjab And Sindh
Punjab has not set the official wheat rate for the 2025 season, causing wheat prices to drop, with farmers selling at Rs 2,800-2,900 per maund.
Similarly, the Sindh government has also not yet announced the official wheat rate for the new wheat season 2025. The Punjab government had fixed the official price of wheat at Rs 3,900 per maund for the last wheat season of 2024 but did not purchase it. Similarly, the caretaker government of Sindh had fixed the support price of wheat at Rs 4,000 per maund for the wheat season of 2024.
The support price of wheat was fixed in the fifth meeting of the provincial cabinet chaired by Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz. The Punjab cabinet had fixed the support price of wheat at Rs 3,900 per maund for the last wheat season of 2024, but the Punjab government had not opened wheat procurement centers.
It may be recalled that on November 8, 2023, in a meeting chaired by Caretaker Chief Minister Punjab Mohsin Naqvi, the support price of wheat was fixed ar Rs 4,000 per maund and the price of sugarcane at Rs 400 per maund. In the same meeting, the Punjab government had decided to impose a complete ban on the wheat quota system. In Punjab, wheat was cultivated on an area of ??16 million acres , a target of 40 maunds of wheat per acre was set, a wheat release policy was also approved and the wheat release price was fixed at Rs 4,700 per maund, that is, the Punjab government had released wheat to flour mills at the rate of Rs 4,700 per maund.
Today, the price of one kilogram of wheat is Rs. 80, the retail price of one kilogram of fine flour is Rs. 94, the price of one kilogram of milled flour is Rs. 105, the price of a 15-kilogram bag of flour is Rs. 1275, the price of 20 kilograms of flour is Rs. 1685, and the price of 40 kilograms of wheat has reached Rs. 3200.
Wheat Rate hit record highs
According to a report received from Islamabad, the wheat rate in Pakistan has broken all records of seventy-eight years. According to this report, for the first time in the history of Pakistan in 2022, the price of wheat has reached three thousand six hundred rupees per forty kilograms.
The report states that after the price of a 40-kilogram bag of wheat in Islamabad and Rawalpindi rose to Rs 3,600, flour mills have increased the price of a 15-kilogram bag of flour from Rs 1,300 to Rs 1,500 to Rs 1,600.
The Pakistan Flour Mills Association has said that if the government quota is not increased, the prices of bread, double roti, and bakery products will increase in the next few days.
Problems Of Agriculture In Pakistan
In a nation like Pakistan, where the security of one’s food supply is critical for those living in poverty, it is imperative to take on the issue of increasing food production. According to estimates, food production must increase by at least 40% until 2025 in order to meet the long-term demands of the 33% predicted increase in population. Pakistan’s agriculture faces significant difficulties in meeting the nation’s food needs as a result of the population’s growth, the irregular climate, and low crop production.
The management of crop production presents many challenges for Pakistani farmers, including the absence of soil testing on farms, the unavailability and poor quality of fertilizers, loss during harvest, a lack of warehouses, machinery, and equipment, and, above all, a deterioration in soil fertility. In Pakistan, only tractors and cultivators are used for agricultural mechanization. The country is experiencing major issues with the production gap as a result of conventional farming methods and a lack of creative technology use. Production and average yield are vastly different.
Furthermore, the country’s food security policies are gravely in jeopardy due to the sharp rise in population. A significant increase in agricultural output is essentially needed to ensure the nation’s agricultural future. To increase agricultural output and close yield gaps, the agricultural sector should utilize the most recent technological advancements. Land, design, farm equipment, seeds, fertilizer, irrigation, transport, and other resources are needed for agricultural operations.
Farmers need to have simple access to finance in order to quickly and conveniently acquire these supplies. Because our farmers are so impoverished, the loans that banks offer to them are insufficient. The review article will briefly go over the mentioned problems, as well as some potential solutions that may be used in Pakistan’s environment to increase agricultural output there.
