FCA says targets for Kharif cash crops missed

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Committee on Agriculture (FCA) Monday conceded of failing to achieve targets for main cash Kharif crops thus strengthening the impression that country will again be spending over $3 billion. Besides importing two billion dollar worth of palm oil annually, the country will also import nearly one million tones sugar worth $500 million and over three million bales of cotton worth $120 million and this multi-billion dollar import bill is for a country whose GDP comprises quarter of agri produces.

The federal minister for food & agriculture, Nazar Mohammad Gondal who skipped most of the questions for not meeting the targets of Kharif crops and ignoring one of the crops which have an over two billion dollar import bill by saying, The ministry is doing very well. Making a ritual announcement after the FCA, which met biannually with Federal Minister for Food & Agriculture in chair, the minister terming PPP government s victory for enhancing Guaranteed Minimum Price (GMP) of wheat from Rs650 to Rs950 per 40 kg that persuaded the farming community to treat the wheat crop as cash crop . About MinFA s failure to achieve Kharif set targets, the minister has not a single justification for decrease in the production but terms the natural calamities like CLCV and drought as the main causes in the decrease in production of sugar and cotton - the two main cash crops of the country. Against the targets for the Kharif crops 2009-10, the committee, which meets twice a year had fixed an ambitious production target of cotton at 13.36 million bales now projects expected cotton production of twelve million bales nearly a shortfall of 1.4 million bales. The sugarcane target was 52.5 million tonnes but the committee anticipates a 48 million tonnes with a shortage of over four million tonnes but interestingly the sugar production is estimated as 3.5 million tonnes, the minister informed. With sugarcane production of 50 million tonnes in the last season, the sugar production was reported at 3.2 million tones and with a carry over of 1.2 million tonnes of previous year thus enabled the country to meet the consumption demand of 4.2 million tones. With this anticipated shortfall in sugarcane production, food minister informed the media that the government has already decided to import one million tonnes of sugar during the coming crushing season, which normally starts in the first week of November.

To another question the minister said that the millers attitude of not paying the farmers in time and the maltreatment at mills gates convinced growers to shun sugarcane this year. Sharing the targets for Rabi crops 2009-10, the minister said that the wheat target for the coming crop has been increased from 24 million tonnes to 25 million tonnes with no change in GMP of the commodity. However, the target for the public procurement has been increased from 6.5 million tonnes to 7.5 million tonnes. The minister also did not agree with the IRSA advisory committee working out of 28-30 per cent water deficit in Rabi season saying that the IRSA submitted an availability of 26 MAF against last year s 25 MAF for the Rabi crops. With a total requirement of 35 MAF for the Rabi season, the minister elaborates that now the provinces will get more shares in water against last year. With an availability of 25 MAF Punjab got 13.91 MAF water, Sindh 10.561, NWFP 0.7 MAF and Balochistan 1.02 MAF. About the availability of fertilizer, the minister informed the media that both the fertilizers i.e. urea and DAP are sufficient to cater the needs of the farmers for the Rabi crops. The meeting was also attended by provincial ministers fro agriculture from Punjab and Sindh, federal secretary agriculture and textile industries, secretaries of agriculture from Punjab and Sindh and high officials of federal and provincial concerned ministries and departments and a representatives of SBP and ZTBL.