Increase in production despite expensive electricity and fertiliser
Speaking about the high production of wheat this year, Ehsanul Haque said that this year one reason was favorable weather. In the past few years, the crops were damaged by rains and hail during wheat harvest, but this year there was not much rain during the harvest, due to which the yield was good.
He said that due to the good harvest of the last cotton crop, the farmer got good money which he invested in the wheat crop. “Despite the fact that fertilizers are expensive and electricity rates are high, wheat has increased.”
He said that the benefit of fixing the support price of wheat higher by Sindh and Punjab also resulted in more cultivation of wheat.
He said that in this regard, Sindh took timely action that they announced the support price first. Punjab later announced a higher support price which, had it been done in time, might have yielded more.
Shamsul Islam, an expert in the field of agricultural commodities, also attributed the favorable weather as the reason for the increase in production, along with the increase in the support price also played a role in this regard.
He said that last year the support price of wheat was 2200 rupees per maund, this year it was 4000 rupees per maund in Sindh and 3900 rupees per maund in Punjab.
However, he said that the government’s claim of higher production was too early and it should have announced it after the month of May when wheat harvesting is completed across the country.
According to him, the government was in a hurry to make this announcement because of the economic situation.
