‘Sindh still awaits Centre’s nod to export surplus wheat’

Karachi
Sindh could soon be facing a serious storage crisis as a request sent by provincial authorities for the Centre's permission to export surplus wheat stock still remains pending with the federal government.
This note of warning was issued by Sindh Minister for Food, Mines and Minerals Manzoor Hussain Wassan at Wednesday's meeting of the provincial cabinet’s food committee. “Any further delay in granting us permission could have devastating effects on Sindh's agriculture sector as there would be no storage space when next year's wheat harvest begins in March," said the minister.
Wassan added that the province was faced with such a perplexing situation owing to ‘a seriously ill-advised decision’ of the federal government to import 700,000 tonnes of 'questionable quality' wheat from Ukraine.
He said the wheat had been imported from Ukraine during the last months of 2014 and the federal government had decided to release it to Sindh at a time when the province already had surplus stocks.
The minister asserted that the federal government had been approached several times over the issue but a serious response was yet to be received.
Wassan said the province had faced similar discriminatory policies at the hands of the federation in the past, including denial of its due water share, which had caused serious repercussions for the economy of the province.
He said the present issue could also cause irreparable damage to the agriculture sector as the necessary decisions were not timely taken by federal government.
Taking stock of the situation, when the next wheat crop would be ready in March, 2016, the meeting observed that appropriate measures must be taken to properly store and preserve the compulsory food commodity.
The food committee will meet again on November 30, as certain members of the committee, including senior officials, could not attend yesterday's meeting.
Those who did attend included Sindh Secretary for Food Department Laeeq Ahmed, Special Secretary for Sindh Finance Department Noor Alam and Sindh Food Director Ahmed Ali Qureshi.
On October 13, the provincial cabinet had also taken stock of the surplus wheat situation in the province and discussed the impact of the federal government's ill-time decision to import from Ukraine.