The government has fixed the wheat support price for next year at Rs 1,050 per 40 kilogrammes. The decision to fix the price was taken in a meeting presided over by Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani at the Prime Minister’s House on Wednesday. The meeting was informed that wheat support price would duly cover increased cost of production of wheat this season and wheat would be procured by PASSCO. The meeting decided that the shortage of fertilizers, estimated at one million tonnes for Rabbi crop, will be met through expeditious import.
The subsidy of Rs 25 billion on import of fertilizers by the government of Pakistan would benefit the growers. It was also decided in the meeting that the import of fertilizers must be ensured during the month of December, which was the highest consumption period as far as wheat crop was concerned. A committee comprising federal ministers for finance and industries was set up to remove bottlenecks in distribution of fertilizers and disparity between imported and domestic urea. The Committee will also ensure the elimination of black marketing, profiteering and hoarding by middle
men.
