KARACHI: The provincial cabinet on Thursday set a wheat procurement target for crop 2022-23 at 1.4 million metric tonnes (MMTs) at a rate of Rs4,000 per 40kg.

The meeting, held under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah at CM House, was attended by provincial ministers, advisers and special assistants, besides Chief Secretary Sohail Rajput, P&D Chairman Hassan Naqvi, PSCM Fayaz Jatoi and others concerned.

Food Minister Mukesh Kumar Chawla informed the cabinet said that four million tonnes of wheat has been grown this year which is a good crop despite the fact that lands were damaged by heavy rains and floodwaters.

Mr Chawla said that the government had already fixed Rs4,000 per 40kg as a support price but the cabinet had to fix the procurement target so that the process at the centres could be started from the second week of the current month.

Cabinet approves Rs3.4bn climate resilient farming & water management project

The cabinet after a thorough discussion decided to set a procurement target of 1.4MMT and directed the department to achieve it.

The chief minister said that procurement must be started directly from growers so that the benefit of good price being offered by the government could pass on to them.

To a question, Mr Chawla said that carry-over bardana (gunny bags) to the extent of 0.40 MMT was available with the food department. At this, the CM directed him to use the available bardana for procurement in the early-harvest regions of Mirpurkhas and Hyderabad.

The minister of food said that one million PP bags would be procured to meet the requirement.

The CM, giving policy guidelines to the food department, said that procurement from growers must be made on a ‘first come, first serves’ basis and baradna should be issued to them. He warned that the field staff found involved in misappropriation or shortage or defalcation would not be posted as head of any procurement centre.

Mr Shah also directed the department that wheat movement from and into Sindh must be checked, and asked district administrations to extend support to the department in this regard.

Climate resilient farming & water management

Adviser to the CM Manzoor Wassan, briefed the cabinet about the project, ‘Transforming the Indus Basin with Climate Resilient Agriculture and Water Management’. He said its objective was to strengthen institutional and regulatory systems and make them climate-responsive, especially in the water sector. He added that climate information would be generated for use in response to climate disasters and decision-making.

He said that the farming community’s adaptive capacity would be enhanced while creating awareness of the climate-change threats and risk reduction. He said it’s a Rs3.4 billion project being launched in collaboration with the Food & Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

The cabinet approved the project and directed the agriculture department to sensitise assembly members about benefits of the project and start holding workshops in districts.

Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases

The cabinet on health department’s request allotted 40 acres of land in Tapa Landhi of Korangi district for the construction of a state-of-art Sindh Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases.

It also approved appointment of Imtiaz Ali Shah as managing director of the Sindh Energy Efficiency & Conservation Agency.

Energy Minister Imtiaz Shaikh told the cabinet that Mr Shah had been selected from among nine candidates who had also applied for the post.

Besides, the cabinet approved nomination of Dr Nazeer Kalhoro, the director general of Sindh Institute of Animal Health, as a member of the Pakistan Veterinary Medical Council (PVMC) for the current term.

Published in Dawn, February 10th, 2023