ISLAMABAD-The provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan have recommended the federal government to increase minimum support price (MSP) of wheat to Rs 1800 and Rs 1700 per 40kg respectively for the upcoming season, it was learnt reliably here Tuesday. In a meeting of the Wheat Review Committee (WRC), KP and Balochistan have given their recommendations regarding minimum support price (MSP) of wheat for the upcoming season, while Punjab and Sindh are likely to give their recommendations on the matter within next few days, official source told The Nation.
The government is likely to finalize the minimum support price (MSP) of wheat by next week after receiving the recommendations of all the provinces, the source said. The final decision in this regard will be made by the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet. For the previous year, the government had fixed the minimum support price (MSP) of wheat at Rs 1400 per 40 kG. However, farmers across the country had shown their reservations on the minimum support price (MSP) of wheat at Rs 1400 per 40kg, saying that it is too low keeping in view input cost and inflation. The farmers were demanding to increase the support price to Rs 1600 per 40kg. It is worth mentioning here that for the previous wheat crop the incumbent government had changed the minimum support price thrice. In November 2019, the Economic Coordination Committee had fixed the wheat support price at Rs1350 per 40 kg, which was later upward revised to Rs1365 per 40 kg in the same month. In March 2020, the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet had once again increased the minimum support price of wheat by Rs 35 to Rs 1,400 per 40 kg to ensure parity in wheat prices throughout the country.
Meanwhile, meeting of Wheat Review Committee (WRC) regarding fixation of minimum support price (MSP) and other related issues was held here. Federal Minister for National Food Security & Research Syed Fakhar Imam presided over the meeting. “We are looking at the wheat situation holistically for next year,” Fakhar Imam said.
Wheat Review Committee (WRC) decided all provinces will send proposals for support prices of wheat as soon as possible. Later on MSP will be approved by ECC and Cabinet. Sindh mentioned that it needs 0.5293 tons of wheat seed. While Balochistan said that it needs 15000 tons of wheat seed for next year. KP was of the point of view that Punjab Seed Corporation should decide seed rate on urgent basis so the province will get the required wheat seed.