ISLAMABAD: Minister for National Food Security and Research Syed Fakhr Imam on Friday presided over a meeting of provincial counterparts to monitor the ongoing sowing of wheat in the country.

Punjab Minister for Agriculture Hussain Jahania Gardezi informed the meeting that his province was facing shortage of fertiliser.

Mr Imam said immediate steps would be taken to ensure that all that`s needed for production are available in ample supply.

He said the federal government in the meantime has no worries about the availability of urea as the gas companies have been directed to streamline supply of gas to the fertiliser plants for smooth production of fertiliser.

A recent meeting on fertiliser held at the finance ministry was informed that the supply of gas to SNGPL-based urea plants will assure production of additional 300,000 tonnes of fertiliser till January 2022. At the same time, tender for import of 100,000 tonnes of urea has also been floated, the meeting was informed.

Mr Imam praised the efforts of Punjab agriculture minister in ensuring that the farmers sow wheat seeds timely.

The Punjab minister informed the meeting that the provincial government has conducted numerous seminars to create awareness in addition with partnering with five agricultural universities to mobilise agricultural student s in ensuring proper sowing of wheat seeds.

The meeting was informed that 51 per cent of wheat sowing in Punjab, 42pc in Sindh and 40pc each in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan has been completed.

Mr Imam told the provincial representatives that the purpose of the meeting was to ensure that `we are on track to meet the assigned wheat targets` The government has fixed wheat production target of 28.9 million tonnes from a sowing area of 9.2m hectares for the Rabi season 2021-22.

During the meeting, the federal minister discussed the outstanding issues that the provincial agriculture departments are facing in order to meet the assigned targets.

Mr Imam was briefed that the certified seed of wheat is sufficiently available with all provinces.

He, however, emphasised that a `tracl(and trace system` is established to ensure maximum productivity of wheat in the country.