Low price supports may sour farmers on wheat

LAHORE,  March 23, 2014 (Shehryar Warraich / UPI Next) Farmers in Pakistan a country with the potential to produce enough wheat for domestic consumption and export, seem to be losing interest in growing the grain because the government has failed to prop up prices high enough, growers’ representatives say.

A government decision this year raised the wheat support price to about $11.50 for about 90 pounds, a jump of 14 percent over the previous price of about $10, the Crop Site, a British website that tracks commodity developments, says. Still, total acreage planted this year slipped to 21 million acres, down from 21.4 million last year and 22 million in 2011.

The support level has been controversial in Pakistan.

Ibrahim Mughal, president of Agri Forum Pakistan, a national farmers’ association based in Lahore, told UPI Next the government’s wheat price is too low and Pakistan will join the wheat import club, which would be unacceptable for an agrarian country.

Read more  Low price supports may be souring Pakistani farmers on wheat – UPI.com.