Flood-affected areas across the country need 2.99 million seed bags to fulfil the requirements of the upcoming Rabi season, Commissioner Food Security of National Food Security and Research informed a meeting held here at the National Flood Response and Coordination Center (NFRCC) on Wednesday.
The meeting, chaired by Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal, was informed that around four million acres of cultivatable area have been affected by floods across the country.
Chairman National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) Lieutenant General Akhtar Nawaz, the provincial secretaries of agriculture and other concerned officials also participated in the meeting.
The Rabi crop, especially the cultivation of wheat and the measures regarding the supply of subsidy-based seeds, were reviewed in the meeting.
The forum was also appraised of the progress made so far on the NFRCC web portal and dashboard.
Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal directed that the requirements of the respective areas and the types of seeds should be determined in advance.
Furthermore, he stated that relief efforts in flood-affected areas should be accelerated due to the arrival of winter by immediately finalizing a mechanism for procuring subsidy-based seeds and distributing them at the district level.
He said the provincial governments should confirm the availability of subsidy-based seeds as soon as possible.
He said there should be no delay in delivering seeds to farmers for the Rabi crop, adding that the delay would increase the issue of food security in the country.