Federal Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal on Thursday visited National Tea and High-Value Crops Research Institute (NTHRI) Shinkiari in Mansehra.
The minister was briefed about the master plan for the production of tea and other crops.
Talking to newsmen, Ahsan Iqbal said, a master plan has been chalked out for the production of tea on 150,000 acres of land.
hsan Iqbal regretted, that even today, Pakistan is importing edible oil and added an emergency meeting has been summoned next week to discuss the possible ways to increase the production of edible oil in Pakistan.
“We have to make Pakistan self-sufficient in the production of edible oil,” the minister said.
Recently, Ahsan Iqbal made headlines, after he urged people to lessen their tea consumption for some time because Pakistan is an importer of tea.
“People of Pakistan should lessen their tea consumption until we become self-sufficient in tea production,” the minister was quoted as saying last week.