ISLAMABAD: The distribution of free wheat seeds to the farmers of flood-hit areas would begin from November 10, Food Security Commissioner Waseemul Hassan said.

“We will deliver these seeds before the end of the sowing season to ensure smooth cultivation of crop and to bring maximum area under wheat production,” he said during a meeting of the Committee on Food, Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries.

Minister for National Food Security and Research Tariq Bashir Cheema presided over the meeting, which was attended by provincial ministers and officials of the relevant departments from all provinces, along with Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan.

A digital application has been developed to deliver and distribute seeds among flood-hit farmers.

Zafar Hassan, the secretary for national food security and research, briefed the committee about local wheat stocks and apprised them that there were sufficient “strategic grains reserves” in the country to meet domestic requirements.

Meanwhile, Pakistan Agricultural Storage & Services Corporation Ltd MD Saeed Ahmad Nawaz said that rains and floods had caused damages to the wheat stock at the government warehouses, adding that the wheat fit for human consumption had been “successfully separated” from the damaged stock and was being supplied for grinding and milling.

Cheema said that the country was in a “state of emergency” because of floods and rains. Officials should take decisions in the “best interest” of the country, he added.

The federal minister appreciated the digital initiative, adding that the same digital platform could be used to provide direct subsidies to the farmers in the future.

He also directed the committee members to prepare an umbrella project for the livestock in the flood affected areas, to control diseases in animals, and to mitigate the shortage of fodder.