Islamabad: Pakistan might once again miss the target of producing  1.7 million tonnes of wheat in the current fiscal year, media reports said.

Officials told The News International that wheat production in Punjab is set to witness a major blow during the current fiscal year 2022-23, amid negative impacts of climate change as well as crop substitution, sowing other crops than wheat for profitability.

He added that the wheat production is likely to remain around 26.7 million tonnes as against the envisaged wheat production target of 28.4 million tonnes.

Besides, there is a looming shortage of wheat in the next fiscal year as well and the government will have to count on the import of wheat in order to meet the domestic requirements of staple food, the newspaper reported.

The import of wheat is going to witness an upsurge at a time when the country is facing the worst-ever dollar liquidity crunch.

“There will be no other option but to import 3-3.5 million tonnes of wheat for the next fiscal year in order to meet domestic as well as Afghanistan’s requirements. This is more than the import target of 2.6 million tonnes of wheat for the current fiscal year,” top official sources confirmed while talking to The News here on Friday.