ISLAMABAD, July 14. /TASS/.Pakistan has to spend a large portion of its annual budget to procure agricultural products, Research Associate at the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad (ISSI) Muhammad Taimur Fahad Khan told TASS on Friday.

"Pakistan is the 5th most populous country in the world and because of its burgeoning population, the demand for agricultural products is naturally high as well," the expert said. The country cannot "fully harness the potential of its agricultural sector" at present in view of several factors, including a low domestic yield because of natural disasters that affected the country earlier, Khan noted.

"Pakistan's agricultural imports are immense and currently exceeding US$8 billion annually. Import of agricultural products is a major part of Pakistan's annual bill which is increasing each year," Khan said. "Therefore, Pakistan depends heavily upon imports of agricultural products," he noted.

"Pakistan is fulfilling most of the domestic demand for crops through local production" but the country still needs to procure certain crops, including wheat," the expert stressed. "Pakistan's total wheat consumption has increased over the years, reaching 29.2 million metric tons in the current marketing year, while domestic production has decreased to 24.4 million metric tons. Hence, there is some shortfall which is being catered to by the Government of Pakistan by importing wheat from different vendors, particularly Russia," he added.