The government should purchase wheat from market traders who possess a licence for trading and a national tax number, according to Association of Agricultural Traders President Raai Ehsaan.
This move will help ensure a level-playing field and remove favouritism within the food department, he said. The Punjab food department currently favours purchasing wheat from middlemen, rather than directly from the farmers.
This will help save billions of rupees during the wheat procurement campaign, through elimination of middleman’s profit, as well as help remove corruption in the food department, as every purchase will be recorded.
Ehsaan said that a price could be fixed for procurement all over Punjab. The Punjab government will purchase more than four million tons of wheat at Rs950 per 40 kilogrammes this season.
Incorrect directives by the government resulted in a loss of more than Rs3 billion in purchase of wheat from Bahawalpur last year. “By keeping small farmers motivated, we can increase production and earn foreign exchange by exporting the surplus,” said Ehsaan.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 22nd, 2011.
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