Apprehensions: Wheat procurement delay to harm farmers

‘Quotas reserved for DCOs to purchase from selected few’.

MULTAN:

The provincial government is yet to complete the distribution of gunny bags among farmers for this year’s wheat procurement drive, Fayaz Hassan, the Kissan Board (southern Punjab) president, told The Express Tribune.

He said the government had only distributed bags to a handful of farmers so far. “First, they announced that distribution would start on April 15. It was extended to April 18 but did not begin until 20th,” he said.

He said the delaying tactics were meant to benefit farmers with large land-holdings. Farmers with small and medium-sized farms were already selling their crop to middlemen at reduced rates. He said the market price of wheat was between Rs800 and Rs840 per 40 kg.

He said that the farmers who did not have connections with politicians or government officials were being discriminated against.

He alleged that the government had already allowed potential for nepotism by keeping a quota for district coordination officers. The DCOs, he alleged, would purchase wheat from farmers close to them.

He said not all farmers had enough storage capacity and that the recent spell of rain would leave them with no option but to sell the wheat to middlemen at a loss.

Provincial Minister for Food and Agriculture Chaudhry Abdul Ghafoor denied that the government was favouring some farmers and discriminating against others. He said the delay in the distribution of bags was because of administrative reasons. He pledged that the procurement would be made on merit. He added that he would take strict action against any government official found guilty of corruption.

This year, the provincial government is purchasing wheat directly from farmers at the district level rather than through the Pakistan Agriculture Storage and Supplies Corporation (PASSCO).

The government plans to purchase more than 4 million tonnes of wheat and has set up 375 procurement centres in the province.



Published in The Express Tribune, April 22^nd, 2011.