Sindh to propose Rs2,000 as minimum price for 40kg wheat to Centre

The Sindh government has decided to propose Rs2,000 as the minimum support price per 40kg bag of wheat to the federal government, announced spokesperson for the Sindh government Murtaza Wahab on Thursday.

In a tweet, Wahab said the minimum cost has been suggested to "incentivise farmers to grow wheat and ensure food security in the country".

The provincial government's proposal comes two days after the federal cabinet's economic decision-making body endorsed the minimum wheat procurement price to be set at Rs1,600 per 40kg - giving just a 0.8% profit margin to farmers.

However, the body failed to agree on a subsidy of Rs1,000 per bag of fertiliser

Based on official estimates of the cost of production, the minimum profit of 32 paisa per kg given to farmers for the next wheat crop is not sufficient to absorb the adverse impact of double-digit food inflation.

Headed by Finance Adviser Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet also approved the purchase of another 320,000 tons of wheat from Russia under a government deal at a price of $292 per ton.

The imported wheat would cost over Rs50 per kg compared with Rs40 per kg that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government approved for the country’s farmers. The ECC decided to enhance the imported wheat procurement quota to 1.8 million tons from an earlier approved 1.5 million tons due to a gap between demand and supply, according to a statement issued by the Ministry of Finance after the meeting.