Wheat procurement target ‘largely achieved’

PESHAWAR:

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Minister for Food Zahir Shah Toru has said that the provincial government had successfully achieved its wheat procurement target and taken all possible measures to ensure transparency in the process.

He was speaking during a joint press conference with the Chief Minister’s Advisor on Finance, Muzammil Aslam, and the Special Assistant to the Chief Minister on Anti-Corruption, Musaddiq Hussain Abbasi.

The Minister said that K-P’s annual wheat requirement was approximately 5 million metric tons of which only 1.4 million metric tons was produced in the province. He said the provincial government had a zero-tolerance policy towards corruption and had digitized the entire procurement process.

The Minister added that the Food Department had procured wheat from K-P farmers as well as from farmers in other provinces, including Punjab, at a rate of Rs3,900 per 40 kg. He said that the government had also taken steps to ensure transparency in the procurement process while eliminating the unnecessary expenses for transportation and storage of wheat.

He acknowledged the support of Punjab’s farmers and landowners in the wheat procurement process. He clarified that wheat procurement would continue at three centres, Chitral, Dir Lower and Swat, until the target is met, and that the target had been achieved in the rest of the province.

He said although some wheat procurement centres had trucks loaded with wheat standing by, the department had no further storage capacity.

The Minister further said the department had adopted a ‘first come, first served’ policy for the purchase of wheat.

During the press conference, the Minister also responded to a question about corruption in the wheat procurement process, saying that if anyone had evidence of corruption, they should come forward.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 1^st, 2024.