Plans for harvest: Govt to buy 4 million tonnes wheat this year

Procurement to begin on April 15, gunny bags to be distributed from the 10th.

LAHORE:

Wheat procurement across the Punjab will start on April 15 with a target of 3.5 to 4 million metric tonnes (mmt), Food Secretary Muhammad Aslam Kamboh told The Express Tribune on Thursday. He said the support price was Rs1,200 per 40 kilograms.

A Food Department official told The Express Tribune that Rs135 billion had been borrowed from various banks for the procurement.

In procurement, he said, while focus would be buying from the growers, the department would also purchase wheat from traders.

The official said 375 procurement centres would be set up across the province. The centres would be monitored round the clock. He said a toll-free number would be advertised for complaints during the procurement campaign.

He said the Punjab Food Department still had a carry-over stock of 0.5 million metric tones of wheat. He said wheat was being released to flour mills at Rs1,330 per 40 kg.



According to Wheat Procurement Policy 2014, eight gunny bags per acre would be provided to the farmers after verification of sowing by the Revenue Department.

He said that officials appointed to the procurement centres had been strictly instructed to procure wheat in the official bags only. The issuance of gunny and polypropylene bags to the farmers would start from April 10, he said, adding that a farmer could obtain a maximum of 200 bags at a time.

Quoting from minutes of a recent meeting about wheat procurement, he said it had been decided that farmers with small land holdings would be facilitated in the procurement drive. He said the department would also purchase wheat from middle men this year if needed to meet the required target.

He said the district coordination officers concerned would be appointed as centre coordinators. They would monitor, supervise and ensure transparency in the procurement process. The officials of both the Revenue and Food Department would be answerable to these officers. The DCOs, he said, would be empowered to act against delinquent officials.

He said the annual food requirement of wheat in the Punjab had been calculated at 2.2 to 2.6 million metric tonnes.

He said the production of crop in the upcoming wheat harvest was expected to be 16 to 18 million metric tonnes, since bumper crop was expected this year due to good weather conditions.

He said the government would not restrict mobility of wheat. He said the department would try to procure 70 per cent of the target quantity during the first 15 days.

The Food Department, he said, had placed a purchase order of 500 million polypropylene bags at Rs37.05 per bag and 6.3 million gunny bags at Rs133.87 per bag.

The department has a covered storage capacity of 2.1 million metric tonnes. The rest would be stored under the open sky.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 14^th, 2014.