Ministry suggests increase in Passco’s wheat quota

Prepares summary for purchase of 1.2m tons from farmers.

ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of National Food Security and Research has proposed to the authorities concerned to increase the wheat procurement quota for the Pakistan Agriculture Storage and Services Corporation (Passco) from existing 800,000 tons to 1.2 million tons.

In this regard, a summary has been prepared by the ministry for approval of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet, according to an official in the ministry.

“We have prepared the summary; the ECC was supposed to take up the matter in its last meeting, but it could not be presented timely, now it will be definitely reviewed in the next sitting,” said the official.

The reason for increasing the purchase target is that the provinces have already surplus wheat in their storages. Apart from this, the country is expected to harvest a bumper crop, which will rise past the target of 26.5 million tons.

Punjab and Sindh have their own food departments and are responsible for wheat storage according to their requirements. Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan buy the commodity from the open market.

Passco is tasked with keeping a strategic stock of one million tons to meet the needs in times of emergency in addition to the commodity’s supply to Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan and the Pakistan Army.

Punjab will purchase four million tons of wheat, Sindh will procure two million tons and Passco will buy 800,000 tons.

In the past, Punjab and Sindh opposed any increase in Passco’s quota on the ground that it would result in shortage in the two provinces, which were the main growers of the crop.

According to sources, this season the provinces have already surplus stocks with them and have lack of storage capacity for the fresh crop. Therefore, they have agreed on enhancing Passco’s quota.

Passco Managing Director Captain (Retired) Tariq Mehmood said he had learnt that the ministry was working on enhancing the quota.

“Passco is an implementing agency and it will act according to the government’s decision,” he said, adding Passco was responsible for supplying the commodity to the Pakistan Army, Air Force, World Food Programme, AJK and Gilgit-Baltistan and any increase in quota would ensure food security.

“If we increase the quota, it will require additional funds from the Finance Division for wheat purchase from the farmers at Rs1,300 per 40 kg.”

Published in The Express Tribune, April 11^th, 2015.

Like Business on Facebook, follow @TribuneBiz on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.