Govt to procure 6.5m tonnes wheat this year

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

By Jawwad Rizvi

LAHORE: The federal government has fixed a wheat procurement target of 6.5 million tonnes for the current year, expecting a good crop following an aggressive wheat sowing campaign across the country.The News has learnt that for the first time the federal government has assigned a wheat procurement target of 300,000 tonnes to NWFP and 200,000 tonnes to Balochistan. It has directed Punjab to procure 3.5 million tonnes while Pakistan Agricultural Storage and Supplies Corporation (PASSCO) would procure 1.5 million tonnes and Sindh one million tonnes.The targets were assigned in a meeting held at Islamabad. The meeting was chaired by Federal Minister for Food and Agriculture Nazar Muhammad Gondal and attended by representatives of the four provinces, Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock (MINFAL) and finance ministry.The meeting discussed methods of wheat procurement at the price announced by the government before crop cultivation. Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani had announced a procurement price of Rs950 per 40 kg for the next season.Following the announcement of the attractive price which is now almost equal to the regional wheat price, the farmers cultivated more wheat sparking hopes of a bumper crop this year. The government has fixed a target of 25 million tonnes for wheat production this year.The meeting also asked the finance ministry to prepare a plan to ensure availability of financial resources at the time of procurement. It also asked PASSCO official to prepare a wheat procurement plan including funds needed for the drive. It was decided that the government would continue buying the commodity from farmers till the last grains from fields were lifted.The meeting noted that necessary arrangements for wheat procurement were crucial as if the government failed to buy from the farmers at the prescribed rate, it would negatively affect production in future. It was also pointed out that if government agencies succeeded in procuring wheat at Rs950 per 40 kg, the country would not face food security problems like those it encountered during the last few years and spent huge foreign exchange on wheat import.The meeting participants were of the view that wheat procurement at the set price would also open a window for export of the commodity in coming years when surplus stocks would be available.Recently, rice farmers suffered a lot as the government failed to ensure the commodity’s purchase at the set price. If the same mistake is repeated in the case of wheat procurement, its production would be affected. The government always has figures from all districts and it can easily devise a plan to purchase every grain.

Published in The News in business pages