Wheat procurement

Friday, January 23, 2009

By Jawwad Rizvi
LAHORE: Following the target assigned by the federal government to different agencies for wheat procurement, Pakistan Agricultural Storage and Supplies Corporation (PASSCO) has chalked out a plan and placed orders for gunny bags.
The federal government has assigned 1.5 million tons procurement target and PASSCO has started preparations to meet it.
The Corporation has asked various factories to start making ‘bardana’ (gunny bags) for the wheat procurement season of 2009. It will start receiving the bags in mid-March as harvesting begins in April and gains momentum by the middle of the month. PASSCO also has a carry-over stock of gunny bags with the capacity for 300,000 tons of wheat.
Talking about the cost of gunny bags, sources said PASSCO estimated it at Rs85 per bag as the cost of production had increased. Besides the purchase of gunny bags, the Corporation is working on setting up procurement centres in areas to be allocated by the government in Punjab and other parts of the country.
Last year, PASSCO failed to meet the wheat procurement target of 1.4 million tonnes, though it had already purchased gunny bags for the task, officials revealed. That year PASSCO purchased a little more than 800,000 tons. However, it is expected to meet the target of 1.5 million tons this year, due to expectations of a good crop.
About current wheat stocks left with PASSCO, sources revealed that only 45,000 tons of wheat were lying with the Corporation, out of the total procured quantity of 857,000 tons last season.
Giving the break-up of left-over stocks, they said around 26,000 tons of NWFP’s share is yet to be lifted and 6,000 tons of AJK. The Corporation as per its mandate provides a share to Balochistan, NWFP, AJK, Northern Areas, armed forces and other areas where it is needed. This year the Corporation also provided 50,000 tons of wheat to Utility Stores to ease the flour crisis.