Sindh Abadgar Board (SAB) has expressed concern on decline in wheat prices to levels lower than that which was fixed by government, and failure of Food Department to continue wheat procurement from growers, and instead, encouraging middle-men who were causing huge financial loss to growers. In a letter to Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, President SAB Abdul Majeed Nizamani complained of the instability in wheat prices due to poor infrastructure and logistic support. He said that wheat prices had registered decline, of Rs 30 to 40 per 40 kilograms, to Rs 370 per 40 kg against state set price of Rs 400.
He apprehended that the price might further decline if the situation remained the same.
He demanded that provincial Food Department should ensure availability of empty gunny bags in wheat growing areas, and their distribution only to genuine wheat growers. He complained that food department had stopped wheat procurement in several wheat growing areas, resultantly middlemen were offering low prices.
This situation was against the interests of growers as well as against efforts of government to improve economic condition of rural areas. He asked PM to direct food department to enhance procurement of wheat from growers and not from middlemen, so as to achieve target of procurement of 0.08 million tonnes from Sindh.
Comments
Comments are closed.