At a time when the country is facing wheat crisis and the government agencies are facing difficulties in meeting their procurement targets due to lower prices, the Punjab government has been tasked to procure 450,000 tons wheat exclusively for NWFP, sources told Business Recorder on Tuesday.
Despite the increase in wheat price from Rs 510 to Rs 625 per 40-kg by the government, Punjab and Sindh and federal government agencies are facing difficulties in meeting their procurement target. The overall wheat procurement target for the government sector has been fixed at over 1.5 million tons.
The public sector, according to the sources, is facing a tough competition from the private sector as the latter offers better price than the government. Wheat growers are least interested in selling the commodity to public sector entities, which is creating troubles for the public sector in wheat procurement drive.
At a recent meeting in Islamabad, the Frontier government has presented its wheat procurement plan to federal government. The meeting was also attended by secretary food, Punjab. The NWFP is totally dependent on Punjab in wheat purchasing, the sources added.
Sindh recently faced great trouble in wheat procurement due to poor support price. Punjab could face a similar situation, as the farmers are not happy with the increased support price announced by Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani.
If the government purchases wheat at Rs 525 per 40-kg, the NWFP government will have to pay around Rs 16,000 to 17,000 per ton. If compared with the imported wheat price, the government would have to pay around Rs 24,000 per ton.
According to these estimates, the government pays more to foreign farmers at the expense of the country's farmers. Farmers' associations have been asking the government to fix support price at least around Rs 1,000/40 kg.
Some recent reports suggest that if the government failed to achieve the desired wheat procurement target, Pakistan will have to import wheat at well over Rs 24,000 per ton, as the wheat price in international market is still very high. Some farmers' associations are also of the view that the support price determined by the government is far less than the growers cost of production.
Comments
Comments are closed.