The Lahore High Court will take up on Monday a petition filed against the government wheat procurement policy. The petition says that the government should also allow flour mills and grain merchants (Ahrtees ) to purchase wheat so that the farmers could get better and competitive price of their produce.
Petition wheat grower Mohammad Farooq Bajwa has made the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock (Minfal), Punjab Food Department, and Punjab Home Secretary respondents. According to him, the government is violating the fundamental rights of the millions of farmers in Punjab by forcing them to sell their produce to government agencies at rates lower than their production cost.
The petitioner said that on 29.03.2008, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani unilaterally announced the procurement price of wheat as Rs 625 per maund/40 kg without taking into consideration production cost of the wheat growers.
He said the federal government had instructed the Punjab government to forcibly procure wheat from farmers at this unjust price, by all means.
He contended that the Punjab Food Department has instructed its staff to use coercive measures for procurement of wheat at the rate of Rs 625 per maund. "The government has forbidden the flour mills and Ahrtees to purchase the wheat from the farmers," he added.
The petitioner argued that in this way an unlawful situation has been created in the province against the fundamental rights of free sale and purchase of the growers. The movement of wheat and flour has been banned.
He said that the most prominent farmer bodies have rejected this price and have demanded the international price of their produce because the farmers purchase diesel, fertiliser, pesticide and other main inputs on international rates.
He pointed out that the farmers produce wheat at their own cost and the government makes no contribution in cultivating or producing wheat crop.
He emphasised that due to climatic impact and less availability of irrigating water the average yield this year might not exceed 20 maunds per acre. He said the wheat production cost has almost tripled in a year and it now costs the farmer Rs 1200 per 40 kg. He regretted that the government would pay double price to the farmers of other countries by importing wheat in huge quantities, rather than paying a reasonable wheat price to the Pakistani farmers.
He contended that the farmers of Punjab have suffered a loss of Rs 300 billion this year and they might not invest their labour and money in cultivation of wheat in future.
He submitted that last year farmers purchased one bag of urea for one maund of wheat, a bag of DAP at the price of two maunds of wheat, and 17 litres of diesel with one maund grain. He pointed out that this year one bag of DAP cost the farmers five maunds of wheat and the same was situation of other inputs.
He said that it would not be possible for the growers to purchase the essential commodities at the internal rate and sell the wheat on the rate fixed by the government.
He submitted the fixation of rate by the Federal government and coercive measures being used by the Punjab government for the purchase of wheat are arbitrary, illegal, against the fundamental rights of the farmers, hence liable to be set aside.
Comments
Comments are closed.