Federal Minister for Food and Agriculture Nazar Muhammad Gondal has said the government will not leave the farmers at the mercy of "Beoparis" (Middlemen) and it would purchase maximum wheat from provincial food department and Pakistan Agriculture Storage and Services Corporation (Passco).
Talking to journalists here on Monday the minister said that the Economic Co-ordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet had directed the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock (Minfa) to draft a joint strategy to dispose of surplus wheat. It is believed that the government intends to allow export of 0.2 million tons of wheat flour as the SBP is insisting that the government should pay back loans taken last year to procure wheat. However, SBP has directed commercial banks to give credit for procurement of 7.5 million tons of wheat.
According to SBP Governor said that by April 15, 2010, wheat stocks in reserve would be around 3.26 million tons, which would supplement the future crop. He said that the Punjab government had already asked the federal government to offload wheat stocks beyond strategic reserves because the present storage capacity was inadequate to cater additional wheat.
The minister said that Prime Minister Gilani said that due to prospects of good wheat crop, Minfa and SBP should consider offloading existing stock of wheat and submit its recommendations in the next ECC meeting. However, the concerned stakeholders have been instructed to ensure that the level of reserves is maintained.
He said that the country would manage to produce about 23 million tons wheat. Last year, Pakistan had achieved record production of 24.03 million tons from 9.05 million hectares (22.36 million acres), an increase of 14 percent over the previous years (2007-08) achievement of 21 million tons.
Public sector procurement touched a record level of 10.06 million tons, including carry forward of 0.828 million tons. Public sector releases in the provinces commenced in August 2009 and releases till date are 4.15 million tons. The public sector up to February 1, 2010 had a stock of 5.90 million tons of wheat as compared to previous years 1.68 million tons. The government has directed the provincial government to lift allocated wheat from Passco godowns to avoid penalties.
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