The Punjab government is making necessary arrangements to kick-off wheat procurement in the province from next month. Punjab Minister for Food Malik Nadeem Kamran said that 400 procurement centers have been established in different districts of the Punjab and banners are being displayed to create awareness amongst the growers about this procurement.
Purchase order of 15 million jute bags and 24 million polypropylene bags had been placed and every grower would be given eight bags per acre,' Malik said while talking to media persons here on Thursday. He said that he would personally be monitoring all the procurement centers to ensure transparency in the process. Punjab government had been given a task of procuring 4 million tons of wheat, while arrangements had been made to meet five million tons wheat procurement target, he added.
The minister said that the Federal government had promised to provide the amount for procurement of four million tons of wheat by end of the current month. If the Federal government did not ensure availability of Rs 96 billion for procurement of 4 million tons of wheat, and Rs 120 billion for procurement of 5 million tons of wheat, then it could affect the wheat procurement campaign, he said.
He further said that the provincial government had requested the federal government to export 150,000 metric tons of wheat procured last year, otherwise it could go waste. He said that wheat would be procured and stored in shape of 'Ganjis' at open places, but would be covered with polypropylene sheets so change of weather, moisture or pests could not damage it.
Regarding payment of procured wheat, he said it would be made within 48 hours of purchase through banks and stern action would be taken against the officials who would delay the payment. A six-member committee was being constituted to monitor procurement at every center to make the process transparent. This committee would be comprised national and provincial assemblies, local growers, representatives of growers' organisations and representatives of DCO and revenue department, the minister added.
He said that 80 to 85 percent of the procurement target would be purchased from the small growers. He said production target of wheat this year was 23.8 million of tons, but it was being expected that this target would be surpassed. He said that all the arrangements had been finalised and staff of one area had been posted in another area this year, so as to make the process more transparent.
Meanwhile sources in the Pakistan Agricultural Storage and Services Corporation (Passco), told Business Recorder that arrangements are also almost final to start the wheat procurement in 15 tehsils of Punjab and two tehsils of Sindh from April 15, 2010 by the Corporation to meet the assigned target of procuring 1.6 million tons of wheat. The sources said that order for gunny bags had also been placed to make the procurement campaign a success.