Sindh Food Department during past two fiscal years had purchased a record amount of 1,574,000 tons of wheat from the local farmers at the special support rates fixed by the government, said Provincial Minister Manzoor Hussain Wassan here Monday. Talking to media persons, he said wheat collected at local godowns during 2013-14 and 2014-15 consecutively was a record in itself as never before such a huge amount of the staple crop could be collected by any of the government in previous years.
In reply to a question, he said the provincial food department, till October 15 managed to sell off 234,000 tons of wheat under its open market policy. "We expect to sell a total of 325,000 million tons of wheat by end of the current month (November)", said Manzoor Hasan Wassan. To another query, he said that the government had procured bank's loans for the purchase of the crop from the farmers and a sizable proportion of it has been paid back to the concerned banks. Sindh Food Minister said all needed measurers are being adopted to expedite the sale of wheat stored in government godowns with absolute transparency.