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Wheat
procurement: State Bank asked to give credit at 12 percent to
private sector
ISLAMABAD - A meeting on Monday directed the State Bank of
Pakistan (SBP) to extend credit facility at 12 percent to the
private sector for wheat procurement, besides offering other
facilities granted to the public sector.
President Pervez Musharraf chaired the meeting, which was
attended by senior officials of the SBP and Secretary-General
Finance Mueen Afzal.
For 2002 wheat procurement, the government has extended credit
facility to the public sector on soft terms and conditions to
enable it to play an effective role to lift maximum produce
from the open market and benefit the growers.
The private sector was involved in wheat procurement operation
last year to ensure maximum price to the growers. It was later
allowed export option.
This idea, the meeting observed, hardly worked and the
commodity prices fell to Rs 245 last year against support
price of Rs 300 per 40 kg. The growers are facing the same
situation this year and, despite repeated assurances by
government functionaries, the downward trend in prices in the
open market is continuing.
Talking to Business Recorder, the President's advisor on
Agriculture, Shafi Niaz, said that the growers are not getting
fixed price of their produce. "A growers' delegation told me
in Multan, when I went there last week, that they were being
paid Rs 270 per 40 kg which is a serious concern for the
government," he added.
Shafi said he believes that the price will become stable once
all procurement centres become operational. "In the beginning,
buying remains slow and then it picks up momentum, which
pushes up the prices," he observed.
A senior official of Food Ministry painted even a bleaker
picture. "The reports pouring in from various parts of the
Punjab are not encouraging. In some areas prices have gone
down to Rs 255," he said.
To pass on maximum benefit to the farming community, the
government has already given ambitious procurement targets to
the provinces and Passco.
courtesy Daily
Business Recorder ,
23
April, 2002
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