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Wheat procurement
target for Punjab may be raised
ISLAMABAD-The Economic Co-ordination Committee (ECC) in its
meeting here on Tuesday is likely to increase wheat
procurement target by 1.5 million tonnes for the coming crop,
it is reliably learnt.
Sources in the Agriculture Ministry, which has actually moved
a summary to the effect, told this correspondent the revised
procurement target is likely to be set at 5.5 million tonnes
against the existing 4 million tonnes to procure maximum crop
from the farmers whose confidence in the government's policies
was badly shattered last year when they were forced to sell
their cash crop at reduced price of Rs 240 per 40 kg against
official support price of Rs 300 due to drastic decrease in
the procurement target from 8 million tonnes in 1999-2000 to 4
million tonnes in 2000-2001.
The meeting, to be presided over by Finance Minister Shaukat
Aziz, would also discuss the existing sugar situation, price
index, and a host of other important items. Sources in the
Agriculture Ministry, who provided a copy of the summary, said
the procurement target is being enhanced after the Punjab
government asked the Centre to procure maximum crop from the
wheat growing province to avoid wheat price crisis that had
crippled the whole farm sector last year.
Officials said this huge price crisis had really brought the
farmers to their knees, as, according to an official estimate,
about Rs 20 billion were transferred from rural to urban
sector in the shape of depressed prices of the commodity as
wheat was sold at Rs 240 against official support price of Rs
300.
This situation had produced more poverty in the already
distressed rural areas of the country where wheat is
considered to be the main cash crop. According to the summary,
the Agriculture Ministry has informed the government that the
Punjab government was seeking an enhancement in procurement
target because of expected good crop.
The Punjab government, according to Agriculture Ministry
officials, is of the view that the procurement target be
increased from the present 4 million tonnes to 5.5 million
tonnes for Punjab. Punjab said it was ready to enhance its
procurement target from existing 2.5 million tonnes to 3.5
million tonnes.
It said on the same lines, the Passco be asked to buy 1.5
million tonnes against its existing target of 1 million tonnes.
The rest of the two provinces -- Sindh and Balochistan -- will
however continue to buy 0.4 million tonnes and 0.1 million
tonnes, respectively.
But the sources said nobody is ready to realise the actual
problem, which has made these things worse for the farmers.
They said the main problem the provincial and federal
governments are facing is that of non-availability of storage
facilities.
In Punjab due to this deficiency, the wheat is still lying in
the open fields and getting deteriorated. The officials said
the much-trumpeted efforts on the part of the Agriculture
Ministry to frame a new storage policy for the private sector
is yet to be finalised despite the fact that over one year has
passed since Chief Executive General Pervez Musharraf had
asked the Agriculture Ministry bosses to frame it to enable
the private sector to buy maximum crop from the farmers.
The Board of Investment, CBR and Commerce ministry were also
involved in this Herculean task but no one knows about its
fate, as the whole exercise has almost come to an end. As a
result, the farmers continue to suffer as both the private
sector and government agencies are not ready to buy the crop
in the absence of required storage facilities.
The sources said the Agriculture Ministry bosses were just
busy in lip service to such an issue of national importance
and so far no one from the top has dared to ask about such
unnecessary delay.
courtesy Daily The News ,16
April, 2002
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Pakissan.com;
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