LAHORE: Punjab Food Department has lent its staff to Pakistan Agricultural Storage & Services Corporation (PASSCO) for carrying out federal government’s purchase drive, signalling closure of procurement at provincial level.
Although provincial government did not officially announce about discontinuation of wheat procurement, it gives various reasons for not initiating campaign as yet.
According to provincial minister, the Centre imported too much wheat, making it hard to buy grains from farmers as it already possessed carryover stock of over two million tons wheat.
Authorities also delayed launching of wheat procurement on the pretext of wet spell, saying high moisture content was not suitable for buying commodity as if they are, according to market insiders, prepared to initiate buying at any time for stabilising wheat price.
When contacted, Provincial Minister for Food Bilal Yasin did not respond to queries about discontinuing wheat procurement operations in Punjab.
Punjab approved wheat procurement policy a bit late in mid-April but it turned out to be a mere time-buying exercise as nothing has been done on the ground regarding salvaging growers from the private buyers who were freely buying commodity at far below the official support price of wheat.
However, now provincial Food Department has notified appointment of its staff at procurement centers set up by PASSCO. According to the notifications avaliable with The News, as many as 22 employees of Food Department have been deputed by District Food Controller, Bahawalnagar on the directions of Deputy Commissioner.
Similarly, Deputy Commissioner Okara placed 11 employees of provincial Food Department on the disposal of PASSCO with a view to ensure transparency, and facilitate farmers and PASSCO for implementing government instructions. DFC Khanewal also notified appointment of 17 officials
at PASSCO centers for monitoring bardana distribution and procurement process.
Placing services of provincial Food Department staff with PASSCO for buying wheat means there would be no chance of launching such campaign at the provincial level, said an official.
On the other hand, price of wheat that has lately been stabalised to just above the Rs 3,000 per 40 kg mark against official price of Rs3,900, started to show declining trend.
Presently, according to Haji Ramzaan of Kissan Board Pakistan, wheat in the South Punjab has largely been sold by the farmers and harvesting and threshing is in full swing in rest of the province with price hitting below the Rs3,000 mark, which is not a good sign for farmers.