Punjab govt decides against buying wheat from farmers

LAHORE: Sources in the Punjab Food Department have said that Punjab government has no intention to buy wheat from farmers.

The sources in the Food Department said that there are 22 lakh 70 thousand tons of wheat in Punjab and it has one year’s wheat, then how it can buy more wheat.

Punjab has to pay back Rs355 billion loan taken on wheat and Rs125 billion is paid in markup every year on wheat purchase while storage and handling of wheat costs more than Rs1 billion.

According to the sources, Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz wants to directly benefit the farmers instead of middlemen as the government cannot benefit the middlemen by compromising on the rights of farmers.

The sources said that by saving billions of rupees, farmers will be given other facilities, including the Kisan Card. The sources in the Food Department also claimed that 95 percent of farmers’ wheat had been sold.

According to the sources, due to the imported wheat and stoppage of smuggling, the farmers wheat was not sold.