Poor condition of stored wheat highlighted

LAHORE: With low wheat prices and huge carryover supplies from last year, a lot of grain has been kept in public sector warehouse for the last couple of years, compromising its quality to great extent, according to stakeholders of food sec tor. Similar concern has been highlighted by the staff of provincial govern ment regarding dilapidated condition of stored grains. District Food Controller (DFC), Rawalpindi wrote a letter on December 02, 2024 to Deputy Director Food titled “Report on long storage of wheat, its effect and losses”. The letter from staff at Centers in Rawalpindi District raises serious concerns about the long term storage of wheat stocks. Citing a corre spondence by staff de puted at Procurement Centers, Rawalpindi, it is stated that wheat stocks stored in open and cov ered accommodation losses in shape of qualita tive and quantitative may occur due to long storage as current facilities like air-tight, moisture proof containers and pest-free facilities are not available at the centers. The primary issue is the potential for significant de terioration of wheat quality due to prolonged storage under suboptimal condi tions. The lack of proper storage facilities exposes the wheat to various fac tors. Moreover, letter states, due to long storage, bar dana (gunny bags) of wheat stocks is not in a po sition to bear the impact of environment and tempera ture especially polypropy lene bags storage. The lower cadre staff was of the view that gov ernment should take step for the disposal of stored grains. The staff concerned re quested that wheat stocks should be released imme diately to avoid any further losses and quality deterio ration.