Punjab expects 19.96MT wheat output this year

LAHORE: Punjab foresees healthy wheat production this year, despite early maturity as harvesting in several southern districts has picked up momentum, leading to downward trend in price.

Stakeholders also anticipate a looming crash in wheat prices if the government does not begin the procurement drive immediately.

According to a senior official of Punjab Agriculture Department, 19.96 million tons of wheat is expected this year against last year’s record production of 20 million tons. “Despite early warm weather during maturity state, we are still very much hopeful of harvesting a good crop in the province,” he observed.

Anticipating attractive support price in election year, farmers of the province once again put more efforts to plant the wheat crop. The greater application of fertiliser and some timely rains during growth period helped in producing a healthy output this year, the official said.

The main challenge during harvesting has been inclement weather that can lead to post-harvest losses.

A major concern now is the downslide of wheat prices in the market. In several markets of southern Punjab, wheat price at farm-gate has decreased to Rs1,050 to Rs 1,100/maund against support price of Rs1,300/maund.

According to official data, even price of wheat in the wholesale markets of the province has been below the Rs1,300 benchmark.

In the last couple of days, wheat price in the wholesale markets like Minchanabad has been hovering around Rs1,100/maund, Mian Channu Rs1,040/maund, Bahawalnagar Rs1,020/maund, PakPattan Rs1,120, while in Arifwala the wheat wholesale price was Rs1,040/maund.

Similarly, the wholesale price of wheat in Multan, Dera Ghazi Khan and Bahawalpur has been recorded around Rs1,250/maund, less than the official price of Rs1,300/maund on April 13, 2018.

Pakistan Kissan Ittehad (PKI) Chairman Khalid Khokhar said such a dismal market scenario depicts that a crash in the price of wheat was looming in case the provincial food department failed to start the procurement drive next week.

He asked the Punjab chief minister to immediately start purchase of wheat through the food department to help stabilise the price of the commodity.

The main role of food department is to play its role in ensuring due price to farmers while intervening in the market as a major buyer, he said.

Spokesman of Kissan Board Pakistan (KBP) was also perturbed over the delay in the initiation of wheat procurement drive by the food department.

He said the delay was costing farmers dearly due to continuous downward trend in price.

KBP demanded the government to take an immediate step to launch wheat buying in the province.

Wheat is one of the main agricultural crops in the country, with 80 percent of farmers growing it on an area of around 9.0 million hectares nationwide, which is about 40 percent of the country’s total cultivated land.

According to an estimate, the 2018-19 national wheat production is likely to be around 25.7 million tons, close to last year’s record output.