Lahore – Wheat procurement campaign, to procure 4.7 million tonnes this year, has started all across Punjab. “Food Department of Punjab would procure 3.5 million tonnes of wheat, while the Pakistan Agriculture Storage and Services Corporation (PASSCO) would acquire 1.26 million tonnes of the commodity during the current season,” Wheat Development Commissioner in the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MinFA) Dr Shakeel Ahmad Khan said. Total wheat procurement target for the year 2010-11 was set at 6.57 million tonnes, he added.
He informed that PASSCO would procure 1.3 million tonnes of wheat from all across the country, including 1.26 million tonnes from Punjab and 40,000 million tonnes from Sindh. Dr Shakeel stated that Sindh has procured around 250,000 tonnes of wheat, till date, while crop harvesting was in full swing.
Meanwhile, PASSCO General Manager Tanveer Hussain said that the corporation would start procurement in Punjab, from April 25, adding that about 201 procurement centers have been established in nine zones of Punjab and Sindh.
Out of the total centers, PASSCO has established 176 in Punjab and 11 in Sindh where as 14 procurement centers were proposed for Balochistan, he added.
The PASSCO GM maintained that all arrangements had been finalised to procure the commodity at government-fixed rates of Rs 950 per 40 kg. He further said that sacks for packing around 800,000 tonnes of wheat have been provided to centers. The centers would release these sacks for farmers at the ratio of eight bags per acre for small scale growers, however, 200 bags would be provided to large scale growers after verification of land record from the Revenue Department, he added.
It may be recalled that bumper wheat crop of over 24.2 million tonnes is expected this year, where as the crop was cultivated at over 21.99 million hectare land across the country. Wheat production has been estimated at 18.2 million tonnes in Punjab, while 4.2, 1.1 and 0.17 million tones of wheat production was expected in Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Balochistan respectively.
