Kisan Board Pakistan (KBP) has urged the government to immediately announce a clear Wheat Procurement Policy besides increasing the procurement target. The demand was raised by the Wheat Committee of the Board which met here with KBP Central General Secretary Malik Muhammad Ramzan Rohari in the chair. Talking to newsmen after the meeting, KBP General Secretary Malik Muhammad Ramzan Rohari said wheat would soon be ready for harvest especially in Sindh and Southern Punjab, but the governments of Sindh and Punjab are yet to give any clear policy with regard to procurement. He alleged it seemed that rulers wanted to create an artificial wheat crisis so as flour millers and arthis could fill their pockets. He further stated the rulers invent new methods to deprive farmers of cotton, rice, sugarcane and maize from compensation of their due labour. While rulers were also spending lavishly from the national exchequer on their luxuries, he added. Rohari said if growers could not get reasonable rates for their wheat crop, then they would not be able to buy expensive inputs and sowing of wheat would reduce next season. Members of the KBP Wheat Committee Sarfraz Ahmad Khan, Munir Ahmad Bodla, Haji Muhammad Ramzan and others unanimously urged the government to enhance wheat procurement target this year, end role of corrupt officials of the food department in gunny bags distribution and issuance of gunny bags to the growers without any discrimination. They also urged to include real representatives of growers in the purchase committees to be formed by the food department besides immediate announcement of wheat procurement policy for the current year.
