KARACHI – The Sindh government has procured 19,744 metric tonnes (MT) of wheat by the 7th of this month from 15 districts against its target of 1.3 million MT for the year 2010-11 – an indication that the province could be headed towards a wheat shortage crisis. The procurement process in the province had started on March 25.
According to details, the government has acquired 5,456MT wheat from the Hyderabad region against the target of 265,000MT. This includes 3,666MT from Hyderabad, 15,960MT from Badin and 200MT from Thatta, while no wheat was acquired from Dadu. The total wheat procurement from this the region last year was 294,047MT.
The government has procured 13,048MT wheat from the Mirpurkhas region against the target of 290,000MT – including 6,288MT from Mirpurkhas and 6,760MT from Sanghar. The total wheat procured from this region last year was 304,887MT. A total of 1,240MT wheat has been procured from the Sukkur region against the target of 635,000MT and all of it from the Shaheed Benazirabad district, No wheat has been acquired from the other four districts of the region including Sukkur, Ghotki, Khairpur, and Naushehro Feroz.
The wheat procurement in this region last year stood at 756,287MT. The target set for the Larkana region was 110,000MT but no wheat has been procured from there so far. The government has acquired 139,807MT wheat from the Larkana region last year.
Similarly, wheat procurement has not been started in the Malir district of Karachi yet. Interestingly, no target has been set for the area either, even though 1,930MT wheat was procured from the district last year.
