KARACHI, Jan 9: Strange are the methods of this elected civilian- military set up. The Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) under its charter is a public sector organization to import and export goods and commodities in contingency. Only a few months before, the TCP was asked to procure one lakh tons of sugar from mills to stock it and bear the handling, storage and financial cost from tax payers money.

The Pakistan Agricultural Storage and Supply Corporation (Passco) was set up as a public limited company in 1973 to procure, store and market farm products. It has been assigned the task of importing wheat to meet a crisis like situation in Pakistan. It is doubtful if Passco ever imported farm products.

Well placed sources say that the federal commerce minister Humayun Akhtar Khan spoke to his cabinet colleagues on this anomaly. But then it was perhaps too late and Passco is going ahead with flotation of a tender for wheat import.

Wheat is being imported at a time when international prices are at its peak. Business sources say that prices in USA, Argentina and Australia are ranging between $224 to $230 a ton. Freight rate would be anywhere from $15 to $16 a ton. "If everything goes well, the first wheat shipment will be received by middle of March when harvesting begins in Sindh," a well known international commodity merchant said.

Landed cost of this wheat would come at about Rs15 to Rs16 per kg and a retailer would have to pay Rs18 to Rs20. Obviously, it means a subsidy of Rs8 to Rs10 a kilo. Who will pocket how much in this more than Rs2.5 billion wheat import and domestic sales game is best left to anybody's guess.

Wheat import from India has been ruled out because of Karnal fungus factor. "But there is fungus free wheat available in India at $170 to $175 a ton," a wheat merchant in Karachi disclosed. He said that India has been a regular wheat supplier to Egypt for last many years. Egypt wants a fungus-free wheat and it gets it from India.

As he recalled an Egyptian expert Dr Ibrahim Dawoodi visited Pakistan a few years ago to inspect wheat. Pakistan was then looking for wheat export prospects in Egypt. He found a few samples of Pakistani wheat also infected with fungus as it was in India. But in Pakistan this infection was much less. It was during this interaction, that late Dr Dawoodi informed Pakistan government on availability of fungus free wheat from India.

"Wheat from India will be cheap and quickly delivered at a much less cost than wheat being shipped from the US or Australia," the wheat merchant said. Wheat problem begins from the time of crop assessment in January and February. This is the time when crop is still exposed to weather hazards. Early or late rains, little or more rains and winter dew can play havoc with the crop.

Satellite Remote Sensing (SRS) is considered to be one of the reliable crop estimate system. This technique is reportedly being applied in greater part of the world with considerable success. The government had planned to introduce the system in Pakistan way back in 1997 when a wheat famine had struck here. But it is doubtful if this system has been adopted fully.

For the last season, the crop estimate still remains a controversy whether it was 19.92 million tons or 19.2 million tons. Business sources say that agriculturists still rely on the outdated VMS system for crop estimate.

The wheat famine in 1997 should have taught government many lessons. A Food Security Plan was prepared which has recommended termination of Passco and winding up of the provincial food departments. There was also a proposal to privatize storages and godowns.

The federal government, then headed by Nawaz Sharif sought comments from the provincial governments on these recommendations. Three provinces Sindh, Balochistan and NWFP agreed to wind up their food departments and phase out subsidy in three years. Only Punjab did not offer any reply. Punjab remains the biggest producer of wheat and meet the demands of three provinces.

This demand comes from the flour mills in three provinces. These mills have more than three times grinding capacity than the actual requirement. The millers - powerful political families and retired servicemen in NWFP and Balochistan - thrive on subsidised wheat. About seven to eight lakh tons of wheat is smuggled to Afghanistan every year is an official report. A Food Minister of Punjab saw Pakistan's flour bags in Moscow in 1997.

With no efficient monitoring and good marketing, growers and consumers are the losers and gainers are big land owners, brokers, millers, commodity merchants and corrupt food department officials.