February 28, 2007	Wednesday	Safar 10, 1428

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LAHORE, Feb 27: Abolishing the earlier announced wheat procurement target of 2.5 million ton, the Punjab government on Tuesday decided to purchase the commodity “till last grain”.

The all-important meeting was chaired by Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi and attended among others by provincial food minister Husain Jehnian Gardezi, food secretary Ahmad Yar Khan, the finance secretary and the food director.

The meeting, convened to review prices of food items, also pledged to control flour price following increase in electricity tariff and decided to hold consultations with the millers for evolving a mechanism to bring the rates back to pre-hike level.

Talking to Dawn, food minister Husain Gardezi said the department had now decided to do away with any formal procurement target and replaced it with “open target”. It had already placed orders for gunny bags which could be increased according to requirement.

The government, he said, had also decided to build silos in all surplus-wheat districts so that it had sufficient stocks to absorb fluctuations in flour prices as an outcome of variations in wheat demand and supply. He said a policy decision had been taken in this regard and now all follow-up actions would be taken quickly.

Welcoming the decision of doing away with the formal target, farmers from Punjab said it would help them by stabilising wheat market on higher side. The government’s higher target means end to possible exploitation of farmers by the traders and middlemen. Although procurement by the government is not hassle-free either, it at least helps stabilise market because the government offers ready cash.

“Thankfully, the government this time has taken the right decision at the right time,” according to Hafiz Ahmad Khan, a farmer from Okara.

“Timing of decision in wheat trade is as important as the decision itself because most of the farmers in the country lack storage capacity. They try to sell the crop as soon as they harvest it as they have to clear bank dues, make payments to the middlemen and purchase inputs for the next crop.

“Thus, they are always under pressure for lacking storage facility and running short of hard cash. This allows the middlemen and traders to exploit the farmers especially if the government does not have target big enough to stabilise market,” he explained.

The significance of the timing factor could also be gauged from the fact that the government had last year entered market with a target of two million ton that led to a temporary price crash. It tried to make up for the situation by increasing target later, he said, but by that time most of the farmers in southern belt had sold their crop at much cheaper rates.

This time the situation might be totally different because of the timely decision of buying all wheat stock available with the farmers that would benefit them and the wheat market, he concluded.