April 10, 2007	Tuesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 21, 1428

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LAHORE, April 9: The Punjab Food Department on Monday delayed the procurement drive of wheat for a ‘few days’ because of the non-availability of the crop in the market. The food minister had announced on Saturday the government would start buying the yield from April 9 as the grain harvest had begun in south Punjab.

According to officials of the department, the grain has yet to attain ripeness in the southern part of the province.

Temperatures have started rising in some parts of the province and the grain harvest will start there soon. Once it hit the market, the official purchase of wheat would start, department officials said.

Substantiating their claim about the non-availability of the yield in the market, they said the millers were still buying wheat from the department in south Punjab.

On Saturday (April 7), millers bought 1,000 bags of wheat in Rajanpur — an area, where the grain harvest begins first of all.

In Rahim Yar Khan and Bahawalpur, the department released over 10,000 bags of wheat. It shows the yield has not arrived in the market.

Officials said the department sold wheat for Rs430 per 40kg while the fresh crop would certainly be cheaper than that. Millers are buying wheat from the Punjab Food Department and the Pakistan Agriculture Storage and Service Corporation.

In the last April, the department had procured 491,000 tonnes of wheat. Presently, gunny bags for 1.2 million tonnes of wheat are available at procurement centres and

600,000 more gunny bags will also be bought. The department could immediately start procurement any time but the crop would not arrive in the market before April 25, they predicted.

An official of the department from southern belt said around four to five per cent crop had been harvested in the Rojhan area and procurement centres there had 25 per cent more gunny bags from last year’s.

Farmers, however, said harvesting had begun though it had not gained momentum.

“Wheat from the areas falling along the Indus river — Rojhan, Rajanpur and Jampur— hit the market by the end of March,” says Rao Afsar of the Kissan Board of Pakistan from Rajanpur. He alleged the price was hovering around Rs400 per 40kg and the middleman was buying wheat from farmers and selling it to millers. The price, he said, had come down from Rs425 per 40kg to Rs400 and was sliding day by day.

The moisture content had come down from normal 15 per cent to 10 per cent in the last days due to rising temperatures, he said and added: “The Punjab Food Department must start its procurement drive at least in this area in order to save farmers from losses.”