October 22, 2007	Monday	Shawwal 9, 1428

LAHORE, Oct 21: The federal government has been delaying announcing wheat support price for the coming season despite the fact that the Punjab government and the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock (Minfal) have already furnished it with their recommendations.

Sources in Minfal said the Punjab government had recommended Rs515 per 40kg, but the ministry pleaded for Rs500 for the same quantity. The Agriculture Price Commission, too, had submitted its point of view. However, the Economic Coordination Committee had been sitting on the recommendations for two weeks, they said.

Normally, the government announced support price before the start of the sowing season to facilitate farmers in their decision on the acreage, but that had not been the case so far. The farmers’ bodies had started protesting against the delay, he said, but it had not become loud enough to stir the government into action.

Elaborating on the delay, a Minfal official said: “The sugar millers have a lobby within the government which is strong enough to cause the delay. The millers fear if the wheat price is fixed as high as Rs500 per 40kg, or beyond, the farmers may go for wheat instead of sugarcane.

“They have prevailed upon the government to cause a delay in the first place and are now desperately trying to keep price much below the Rs500 mark.”

The millers were not only worried about wheat, but maize also was turning out to be a headache for them, said another official of the ministry. The maize price had gone up from Rs350 per maund to Rs550 in the last one year, which is higher than the wheat price.

“Maize is a four-month crop whereas wheat is a six-month one. The national average of maize is over 30 maunds per acre and wheat 27 maunds. At Rs550 per maund, maize provides around Rs17,000 per acre and wheat — at last year’s price of Rs425 — around Rs11,500 per acre. In addition to that extra income, maize also provides fodder to livestock. All these calculations are turning out to be nightmarish for the sugar millers who, instead of competing in the market, are now out to work their way through their lobbies in the government”, he said.

“At present, the sugar millers are trying to keep the wheat price around Rs450 per 40kg and the other government agencies — the provincial price commissions, Minfal and the Federal Agriculture Price Commission — want it at least at Rs500,” he said, adding that there might be a consensus at Rs475 per 40kg. In that case, he said, the country might not be able to achieve the next year’s wheat target of 24 million ton.

The government fixed the target on the basis of last year’s highly controversial production figure of 23.5 million ton. But if the support price did not go at least up to Rs500 per 40kg, he said, achieving the target would be a distant dream for the government.

The wheat support price was to be approved at the last meeting of the ECC, but the officials in the ministry were divided over the proposed price and the summary was not sent to the commission for approval.

The ministry wanted increase in the support price due to doubling of wheat prices in the international market compared to the domestic prices that didn’t match the regional and international prices. The government was also likely to set the wheat production target at 24 million ton at a meeting of the Federal Committee on Agriculture due to be held on Oct 30 with Federal Minister for Food, Agriculture and Livestock Sikandar Hayat Khan Bosan.

The official said around 5-10 per cent additional land would come under cultivation if sugar millers started crushing on time in October. This additional land from sugarcane crop would help the government achieve a bumper wheat crop. —Ahmad Fraz Khan